7 highly effective

ways to engage your

remote workforce

welcome to brighter
Contents

01 / Introduction

02 / 7 ways to increase employee engagement virtually

03 / Conclusion
Introduction

Organizations have globally transitioned to the ‘work from home’ mode in the past few months. Employees and
organizations did confront several challenges in undertaking the much-needed shift. However, most of them have
been resolved. Companies have proactively incorporated new processes and adopted the new ‘normal.’

Before lockdown, businesses expected ‘the future workplace’ to have bots or futuristic hologram-based meetings.
It is no surprise that evolving technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence(AI), Machine Learning(ML), the Internet
of Things(IoT), blockchain, and others, will continue to disrupt and drive changes. However, across industries and
sectors, the future workplace has emerged rather simplistic amid the disruption. It offers the flexibility to work
from anywhere in the world, from the comforts of one’s homes. Apprehensions about long-term remote work have
evanesced as tech giants have offered a one-year or even lifetime ‘work from home’ to their employees. Remote
work is no longer a makeshift model, but the new normal.

Working from home for a prolonged duration affects an individual’s overall well-being, for
whom the distinction between work and life has blurred.

Being away from the office space has affected engagement and interest, causing higher stress levels and anxiety.
While organizations have promptly managed the business crisis, they must lay greater emphasis on employee
engagement. An engaged workforce is an asset. There must be an utmost focus on the need to inspire, innovate,
engage and encourage them.

Why is employee engagement important for your remote workforce

Lack of self-discipline Diminishing work-life Lack of socializing Telecommuters are

in the absence of balance reduces the work’s likely to develop a
supervisors engagement levels laid-back attitude

Connect with an expert

2
7 ways to increase employee
engagement virtually

Conduct hackathons
and ideathons

Introduce remote
work surveys

Organize regular
sync-ups

Create a feedback
mechanism

Cater to employees’
creativity

Invest in learning and

development initiatives

Create social
awareness

3
Conduct hackathons and ideathons
Hackathon is a medium for people to find creative solutions to organizational problems. Employees are interested
in an incentivized approach to solving a problem. They work toward creating the best solution to a given business
problem, which fosters innovation. At a time when the creative energies are low, employees need to be motivated
to work efficiently. Hackathons enable maintaining the creativity of your workforce. They are valuable in generating
out-of-the-box solutions that boost employees’ morale.

How to conduct an internal hackathon

Conducting an internal hackathon for your employees is a simple process where an organization quickly sets
up the event page with a challenge, parameters and evaluation criteria. Once the page is live, participants can
register individually or as a team, get reminders and live rankings. In the final stage, the judges assess the project’s
performance and grade them. Solving a business problem, accompanied by rewards and recognition, drives
enhanced engagement and employee participation.

Read ‘How to keep work from home employees engaged and productive’ to know more about
(1)

conducting hackathons.

(2)
How Mercer | Mettl conducted seamless hackathon on the Women’s Day

Introduce remote work survey

A remote work survey is designed to help organizations survey their workforce and gauge essential parameters,
such as the availability of resources, organizational support, clarity from their managers on their role and work. Such
a survey can help organizations reach out to their employees and make them feel heard and appreciated.

With the advent of COVID-19 and the shift to a remote work setting, Mercer | Mettl’s team of subject matter experts
have devised a remote work survey and a list of remote work skills. It helps raise awareness about remote work
readiness and develop skills that ultimately enable mitigating the challenges of working remotely. Since there is
no defined playbook for them, the remote work survey, followed by an assessment, can help organizations address
concerns and skills gaps. A remote work readiness assessment is designed to help organizations determine whether
their employees possess the necessary skills to work from home efficiently and productively. It can be based on a
standard set of competencies or customized to an organization’s specific needs.

