Your Remote Team Wellbeing

Remote work includes its own stresses and difficulties. COVID-19 has aroused great interest in remote team wellbeing, as companies are looking for new ways to help workers remain efficient.

This has made many people exposed to the impact of self-isolation on their emotional stability and wellbeing while teams need to respond rapidly to changing working trends. This post includes tips and tools on how you can improve your team members’ general well-being when working remotely.

Remote work may have two major effects on employees wellbeing:

Isolation(no social interactions) – People may begin to feel alone and depressed being separated from their co-workers or the usual working environment. Feeling of loneliness can raise stress levels and give the work of both employees and companies a feeling of disengagement, both of which affect productivity.

Burnout – Remote staff work extra hours when they are not in the workplace. This lack of harmony between work and life can contribute to high-stress levels that eventually become unresolved burnout.

When the employees work in a workplace, it is much easier to notice any patterns or behaviors that could be harming their health. If the team is distant, you must monitor how they feel and function to ensure their wellbeing.

Tips to support your remote team wellbeing

1. Maintain regular performance check-ins

Managers should do routine check-ins with their telecommuting workers to ensure and support their emotional well-being. Take advantage of this ability to establish connection and confidence. Discuss your priorities and success, as well as challenges and prospects for development. You can still offer your remote workers respect, gratitude, and acknowledgment — don’t make them feel neglected or ignored.

2. Encourage employees to keep their work and personal lives separate

While remote working allows greater flexibility, it does not always bring greater balance. Employees should be able to take “downtime” during which they do not respond to emails or check in with staff. With advances in technology, work can be done 24/7, and remote employees often choose to be available at all times to demonstrate that they are working hard. Because of the lack of boundaries, many remote employees can feel as they are always in work mode, contributing to their already high-stress levels. Employees should have free time from work to rest. Supervisors should ask workers when they want to work and make a schedule so that they do not call or disturb them except their fixed work time.

3. Encourage the staff to take breaks and pauses

Working for a longer time without breaks results in higher stress levels, reduced effectiveness, and can easily make a significant impact on physical health. Start encouraging the workers to get up and move around regularly. Employees may set up reminders to exercise. When anyone takes a break, they can mark it on their schedule, update their status on apps, or send an email to their colleagues to notify them that they will take a break. A fifteen-minute pause won’t take a lot because they’ll be much more motivated to perform work with greater results when the employee returns.

4. Flexible working hours

In addition to whether or not workers would visit the workplace, you may also bring flexibility regarding the working schedule. Employees operating remotely will be able to arrange — and maneuver through — private appointments at a convenient time as they will change their attention from hours worked to goals to be accomplished. Encourage the remote workers to work flexibly to meet their safety and well-being needs. By concentrating on the results your team brings for a company, despite the hours they spend on work, you can boost employee wellbeing — and alleviate any tension they might experience from typical work time. 

5. Use technology

Encourage workers to stay connected, even though it is not related to their job issues. Create a company channel on the app to share videos, recipes, or silly comments, as they have done in the office. Platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom allow people to collaborate even though they are hundreds of kilometers away! From posting fast updates, memes to generating ideas and hosting workshops, these resources foster teamwork that email communication cannot offer.

To sum up

It is an employer’s duty to ensure the well-being of their workers, regardless of where they are located. Not only are healthy workers happier, but they are also more committed and productive. This results in fewer sick leave days and less production loss for a business. The main distinction is that as workers operate remotely, you must take various steps to ensure you are helping your team properly.