You have a great company with great people working to help achieve business goals. Your company spans over several locations and several of your employees are working from remote areas in cities across the country. These remote workers have been an integral part of your company’s growth. Some are eager college graduates, willing to travel frequently in order to make presentations to or meet with clients around the globe. Others work from home, raising families while also maintaining a portfolio of clients they tend to using electronic communications. You might also have workers in cities where large projects are breaking ground and need staff to stay on and assist in the completion of the project, some temporarily displaced from their own residence.
No matter what their story or their reason for working away from the four walls of your company’s primary location, remote workers are an important part of your team. They deserve to be recognized as such. Recognition is for everyone and sometimes, that means it must reach out to every employee in your organization.
Make it Personal
The success of your remote workers and subsequently your business is often affected by the relationship remote workers share with their supervisors. Employees who do not feel a sense of belonging or connection to their superiors often become disengaged. This could result in doing just enough work to get the job done without fully investing all their talents and efforts.
Show remote workers that they are important to your organization by thanking them frequently. Go beyond sending email messages to show your appreciation and rather, mail remote employees and handwritten note or card. Make is social by tagging remote workers in a social media post their friends and family can see and congratulate them on.
Let Them Choose
If you are looking for a recognition program that reaches all your employees, a cloud-based system may be best for your company. These recognition programs can be accessed via mobile device, giving remote workers the power to be part of the recognition and rewards process. Your recognition program can incorporate leaderboards, social recognition, and even a points system that allows employees to choose their own rewards. You can award remote workers points for reaching goals. Then, they can cash in the points for prizes and gifts.
Recognition programs enable remote workers to engage with other employees, compete for leaderboard status, contribute to forum discussions, and choose practical rewards that suit their lifestyle.
Be Consistent
As with any type of employee recognition, consistency is key. For remote employees, it’s dire. Remote employees are easy to fall into patterns of disengagement. Because they are not part of the every day workplace culture, they may start to feel displaced or left out. By making sure that you reach out to them and recognize their work frequently, you can help boost their positive attitude for the work they are doing.
Not only should you be consistent in giving recognition, you should also be specific. While recognition is something that should be given frequently, it is still something that is earned. When an employee has done something that exceeds expectations, it is important to point out the achievement and the exact reasons they are being congratulated. Being specific in the recognition you give creates a level playing field that helps all employees to feel like an important part of the company.