(1)
https://blog.mettl.com/remote-workers-engagement-productivity/ 4
(2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzNKV6bY9sc
Assessing an organization’s key intervention areas via
the remote work survey

Organizational initiatives: Employee well-being,

appropriate resources and effective communication

Managerial effectiveness: Manager support and clarity

on engagement

Support from coworkers: Effective collaboration

among employees

(1)
You gauging remote work readiness through remote work survey and assessment

Organize regular sync-ups

A typical workday allowed teams to meet and sync-up frequently, with weekly stand-ups and other such
engagements. However, more work in the remote work setting has reduced the frequency of such meetings.
Therefore, regular team catch-ups and town halls are critical to ensure that teams don’t feel lost and disengaged.
They also allow employees to remain informed about the latest developments.

According to a (2)Gallup Workplace Survey, most workers prefer public acknowledgment or recognition over a
monetary raise. Town Halls are an excellent means of acknowledging employees’ achievements. Consequently,
heads of departments can act as representatives, sharing a brief overview of successes and learnings to create a
feeling of inclusiveness.

It must be considered that a remote-first workforce has distinct demands. This means employers must find new
ways to identify needs, deliver solutions and build a healthy culture, built upon the (3)four pillars of well-being:

Physical well-being: Access to the things that help Financial well-being: Employees’ financial literacy
employees preserve and protect their health - seeing a and security needs continue - for example,
doctor, eating healthy food and exercising, staying safe through budgeting, refinancing options or tuition
- often looks different for remote workers reimbursement.

Emotional well-being: Access to high-quality care is in Social connectivity: Accounting for the new dynamics
high demand. Proactively address emotional stress and of caregiving, social connection, community resources,
foster employees’ sense of purpose. volunteering and leave policies is vital.

Connect with an expert

(1)
https://blog.mettl.com/guide/remote-work-assessment/
(2)
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236441/employee-recognition-low-cost-high-impact.aspx
(3)
https://www.mercer.com/
5
Create a feedback mechanism
According to (1)Gallup, organizations that have conducted a 360-degree evaluation had a 15.9%
better employee turnover rate than employees who received no feedback from their superiors.
Consequently, managers who received feedback from employees showed an increase of 8.9%
and 12.5%, respectively, in profitability and productivity.

This underlines the importance of feedback in an organization’s growth. 360-degree feedback offers a holistic
evaluation of your employees. This employee engagement tool provides employers with a comprehensive overview
of the employees’ strengths, weaknesses, areas for development, etc. Once the (2)360-degree survey results are
anonymously collated and analyzed, they can be shared with the employees to further their personal development
goals. Additionally, the compiled report promotes self-awareness by suggesting development programs customized
as per individuals and teams, in turn, keeping them engaged.

360-degree feedback includes:

Personal Competency summary and

development plan spider chart

In-depth feedback Behavioral profile

Open-ended feedback Hidden strengths Blind spots
Detailed competency ratings Improvement areas strengths

(3)
To know more, read ‘how does a 360-degree feedback system help organizations.’

(1)
https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/147383/secret-higher-performance.aspx#:~:text=And%20in%20a%20
study%20of,the%20manager%20received%20no%20feedback.
(2)
https://mettl.com/360-degree-feedback-tool
(3)
https://blog.mettl.com/basics-of-360-degree-feedback-why-is-it-important/
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Cater to employees’ creativity
Lockdown has cut down on the commuting hours and allowed people more time to pursue their hobbies, such as
cooking, designing, painting, etc. Practicing these skills has steadily enhanced their efficiency. Therefore, it is a good
idea to encourage them by showcasing their work at an organizational level.
Various organizations have rolled out exciting online contests to keep their workforce motivated and engaged.
Here’s a sneak peek into one of the few quirky contests:

Human resources (HRs) can make the contests more intriguing by asking employees to detail before vs. after
lockdown scenarios. They could be a change in the infrastructure, nature, crowd, routine, employees or any other
creative and constructive ideas.

HRs can also start a ‘Life at your Workplace’

blog where employees can share their
journey. It would offer them the opportunity
to reflect on their fond memories, anecdotes,
overcoming difficult situations, learnings and
how the organization helped them thrive.
This would inculcate a sense of togetherness
in your workforce. The platform can even be
used to share projects taken up by employees
during the lockdown.

