How to Embrace and Engage Your Remote Workforce During a Pandemic
Is your company truly inclusive? Do you walk the talk when it comes to embracing your team holistically during the crunch time of a global pandemic?
Your employees didn’t invite you into their homes — they were forced to open their doors to you when COVID-19 came along. It’s important that you don’t inadvertently discriminate against employees for personal circumstances beyond their control while they are working from home. Effectively meeting your employees where they are at may mean revising your HR policies to reflect the “new normal” and ensure that your team members feel heard rather than compromised.
Embrace Diverse Home Offices
Our workforce is still adjusting to having remote work thrust upon them, and many still do not have dedicated, private work spaces. Some employees — such as those with smaller homes or multiple family members working and studying remotely — won’t have the capacity to adjust their physical surroundings to mirror an office. Rather than expect your team members to be able to meet this demand, reflect on the following questions:
In what ways is the pandemic impacting my team?
How can I help my team be successful while embracing their diverse circumstances?
How can I be forgiving and inclusive, and embrace my team rather than shaming them?
Take family as an example.
The reality in remote work is that family members may make unexpected appearances on conference calls or demands on your employees’ time when they are working at home. This is particularly true for team members who are also juggling remote learning for school-aged children — another unforeseen aspect of our “new normal.”
Rather than expecting your employees’ personal and professional lives to stay cleanly delineated, address the elephant in the room and embrace an open dialogue with your team. When planning meetings, discuss your employees’ home dynamics and plan calls when they are least likely to be interrupted. When conflicts do arise, choose an attitude of empathy and grace.
Redefine a Professional Aesthetic in Remote Work
In the office, the expectations for office dress and decor were dictated by policy and office culture. But what does it mean to “appear professional” when working from home?
It is only natural that people may begin dressing more comfortably — and perhaps more individualistically — as remote work continues. Perhaps being in their own environment also compels employees to dress in a way that more closely reflects their personal identities to include their culture, gender, and more.
Maybe you are open to the idea that this reflects your value of embracing diversity, or perhaps there are certain aspects of attire that you feel are unprofessional to show. If you are challenged to expand your definition of “professional” beyond your cultural norms, it is essential to thoughtfully weigh out these values and be clear as you proceed with your remote workforce.
The same concept applies as your team engages via video conferencing within teams or with clients.
Room decor can be incredibly prominent, and even inform and impact the work dynamic. Say your remote employee video conferences in from a room that has a poster of a football player in the background: does this hinder your brand’s reputation, or does it provide helpful insight into who your employee is outside of work? What about a poster that signifies a certain political affiliation or religious view?
The answers to these questions are not cut and dried for leaders, but they are worth reflecting on as you consider your remote team. At the end of the day, you are responsible for defining where you stand in your approach to being both inclusive and professional in the shift to remote work.
Be Transparent With Clients
Not only must you consider your internal approach to remote work; you must also determine how to approach client relations. This decision will greatly depend on what your client-facing culture looks like.
Regardless, transparency is still key. Here are a few tips:
Remind clients that your meetings will be virtual.
Prepare clients to see the home office of your employees.
Share that your company embraces the diversity of your employees’ homes.
Make clear that your employees’ environments do not reflect the views of your company.
Encourage your employees to present themselves professionally, but remember that they did not expect the pandemic or the resulting remote work life, and they cannot necessarily alter their home life to look like a corporate space. If you find that a team member’s setting isn’t appropriate or professional, you can always encourage tools such as Zoom backgrounds to compensate for this.
Value Individuality
Believe it or not, embracing inclusivity and individuality can actually be a viable growth strategy. In fact, valuing individual differences and empowering team members to be themselves can be a huge boost to their professional success. And fostering a work environment where employees are encouraged to connect on a deeper level through non-work-related engagement helps replicate a close-knit team vibe as well.
Your employees are not just machines who produce work and leave; they are human beings with unique cares and passions, and this will become increasingly apparent as you engage with them in their home settings. If you want your employees to be engaged, engage in what matters to them as individuals. This confirms that you are invested in their humanity, not just their ability to perform.
Creating this type of culture starts at the top with how you engage as a leader. Talk to your team about what matters to you, share what you are excited about or struggling with, and further the dialogue by asking your team members about their lives. By learning your employees’ quirks, interests and overall lifestyles, you are better equipped to motivate and incentivize them down the road.