According to statistics from Growmotely, only 3% of professionals responded that they would like to go back to working full time at an office after COVID. 61% of them mentioned that they would much rather work remotely full-time. While some companies may require their employees to go back to work, as usual, some organizations will no doubt allow some of their employees to work remotely, even if it’s part-time.

Employee engagement is crucial.

Regardless of the work location of a company’s employees, work must go on. According to statistics, 71% of executives said that employee engagement is crucial for success. This means that for your organization to succeed, you have to keep your employees engaged.

Importance of communication

A great way to ensure that your employees stay engaged is to implement effective communication strategies. Without such systems, it’s not just your employee engagement that suffers but also your customer retention.

Let’s look at some effective communication strategies that will help you keep your employees engaged.

1. Designate check-in times

It is crucial that team managers set up routine times to check in with team members. These check-ins can be used to discuss progress on existing projects, address problems faced, and discuss the best way forward. Additionally, they are a good time for team leaders to keep track of what the team members are up to and any milestones they have.

2. Set quiet times

When communicating, silence is just as important as what is being said. That is why leaders must give their team members quiet time to work and have designated communication times.

This quiet time should not be used to send a barrage of emails and texts. Unless the message being communicated is urgent, the sender should use asynchronous communication methods that allow the receiver to respond at their convenience.

3. Consult before scheduling

When people are working from home, you cannot expect the same promptness of response as when they are in the office. Your employees face far more distractions at home, and effective meetings can only be held when the members had prior communication to organize themselves.

Additionally, it’s always good to give your employees notice before the meeting. This way, they have the time to put together all the information they will need for the meeting.

4. Know how and when your team members prefer to communicate

Some people prefer one-on-one meetings when it comes to communication, others prefer video conferencing, and others still prefer audio conferences. Find out which method many of your employees like and try to use these methods whenever possible.

Additionally, when working remotely, it is now standard practice to offshore tasks and to work with people in different time zones and countries. Find out when your working hours interact or organize meetings for when it is convenient for all parties to meet.

5. Have predefined agendas

According to Hive, only 37% of meetings in America have a plan. Couple this with the fact that the amount of time employees spend in meetings has increased by 10% every year since 2000, and you see a reason to worry.

Leaders and managers calling meetings should always ensure that they have a predefined agenda for calling the meeting. Additionally, they should confirm that this agenda cannot be fulfilled using a less disruptive method like email.

6. Create a communication handbook

There are many communication methods, rules, and tools that make communication effective. When working remotely, it is always essential to delineate specific methods for certain types of communication. Additionally, the handbook can communicate guidelines on which tools to use when.

If you are working with multicultural teams, the handbook can contain rules on communicating effectively and respectfully. These guidelines of dos and don’ts can then be shared with new employees to help them understand the communication culture you wish to uphold.

7. Video conferencing vs. audio conferencing.

This question is particularly useful for businesses that work with remote teams. While there are many benefits of using video conferencing, there are times when audio conferencing would serve the same purpose and work more effectively.

Unless the meeting will run long or some visuals need to be presented, you can rarely go wrong opting to use audio conferencing tools over video conferencing tools.

8. Only invite to meetings people that will add value/ benefit from a meeting.

It would not make sense to hold a meeting for the executives and have the interns attend. It should therefore be common practice to have smaller meetings rather than bigger meetings. Only invite to the meetings people who can contribute to that meeting significantly or benefit from the meeting directly. You can always update everyone else after the meeting, for example, through email.

Having agendas can help reduce the size of the meetings. Rather than have every employee in your company attend the meeting so that you can address every department, divide meetings by agendas. Have smaller multiple meetings that have singular agendas.

9. Shorter meetings over longer meetings

Meetings do not have to be hour-long to be effective. According to Parkinson’s law, work will expand to fill the allotted time. Allot shorter times for meetings and try to fulfill your agenda in that time.

Additionally, avoid using large timeframes as the time increments. If the meeting is running longer than expected, think of adding 15 more minutes, not thirty more minutes. Have it in mind that after 30 minutes, employee engagement in meetings rapidly begins to decline.

10. Use the right tools

With the right tools, you can be able to communicate more effectively. You want to use devices that are easy for your team members to learn and use and that allow clear, concise communication.

Find an audio conference call tool that works.

Audio conference tools do not need to be expensive or complicated. In fact, conference town gives your team access to premium audio conference call features for free.

Ready to try it. Sign up for a free account or get on an instant conference call today and prepare to be positively surprised.