How to Motivate Employees during COVID 19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected employees and employers all around the world. Workers had to adapt their work style and incorporate work into their home space. Work from home became the new fad, and this drastic change in the work environment has its advantages and disadvantages.

The mental, emotional, and physical well-being of employees has to be taken into consideration by corporations. Actions need to be taken to ensure that workers don’t experience burnout and stay motivated to provide the company with the best quality of work in these difficult circumstances. In this article, we discuss the various ways in which employers can keep their employee’s morale high and get the most out of their workers without pushing them past their limits.

HR professionals have noticed a significant shift in the dynamic that comes with working at home. Employees find the lines between work and leisure blurred, and their work often bleeds into their leisure time. Also, employees are not equipped with all the facilities that the office would generally provide them. This can make it challenging to maintain the same quality of work, especially for jobs that require specific technology that may not be found at home.

Training and learning that would usually take place in the physical presence are now conducted through online classes. These online classes aren’t always as effective as a physical class would be. Organizations can improve remote learning by introducing immersive content, personalized recommendations, and leadership coaching. Employees need to take ownership of these new learning procedures to make the most of them.  

1. Encourage them to learn a new skill.

Motivating your workers and assisting them in learning new skills that can benefit them, in the long run, goes a long way in showing workers that you care about their overall development.

2. Stay connected

Talk to your workers about how the pandemic has affected their lives; by doing so, you will get a better understanding of their mental state. Checking in on your workers and ensuring that they are not too stressed out by work will improve their morale.

3. Reward your team

Small gifts for hardworking employees show them that their work has not gone unnoticed. It also motivates other workers to do their best and improve their performance. An excellent way to show your workers that the company values their work is to reward them with recognition. Announcing positive outcomes and providing positive affirmation in a group setting are the best ways to show workers that their efforts are recognized.

4. Promote self-care

Employers need to understand that each employee requires a different kind of support. The least an employer can do is remind workers to take care of themselves and not overwork themselves to the point of burnout. Employers can show the workers that they care about their well-being, motivating employees to give their best on the job every day.  

Communicating with the right frequency and transparency plays a major role in letting your employees know that you trust them and, in turn, allows them to trust you. Building rapport with your workers by sharing the company’s long-term vision allows them to understand better how their work is oriented with the company’s vision. Giving workers this clarity will help them understand why their work is important to the company’s development. Employees should be treated as partners of the company; this will make them value their stake in the company and push them to work for its betterment.

A simple way to enforce transparent communication is to constantly share videos with company updates that give workers the complete picture of the company’s current position. In uncertain times like these, providing workers with these updates will remove any room for guesswork and rumors, allowing employees to focus on fulfilling their role in the best way possible. Employers can get rid of stress and ambiguity amongst the workers by sharing details about how COVID-19 has impacted business operations. Any significant changes to strategy, workforce and daily operations should be communicated to all the related workers immediately to ensure no one is left in the dark.

Employees need to understand that their work carries weight; if they do not understand the importance of their role in fulfilling the company’s vision, they might slack off and produce subpar work, affecting the company’s functioning.

The best possible way to help workers understand the importance of their work is to show appreciation for their efforts. This can be done through vocal praise or with small tokens of appreciation like gifts and goodies. In addition, try to be as transparent as possible with your team. Ambiguity will most certainly cause stress and anxiety for your employees, so reduce the uncertainty by being open and honest with your team.

Until normalcy is restored, employers need to care for their workers by looking out for their emotional wellbeing and ensuring that they are not too stressed out by work. Appreciating the efforts of hardworking employees will give them a reason to continue their quality work and motivate others to do their best.  The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed the way employees approach their work, but employers’ responsibility is to ensure that their workers are not overworked or left with a sense of burnout. The best way to counter this is by rewarding and recognizing their efforts with PeerFives. PeerFives is perfect for growing teams and celebrating employee success.