Even if managing remote employees is becoming a more widespread phenomenon, many leaders stills struggle with one of its key aspects – employee recognition. It doesn’t matter whether employees work on-site or remotely – obviously, they need to be engaged and motivated all the same. Here are 9 actionable tips to help you properly recognize remote employees, motivating them to work hard and boosting your team retention rate:

2. In 2015, telecommuting for
work climbed to 37% in the
U.S. alone.
Gallup

3. The average worker
telecommutes 2 days per month.
Gallup

5. Even if managing remote
employees is becoming a more
widespread phenomenon...

6. …many leaders stills
struggle with one of its key aspects -

8. Without the
opportunities for
spontaneous ‘Good job!’
remarks, many managers
are at loss when it comes
to recognizing the achievement of
remote employees.

10. They often report feeling isolated and out
of touch with things that matter to the
organization.
As a result of receiving little to no
feedback, some of them tend to feel
undervalued as well.

11. On the other hand, remote leaders
complain that they have no control over
their employees who have too much
freedom in interacting with clients or too
flexible work schedules.
Flickr user krzyzanowskim C.C.2.0

12. Here are 9 actionable tips to
help you properly recognize
remote employees:

14. Getting to know the traditions of a
multinational workforce, you’ll be able to
interact with them appropriately and
recognize important days/holidays in their
national calendar.

15. -

16. While technologies allow for seamless
communication, face-to-face meetings
are still more powerful when it comes to
employee engagement and recognition.

18. Hold informal “water-cooler” sessions
through Skype once or twice a week to
keep the lines of communication open and
help the team to become friendly with each
other.

20. It’s important that team members can
quickly recognize each other’s effort or
help.
They can, for instance, send each other
thank-you notes and cards.

22. You can introduce a reward system for
remote employees.
For instance, you create the most
productive/happiest/helpful remote
employee of the week award.

24. Gamification is excellent for boosting
employee engagement and motivation, and
you can add recognition to the mix as well.
Organize team activities like sessions of
online work bingo together.

25. “Employees need to feel included, as if they
are part of a team. (…) Team-based goals
and competitions help build a sense of
collaboration and cooperation.
Teams can be based on function or location,
with the key goal being inclusion in striving
towards a common objective.”
Tony Ventrice, senior games designer at Badgeville
via Business News Daily

26. -

27. Email thank-you notes are way easier and
faster to send but when it comes to
recognizing and motivating employees
they have one serious weakness – they
aren’t personal.

29. Build a space where remote employees
can post cartoons, or funny images and
comment on every piece of content.

31. Positive reinforcement should be
delivered regularly to keep employees
engaged and motivated.
Make sure that remote employees are
recognized and rewarded consistently
via Skype, social media platforms or
instant messaging in real-time.

32. Recognition is key to boosting the
morale of your team and helping
employees collaborate without any
glitches.

33. If you fail to recognize their
efforts, sooner or later you’ll
have to deal with motivation and
productivity problems.

34. Read the full article by Simone Smith here.
Read the complete
article by Simone
Smith here.

35. Visit our Employee Engagement & HR Community for
more news, insights and resources!