Ideas for Festive & Inclusive Workplace Holiday Celebrations
Find festive and inclusive workplace holiday celebration ideas to boost and strengthen team bonds and show employee appreciation.
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Find out why your remote employees are underperforming, & learn strategies to help manage and motivate them to get back on track
The way we work has changed dramatically in recent years, with 87% of employees wanting to work remotely at least once a week. No commute, no picking out a suit, or doing your makeup; it’s easy to understand why people like remote working.
For managers, though, it can be a challenge. You can’t keep an eye on your team or answer questions quickly. There are a host of problems for remote workers, too, from isolation and loneliness to terrible work setups. Remote working can be rewarding, but it can also be tricky. Let’s look at some strategies to make it easier.
When you have an underperforming remote employee, it can be easy to assume that the problem lies with the employee. But, as you’ve probably guessed, there’s far more to it than that.
The truth is, if you want to manage remote employees and monitor workplace motivation effectively, it’s vital to understand the root causes of their underperformance. There are a lot of factors that can affect your team’s ability to work, and while it’s tempting to blame them, there’s a good chance the problem is at your end, not theirs.
The first common problem is the difficulty in communicating with others when working remotely. Technology has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, but video calls aren’t a perfect substitute for face-to-face meetings.
It’s also entirely possible that your own system is putting in blocks to communication. For example, something as simple as the difference between hosted and cloud communications can affect the effectiveness of remote connectivity. Just because you can connect to your network easily in the office doesn’t mean your remote employees can.
Likewise, the inability to ask a coworker a quick question across their desk means many workers spend hours researching queries that would take moments to answer in an office. Having instant messaging options can help with this, but it’s still no guarantee of a quick response. Pair this with poor internet connections, bad-quality headsets, varying time zones, and a range of other problems, and it’s easy to see how performance can slip.
Corporate communication is a vital aspect that often gets overlooked in remote work scenarios. Ensuring effective corporate communication channels and tools can help bridge the gaps and streamline information flow among remote teams.
You could be forgiven for thinking that working from home is all sunshine and roses. There are certainly things to enjoy - no commute, your own kitchen, and comfy clothing. However, there are a lot of stresses that can come with working from home.
Your employees may not have a proper office space, for example. A recent study by Xmos found that 22% of employees have difficulties with their remote setup, rising to 29% of younger employees.
Another problem is the fact that when you work from home, you’re always at the office. Many workers feel like they have to be at work 24/7 instead of getting the chance to switch off, leading to stress and burnout.
This can be particularly striking when you consider the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees – exempt employees may feel like they have to work more hours, but won’t get financially rewarded for doing so.
Another critical factor contributing to underperformance is the lack of adequate resources and training. New starters, in particular, may not get the same level of orientation if they work remotely from the beginning. This can lead to them feeling excluded, as well as left fumbling around in the dark for answers.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons remote workers may be underperforming. Yet, with more people wanting to work from home, these challenges need to be met if you wish to have a happy, well-motivated workforce.
With that in mind, let's have a look at some strategies you can implement to motivate and manage your underperforming remote employees.
The first step towards finding out what’s holding your employees back is to ask them. Be empathetic to what they have to say, and try to put yourself in their shoes.
Imagine you have an employee who, despite previously being one of your best workers, has experienced a dramatic drop in productivity after starting to work from home. During a conversation with them, they mention problems with their internet connection. It turns out they lived on a houseboat, and have been relying on an old cellphone for their internet connection.
By actually listening to their problems and undertaking a little bit of research on 4G vs. 5G, it turns out that a cheap smartphone is all it takes to return them to their previous level of productivity. When you understand what your underperforming remote employee’s difficulties are, you’ll be able to come up with solutions - but you need to be open to what they have to say.
Some ways to foster this remote communication include:
It can also be worth using a tool like Assembly to keep an eye on your internal communication, as it can be easy to over or underestimate just how often you’re in touch.
Clear expectations and well-defined goals are critical for underperforming remote employees. That way, you’re both on the same page as to what is required of them and how their success will be measured. This clarity is even more crucial in a remote setting, where direct supervision is limited.
Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals ensures that expectations are clear and achievable. For example, after a conversation with a remote sales rep, you might agree they should:
“Increase their weekly sales by an average of 10% by their next quarterly review. They will do this by devoting an afternoon a week to building their customer base and calling new leads.”
Let’s break this down to see how it works:
Specific: “Increase their weekly sales”
Set out straightforward tasks that are easy to understand.
Measurable: “by an average of 10%”
By putting a number on it, it is easy to agree on how well they are achieving their goal.
Achievable: “by devoting an afternoon a week”
Make sure that the goal isn’t overwhelming. Breaking the task down into smaller, more achievable tasks is a great way to do this.
Relevant: “to building their customer base and calling new leads.”
This task should move your employee in the direction of being more productive in general in the future.
Time-bound: “by their next quarterly review”
Setting a timeframe to achieve the task ensures there are clear expectations for when it must be accomplished by.
Because of the isolation of working from home, it is all too common for employees to struggle because they haven’t been given the right resources. Yet, they often won’t mention it to you, assuming that you know the difficulties they face. Check that your underperforming remote employees have access to the proper training and tools to do the job.
This can be done by:
However, it’s not just knowledge that your remote employees need. They also need access to the right tools. Essential tools include:
Workers are motivated by a lot of different things. Some people are just in it for cold, hard cash. Some want the status of being the best, while others thrive on praise. You might find some of your team live for perks, like work anniversary celebrations.
No matter what it is, though, everyone has something that will push them to achieve their potential while ensuring they feel appreciated. Ask your team what works for them, and consider the best ways to implement it.
For instance, if you used to have food catered to celebrate hitting targets, why not encourage everyone to order takeout and reimburse them instead?
You can also take advantage of your online tools to recognise your ‘best’ workers, providing a place where people can submit nominations every week or month that will automatically tell you who got the most votes.
Remember, whatever the rewards you offer, make sure you let everyone know when someone is doing well or improving. Everyone enjoys feeling appreciated for their hard work.
While working from home can be great for some of your employees, others can struggle with remote work. Combined with the challenges of managing and motivating them remotely, this can quickly spiral. By taking the time to set up suitable management systems, acting quickly when you notice a problem, and talking to your employees with kindness and understanding, you can stop problems as soon as they start - meaning both you, and them, are happier and more productive.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore GuideYes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered