By now, office employees around the world at multinational companies have adjusted to the new normal of working from home and delivering tasks like global payroll in a remote environment. While many of us had accepted that this will be the case for the foreseeable future, it does not mean that we ignore opportunities to connect or simply wait until all of us are back in the office to re-establish these connections.
HR departments at multinationals are examining ways to both connect with employees who are working remotely and also establish a framework of guidelines for those employees to continue to connect with each other while we are all working remotely. In this article, we will look at ways for HR departments to maintain this important connection which is crucial to ensuring that company culture is not forgotten during this period of remote activity.
Keep in Touch
While we accept that face to face contact is no longer possible and that overall visibility is restricted during this time of remote activity, there are other opportunities to communicate with employees and stay relevant. For many employees, this is an anxious time and feeling that there is strong leadership coming from the HR department in the shape of clear, concise and helpful communications, is something that helps to keep remote workers engaged.
Communication at this time is important, and any efforts made now to connect with staff working remotely can also be looked on as an opportunity to strengthen relationships- remote employees are likely to remember that HR were active and visible during a time when strong guidance and reassuring messages were really needed.
The Personal Touch
E-mail boxes are likely to be filled with work related tasks and various other communications that may prove to be a drain on the time of remote workers. It is important for HR communications to stand out and for the department as a whole to be seen to be doing something beyond the normal. Something like a video message may go a little further, create more connection and have more impact.
Videos webinars and conference calls can be an opportunity to get everybody together for some face time- it may not be the case that every remote worker responds and attends but it is quite possible that those who do make the effort to attend are in need of a little more nurturing and care and they are likely to appreciate the effort - this process of establishing a more personal connection is not about reaching everybody, but creating awareness that HR are here and ready to support when needed.
Embrace Tools
Any communication is strengthened when you learn to speak the language of your audience - right now the language of remote workers is technology tools that help them communicate so if HR departments are keen to make a connection and stay relevant, then they also need to adopt the same tools.
Quick updates or non-essential communication should happen via Slack, Microsoft Teams, Skype or whatever method is most popular or used most consistently by remote team members – HR can have a conversation with their IT counterparts to get some statistics around which tools are proving most popular.
Don't forget about social media as this tool has always been popular but, activity on social network platforms has skyrocketed since lockdowns have been put in place- HR should look on these platforms as an opportunity to interact with and engage with remote team members in an environment where they are comfortable having less formal and more relaxed conversations. There are numerous engagement opportunities to be found on these platforms, many of which are linked to some of the more humorous aspects of working from home.
Listen More
Listening is a very important part of the communication process and now might be the right time to do a little more listening instead of rushing in and creating a communications plan to engage remote employees. While they may want and expect to hear from HR, they are far more likely to be responsive to HR communications that directly respond to the needs and concerns of remote workers.
Set up a platform in which remote workers can air their views and share learnings. Allow them to ask for help and assistance or simply talk about what is on their mind- this is a unique learning opportunity for HR to understand the impact of remote working on a company-wide level.
Remember that before COVID-19 happened, there was little or no opportunity for HR departments to gather valuable and useful information around what it is like to have their entire workforce working remotely at the same time. Valuable learnings are there to be had if you create the platform for expression and take the time to listen.
Celebrate victories
It can be easy to forget that a lot of staff working remotely need validation and a sense that their contributions are being valued and appreciated. It is helpful if HR take the time to consider unique ways to highlight contributions from individual team members and also celebrate victories on a company-wide level.
Video messages that celebrate key wins help to boost morale and ensure that remote workers across the company are kept up to date with what is happening. It also avoids a scenario in which some workers feel invisible or under appreciated. Share successes, communicate positive updates and take every opportunity to generate a sense of togetherness.
Focus on Culture
It might be easy to think that something like vision, mission and values can wait for another day when everybody is back in the office, but this would be a missed opportunity. Now is the right time to reinforce company culture and reiterate to remote workers what the company is all about as well as the strategic direction it is heading in.
When people are no longer together in the office, communications around values and mission need to be more regular and delivered with more impact. This is the time to get senior leadership figures involved in any written or video communication around vision and values. It is important that you create a sense of urgency around culture and let all remote workers know that the leadership teams value the vision, mission and values now more than ever, and recognize their importance when it comes to delivering tasks remotely.
This is an opportunity to prove that the vision, mission and values are what drive behavior and performance, regardless of location. It is also an opportunity to prove that companies can become stronger during this period of remote activity instead of weak and disconnected. The vision, mission and values are the foundations and core beliefs around what a company stands for- they are not dependent on office location or face to face interactions because they are a system of behaviors. Now is the time to reiterate the importance of these values and to offer guidance to remote workers on how to incorporate them into their daily activity.
Look at everything as an opportunity
HR has never really in the past been tasked with coming up with a set of communications to engage an office workforce that has suddenly become fully remote. HR professionals are in unchartered territory, something like this has never happened before. But this is also an opportunity for HR teams to create a new form of connection that may have lasting benefits.
This is an opportunity to think outside the box and try things that you may never have considered doing when everybody is together in the office. Do not be afraid to try something new, after all everything about this situation is new and there is no predefined set of rules around how to communicate with employees working remotely during a global pandemic.
HR in some ways has a blank slate and can choose to go down whatever path they feel will bring the right level of engagement. Those who do so with originality, style and heart are likely to generate the most engagement and long-term appreciation from a remote workforce adapting to unusual circumstances.