Remote work is up. Employee motivation is down. Now what?
Have you noticed a decline in motivation among your remote employees? If so, you’re not alone. Find out why it’s critical that leaders take action now, and what the new playbook includes.
Figuring out how to motivate employees has always kept leaders up at night. But with so many companies shifting to remote work in response to Covid, there’s a new twist: How do you motivate employees when they’re physically isolated from one another — not to mention facing the challenges that come with such a significant change?
sr4 client Rocket Travel is a Chicago-based startup acquired by Booking Holdings, the parent company of popular travel brands such as Booking.com and Priceline. The company's CEO Bart Welch explains, "Like many companies, we've shifted to remote work during the pandemic and it's required us to recalibrate our approach to employee engagement."
Rocket Travel is wise to be proactive.
While recent studies on the link between motivation and working from home have been mixed — with some claiming remote work has led to increased productivity during Covid and others pointing to a worrisome decline — this much is indisputable: Organizations whose distributed teams find ways to remain highly engaged with their work and colleagues have a huge competitive advantage.
As sr4 Partners Principal Kim Ferrer says, “How motivated your employees are — no matter where they’re working from — can make or break your company. That’s why top leaders aren’t sitting back and hoping their remote employees’ Zoom fatigue, work-life balance issues, or feelings of isolation fade away with time. Instead, these leaders are taking action.”
Are you among them? Or have you fallen into the common trap of assuming that people’s commitment and productivity will eventually pick up on its own?
We believe leaders must adapt along with their employees. And it’s not enough to focus on new technologies and short-term, tactical solutions. It’s just as critical to address the human challenges that come with remote work, starting with motivation.
Sources of motivation commonly at risk for remote workers
The first step is understanding that the standard drivers of motivation — from basics like market-rate compensation, to more abstract factors like a sense of purpose — are equally relevant for remote workers. Yet there are complicating factors. In a distributed environment, motivation is complicated by the fact that:
Work becomes more transactional and less relational
Lack of relational connection can breakdown communication and erode trust
Physical distance and workflow difficulties often contribute to a weakening of purpose
In a 2020 Harvard Business Review article, Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi note that remote work, particularly when it’s mandatory (versus a choice employees are given), and particularly given the backdrop of a massive global health crisis, can imperil positive motivators like:
Play. Aren’t work and play distinct? Not according to McGregor and Doshi, who see play as “the motive that most boosts performance.” Traditionally, play at work has been associated with small talk around the proverbial water cooler, grabbing lunch with a colleague or off-site team-building activities. But McGregor and Doshi explain that play is really about our learning instinct - it’s related to curiosity, encouraging employees to experiment and explore new solutions to problems. Warning signs that a lack of play could be undermining your employees’ motivation may include silent or abandoned chat tools, poor attendance or participation in meetings, and few or no signs of significant creativity.
Purpose. Working from home can mean fewer opportunities for employees to witness the impact of their actions on clients and colleagues, draining their sense of purpose. Plus, many workers are currently questioning the value of what they do relative to the seismic happenings of 2020 and 2021. Many are privately asking, “What’s the point?” Warning signs that a lack of purpose could be undermining your employees’ motivation may include “bare minimum” performance, confusion or frustration over the company’s mission or vision, and/or manager complaints that remote team members “aren’t actually working.”
Potential. Remote workers often struggle with career moves and on-the-job learning because their potential is less visible to colleagues and they may have reduced access to knowledgeable mentors. It’s tough to feel motivated if you aren’t sure whether your hard work will result in new opportunities to learn and grow — or go unnoticed. Warning signs that curtailed potential could be undermining your employees’ motivation may include a downturn in internal promotions, a reduction in L&D budget and offerings, and managers expressing concerns that star employees might be looking for new jobs.
These are just a handful of possible factors; each organization faces challenges specific to the type of work they do and the talent they have on board. What about your company? Where should you start?
Motivating Your Distributed Workforce: The New Playbook
First of all, don’t throw out the old playbook, build on it. The old playbook included compensation and benefits as a foundational element to motivating your employees. In a distributed environment, organizations need to supplement that with a culture where people feel valued and appreciated regardless of whether they work from home or at the office.
The old playbook instructed us to be sure you designed and communicated an internal career path for team members. For today’s distributed employees, we also need to invest in accessible and interactive professional development. Lastly, the old playbook focused on the importance of a reputable brand for attracting, retaining and motivating talent. To that, we need to say, “Yes, and” intentionally take steps to reinforce purpose and reinvent play for our distributed teams.
Here are a few practical suggestions to consider:
1. Nurture a Culture of Value and Appreciation
Launch a social recognition program that allows peers to both give and receive appreciation. Workhuman is one of the industry leaders in this area and their research shows that the motivational benefits are experienced by both the person giving and receiving appreciation!
2. Provide Accessible and Interactive Development
Rocket Travel is focusing on manager training. “We are currently collaborating with sr4 Partners on a virtual instructor-led training series to motivate our people leaders to be holistic and healthy as they approach their critical responsibilities during these challenging times,” says Welch.
3. Reinforce Purpose and Reinvent Play
Encourage your senior leadership team to work through the clarity process outlined in Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Advantage. We’ve facilitated a series of workshops based on this model to help organizations get clear on their purpose and to prioritize what play at work can look like in our new distributed work reality.
Motivation is complex, and there are no easy or one-size-fits-all answers. If you, like Rocket Travel, are ready to rethink and recalibrate your approach — don’t hesitate to reach out to us at sr4 Partners and let us help equip your company for the future of work.
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This content was adapted from an Ignite by sr4 leadership experience. If you’d like to bring this training to your team, you can find more details and can reach out here: Motivating Your Distributed Workforce: The New Playbook