Ways to Show Appreciation to Remote Workers

Oct 02, 2020
Ways to Show Appreciation To Remote Workers
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Due to COVID-19, the number of remote workers has dramatically increased. Luckily, it’s feasible for most businesses to transform work practices into an online format in the times of coronavirus. But the problem is that in current circumstances, there is no possibility for supervisors to communicate with their teams in an easy and free-flowing way. According to some data, 40% of employees who were ignored by colleagues reported that they were seriously disengaged from their work. Therefore, managers need to find new ways to establish a rapport with their team members working from home. They need to adapt traditional reward programs to a new reality. So now organizations are trying to identify the most effective ways of incorporating rewards and showing recognition to their employees who handle the everyday challenges of remote work.

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Not only do workers need recognition of their performance but students as well. Appreciation is a necessary element of any process that requires effort. Especially when it comes to studying, lack of acknowledgment can be quite discouraging. Students face so many challenges that are emotionally draining for them. They typically need a lot of support and help to stay on track. Luckily, today there are many solutions to get assistance with studying. One of them is using online services. Such services help learners not to get discouraged and keep up with the studies even if they don’t get enough recognition from their peers and professors. Using writing assistance is a good way to boost your grades even when you don’t feel motivated to study hard. 

But what are some viable methods of keeping remote workers motivated and recognized? Consider some virtual recognition ideas described below. 

1. Send personalized messages

Although mass emails are an easy and quick way to share ideas and expectations with workers, they cannot be used as a tool for employee appreciation. It’s a well-known fact that recognition must be highly specific, even when working remotely. So, don’t draft a single thank you email, create an individualized message for each person instead. Point out strong points of your colleagues and mention their achievements throughout the past year. Moreover, you can use a recognition platform where your customized messages of appreciation will be published on a social feed. Demonstrating that you are grateful for the good performance of each employee will serve as a morale booster for them. 

Send personalized messages

2. Deliver a small appreciation gift

If you have some extra financial assets, giving a small present to your team members is a wonderful encouraging gesture. It would be even better if you learn the individual interests of your workers and send them something personalized. Your workers will recognize the effort you took to get to know them better, which probably will promote a healthier work relationship. Also, you can provide your employees with discounts for food delivery or gift cards to local restaurants. Another good idea to brighten up someone’s day could be to send flowers with a hand-written Thank You card.Deliver a small appreciation gift

3. Offer professional training

Remote work can make employees feel a little lost when it comes to their professional growth, so most of them crave more knowledge. People don’t want to have their career development on hold just because they work remotely. They expect employers to invest in their professional development even if they aren’t operating in an office. So offering them a training program or online seminars to grow their knowledge is a way to express appreciation. Make sure that your employees have a clear understanding of their career paths and give them access to development courses or online learning programs. This way, you will help them to stay motivated during a time of unprecedented isolation.

Offer professional training

4. Offer a long weekend

It’s a simple, yet effective idea for workers’ appreciation that will help them relax. Many people don’t feel comfortable turning off the phone or leaving emails unanswered on their days off because they are afraid to lose their employer's trust. Therefore, you should let them know that they can have a real vacation day to enjoy their time. It’s especially needed for those people who are combining their work and childcare. Share your thoughts on how vacation days should be used, and ask to use those days to the fullest. This way, the monotony of working from home won’t wear remote workers down and they will stay efficient. 

Offer a long weekend

5. Arrange virtual happy hours

One of the easiest appreciation rewards is setting up virtual happy hours or game nights with the employees. You can catch up on what’s happening outside of work or play online games together while enjoying a drink. There are plenty of online games to have fun with your team. For instance, you can try Skribbl, which is a drawing game where players choose from a series of words to draw using a mouse. While drawing, the first person to guess the word gets some points. That one who got the biggest total number of points at the end of the game is a winner. Sounds like a good way to train quick reaction, isn’t it? Another alternative could be a game called QuizUp. It offers trivia questions in a wide range of subjects, so the players can get a chance to shine by answering them. 

Arrange virtual happy hours

Recognition of your employees shouldn’t be an afterthought as it helps to support their loyalty, dedication, and productivity. This is one of the key responsibilities of every supervisor to keep the team’s spirits high. Neglecting this responsibility results in a risk of making the workers discouraged. If you don’t demonstrate appreciation to your employees, they will probably stop producing to their capabilities and even may eventually quit. So take the time to communicate how much you value your staff. You can do it by using words of affirmation during a videoconference or by sending personalized messages to each team member. Another alternative is to have quality time with workers by having occasional calls just to chat or playing online games together. Besides, sending small gifts can also encourage your employees a lot.

 

Author's Bio: Sandra Larson is a former HR manager who runs a blog at Elizabethan Authors. Currently, Sandra works as an academic writer at Essay On Time in Australia and helps students to keep up with the studies by providing assignment help. The main fields of her specialization are Management, Marketing, and Sociology.

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