As the never-ending pandemic continues to bend life globally around it, especially in the U.S. with Omicron, workplace life continues to be strained in unique ways. For a fortunate segment of the population, working from home is a great opportunity to avoid the constant proximity that in-office life dictates, but it can cause your team to drift apart in more ways than one.
Having first-hand experience in making the switch from in-office life to WFH, we think we can offer a few tips for keeping your team tight even as they work far apart. In our latest blog, we discuss some of our best tips for keeping your team together and engaged in sub-optimal conditions!
Remind Employees Of Their Impact On The Company & Clients
One deep complaint that many employees have, especially in more formal, corporate settings, is that their work doesn’t contribute to anything particularly meaningful. It can be isolating when you are unsure if your hard work is contributing to the greater success of the company, clients, or even the welfare of other people more broadly.
In his book Bullshit Jobs, anthropologist David Graeber investigates this phenomenon, finding that as many as 40% of the U.S. workforce does not consider their job to be crucial or beneficial. When so many people believe their labor has no real value, and those very people gain distance from the workforce via WFH, it can be even more demoralizing. This may manifest as reduced productivity, work quality, and communication.
How to address this potential issue this holiday season and the new year? Simply meeting with your team regularly and discussing the tangible and intangible benefits of their work could do wonders. Sit down and talk numbers, discuss reviews from recent clients, or further explain how their tasks fit within the broader plan of the company. When people are able to see how they fit in the scheme, they are less likely to see their work as worthless.
Introduce Fun Holiday Themed Meetings
Holiday-themed meetings are a great way to keep your team close-knit and engaged. How? Because it allows your team to converse in ways not unlike how they may have interacted in the office. It’s no secret that WFH greatly reduces the opportunities for interaction, both work-related and personal. This can be isolating and lead to worse communication and motivation. You can remedy this by planning fun holiday-themed meetings where you play games, introduce icebreakers, or just give people time to talk about what interests them.
Maybe a quick game of Bingo or Jeopardy could be fun, and little prizes may spice things up even further. The point is just to introduce ways to keep your team familiar with one another and stay connected, even if we work apart.
Prioritize Mental Health & Sick Leave
In a world filled to the brim with issues, moving faster and faster in multiple dimensions, it’s easy to see why stress is a major factor in American life today. Among developed countries, America consistently reports incredibly high rates of stress, which we know can play a role in our emotional and physical health.
To help your employees who are likely feeling the weight of personal and large-scale societal problems, prioritize their mental health. How can you do this? Reassure them that they can reach out to management about problems and be open to the spectrum of solutions. Give out more sick leave, or provide wellness resources like paid-for meditation apps.
Try Out New Traditions
Lastly, new traditions may be a way to break any potential monotony in your team and refresh their minds. Traditions don’t have to be intricate, either; maybe you could try new prompts for weekly meetings, or share holiday recipes and create a company cookbook.
Reach Your 2022 Goals With AGI!
2022 is a big year for almost all areas of business, and Google remains the best way to boost your online presence and reach both old and new clients alike. At AGI Marketing, we can not only help you reach more people online, but we can help your business work better from the inside out.
To learn more about how AGI can help your business thrive in 2022, read more about our services on our website or simply give us a call to learn more!
