Work From Home Hacks: How To Engage With Your Employees in 2021

With workplaces going through nothing less than a revolution following the COVID-19 pandemic, workforces are undergoing drastic changes to keep up with it. From their aspiration and desires to how they interact with employers and adapt to new behaviors, the current employee audience has gone through a metamorphosis.

This has prompted employers to change their approach while addressing the new work/life balance, upskilling needs, and employees’ mental health. Further, with more and more companies shifting to remote working permanently, the top leaders have to evaluate and rethink their strategies to cultivate their culture and communicate effectively.

Pure Communication Group has now come up with a whitepaper “The Future of the Employee Experience”Opens a new window that explores how businesses are adapting news ways to interact with their employees.

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Charlotte Gentry, CEO of Pure Communications Group said businesses faced repeated challenges last year and the disruption will likely continue in 2021 too. “Leaders will now need to plan for a future of hybrid working, addressing how they can ensure they are still delivering an exceptional employee experience across these two differing audiences. Those organizations that invest in understanding their employee’s mindsets and behaviors will be far better positioned to thrive in the future,” she added.

Wellness in Times Of COVID

Stress at work and mental wellbeing of employees has been a topic of discussion well before the pandemic. However, today, remote and hybrid working models have led to the rise of depression and feeling of alienation among the workers.

A recent surveyOpens a new window showed that more than 80% of respondents feel stressed by at least one thing at work. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also warnedOpens a new window of severe consequences of making remote working permanent as he believes virtual video calls cannot replace in-person meetings.

“What does burnout look like? What does mental health look like? What do that connectivity and the community building look like? One of the things I feel is, hey, maybe we are burning some of the social capital we built up in this phase where we are all working remote. What’s the measure for that?” he added.

This has forced companies to readjust their wellness strategy in line with the current scenario. Monthly team fitness challenges, recipe sharing and letterbox wellness kits are some simple ways suggested by the Pure Communication Group to bring wellbeing elements to a hybrid workplace.

Focus on Employee Experience

Defined as an employee’s perception of how a company interacts with him/her from the first day of onboarding to last day in the company, employee experience is necessary for improving productivity, attracting and retaining better talent. A Deloitte reportOpens a new window said, “organizations with the most compelling workforce experiences generated 22% higher engagement among their workers than organizations with a less compelling workforce experience.”

Another studyOpens a new window by Deloitte University Press revealed that almost 80% of executives worldwide feel employee experience is important.

Make no mistake, perks and wellness committees are not employee experience, though they are equally important. However, their relevance is also changing. For instance, it makes no sense to take employees on a corporate retreat amid a pandemic. Instead, companies should shift their focus on virtual reward platforms, which help translate top performance into prizes like digital gift cards.

Employee experience also plays a key role in shaping a company’s culture. Organizations that had built a good culture of wellness will have to sustain it in an online world.

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What Should Be the Future Approach?

In 2020, several companies went into survival mode as COVID-19 battered businesses. However, as economies worldwide are slowly recovering, companies need to shift employees from “‘lights on” mentality to a growth mindset. A culture of continuous learning should be cultivated by investing in their personal and professional growth.

Now that companies have the option to rebuild their future, they must adopt an employee-first approach and work toward building a culture of innovation where employees take part in formulating growth strategies.