7
Invest in learning and development initiatives
The lockdown has already pushed employees to take up skills initially taken for granted. They are interpersonal
communication, stakeholder management, problem-solving, decision-making, agility, etc. While entering
uncharted territories of lockdown, employees continue to upskill and reskill themselves. Therefore, organizations
need to match the speed of skilling and the need for future-ready strategies.

If your organization had already planned workforce optimization and development, the pandemic is no reason
to halt or defer them. There is no better time to take them up and strive toward future-proofing your workforce.
If you prefer a traditional or blended assessment center, transitioning to an online assessment center is a smart
choice in the current business environment. It exhibits your continued and proactive interest in your employees’
development, irrespective of the global crisis.

Virtual Assessment Centres have multiple tools, mapped to behavioral competencies. The tools are administered
(1)

online, followed by automated reports. Simulation-based exercises, such as in-basket, case study and others
assess employees’ on-the-job performance. They are a potent method to help employees to upskill by charting a
growth plan.

(2)
To know more, read virtual assessment center: the future of assessment and development centers

Benefits of virtual assessment centers

1. Fuller engagement through having to tackle realistic business challenges.

2. Combined identification of development needs and an opportunity to learn.

3. A more active role in generating their own development plans.

4. A precise focus on actual, modifiable behaviour.

5. Fosters greater self-reflection and self-awareness, hence ownership.

Additionally, organizations can also invest in certifying their employees on upcoming skills or technologies that
might be beneficial in the near-term. (3)Certifications ensure regular upskilling of the employees’ skills set with
evolving job roles. Rewarding the workforce with a certification after the successful completion of training gives
them a sense of achievement. Employees’ tendency to participate in an L&D program increases significantly,
knowing that the employer duly recognizes their efforts. A (4)certification tool enables learners to acquire critical
skills that would let them stand out. Employers equally value people who are driven by a continual urge to learn
and grow in their careers.

Connect with an expert

(1)
https://mettl.com/assessment-center-development-center/
(2)
https://blog.mettl.com/virtual-assessment-centre/
(3)
https://mettl.com/computer-based-tests/online-certification-software/
8
(4)
https://blog.mettl.com/guide/online-certification-software/
Create social awareness
According to Businessolver’s 2017 (1)Workplace Empathy Monitor report, empathy directly impacts
employee productivity, loyalty, and engagement.

The ongoing global crisis has taught us to be empathetic towards one another. Empathy has become a critical
behavioral competency needed by organizations to survive in difficult times. While organizations have
independently made efforts to help the needy, they can lay a greater focus on this aspect in their workforce.

Employees who are active participants in giving back to the community tend to experience a
deeper commitment and connection to work.

Fortune(2)

Organizations may tie-up with local non-profit bodies or provide a list to the employees on opportunities of
volunteering virtually, and, in turn, create awareness to help one another in times of crisis. Other prevalent activities
include online classes to teach underprivileged, buying daily groceries for daily wagers and senior citizens. These
small acts of kindness will strengthen interpersonal relationships and enhance compassion, understanding and
receptivity among employees.

(3)
Mercer | Mettl’s contribution to the community

(1)
https://www.businessolver.com/who-we-are/news/businessolver-finds-workplaces-still-lack-empathy#gref
(2)
https://fortune.com/2016/04/26/giving-workers-paid-time-off-to-volunteer-will-help-your-company-succeed/
remove number
(3)
https://youtu.be/ekYQtt7XXpQ
9
Conclusion

The future workplace

is undergoing
a significant
transformation,
placing remote work
as a central theme of
organizational work.

Companies must evolve accordingly by reforming their

processes to accommodate this change. Organizations
can protect and safeguard their businesses only through
collaboration and staying connected with the employees.
They must continually devise ideas and solutions to
manage unforeseen and abrupt challenges.

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About us
At Mercer | Mettl, our mission is to enable organizations to
make better people decisions across two key areas: acquisition
and development. Since our inception in 2010, we have
partnered with more than 4,000 corporates, 31 sector skills
councils/government departments and 500+ educational
institutions across more than 90 countries.

mettlcontact@mercer.com

www.mettl.com

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