5 Strategies to Celebrate Your Team’s Remote Work Adventures
All in all, the remote work experiment that started during the pandemic has gone well. More people than ever are working virtually and enjoying their experiences. However, being able to scratch the traditional commute doesn’t come without its challenges. The good thing is that, as a leader, you can help mitigate some of the downsides of a scattered workforce with old-fashioned employee recognition.
Why the push to acknowledge the hard work your people have been doing? Two prominent concerns most remote workers face (communication glitches and isolation) relate to not feeling part of the broader team. By recognizing them in fun ways and celebrating their contributions, you can take the edge off of never seeing your colleagues in person.
The trick is to implement some imaginative strategies to say “thank you” and “great job” to a virtual workforce. Try some of the following unique suggestions to keep engagement and energy high.
1. Set up team-building activities online.
Though it can be fun to have in-person team-building days or travel to remote locations, your budget might be a little tight. No matter. You can set up great collaborative activities that can be done online. For instance, if most of your people like video games, why not set up a hosted or non-hosted online multiplayer experience? From Bingo to murder mysteries, plenty of choices are available.
2. Arrange for a “red carpet” Zoom gala.
You don’t need to fly all your people to a ballroom for a gala event. Instead, arrange for a themed “red carpet” experience on Zoom. Send out elegant invitations and encourage everyone to dress up. You may want to send all employees a special snack box to enjoy while you virtually hand out physical employee recognition award statues (that can be mailed to recipients later, of course!)
3. Create an online bulletin board or centralized sharing space.
When you work with people in an office, you see their photos and hear what’s happening to them. When you’re remote, you might not be as in touch. An internal bulletin board or text community can help everyone check in and share their adventures in written or image form. This creates somewhat of a “water cooler” ambiance and gives people a place to talk about something other than work. (Yes, you’ll probably have many pictures of work-from-home pet companions.)
4. Send care packages.
Occasionally, send a care package or personalized gift to your team members. This could be anything from a simple gift card to silly swag. People appreciate getting mail and will be surprised when they receive their packages. Plus, services like Amazon Prime make it quite affordable to drop-ship goodies and thoughtful items without going to the post office.
5. Ask employees to take turns giving home office “tours.”
Another way to make remote work seem less stuffy is to ask employees to give “tours.” These could be tours of their home working spaces or of a new space they’ve found where they like to set up shop. Assign a different tour guide every month or quarter. Then, reward the tour guide with a special prize, such as being able to sign off early.
Remote work doesn’t have to make your workers feel alone or neglected. With some planning, you can help your direct reports understand that you appreciate what they do, even if you can’t say so in person.