Download: Employee engagement for remote and flexible workers

As the world moves to more of a hybrid approach keeping your employees feeling engaged and valued can be tough. That's because engagement has traditionally been owned by HR and focuses on in-person initiatives. But that just won't cut it when it comes to employee engagement for remote workers.

The world of work has just gone through its most turbulent 24-month period since the Great Depression. The way that we work, where we work, how we work; it’s all been shaken up. And how we ‘do’ employee engagement needs to keep up.

Technology plays an even bigger role in our day-to-day than any futurologists could have predicted. We live in a digital-first world where solutions to engagement challenges must be technology-based. That's because they need to reach maximum effectiveness and efficiency at scale. Engagement has 3.8x as much influence on employee stress as work location. That means remote working is not to blame here, but the tools we use to understand, measure and improve it, are.

This guide helps you cut through the noise that surrounds employee engagement for remote workers and applies the context we find ourselves working in today.

Employee engagement for remote workers: The highlights

Download our guide to employee engagement for remote workers to learn everything you need to know. We cover everything from understanding if you’re ready to have engaged people, to rolling out a digital-first employee engagement strategy.

• Why employee engagement isn’t for everyone (pg 3)
• The link between performance and engagement (pg 8)
• Your managers are the ace up your sleeve (pg 10)
• A behaviour-based model for engagement (pg 13)
• Who actually owns engagement? (pg 15)
• Employee engagement: now vs. how it should be (pg 18)
• Practical tips for embracing technology for employee engagement for remote working (pg 21)

Your managers have one hand tied behind their backs

Managers account for more than 70% of engagement variance. Employees with highly engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged than employees supervised by actively disengaged managers.

Managers play an integral role in ensuring employee engagement for remote workers because they have a closer relationship with employees than senior leaders and HR. They understand their employees’ day-to-day work and should have some responsibility in ensuring that they feel motivated.

It’s important for managers to create an environment where employees can openly discuss their work and how they're feeling. Although most employees don't feel engaged in their work. Gallup reports that 87% of European and 69% of US employees are disengaged and quitting, whether that's loudly or quietly.

So are managers to blame here? Yes and no…

Only 18% of managers have the right skills and personality to succeed as a manager. Whether hired or promoted ineffectively, these types of people can cause huge issues of their own, but even successful managers can fall short when it comes to effective employee engagement.

72% of managers admit they don’t understand what employee engagement is and 83% say they’re unclear on their organisation’s strategy around engagement. It’s clear a lack of knowledge, training and the correct tools are hampering improvements.

Outdated performance processes make it hard to boost employee engagement for remote workers

Outdated and largely ineffective processes are still prevalent in a lot of businesses. Annual employee engagement surveys are still the primary tool for many. But 80% of businesses say they see no benefit from them! And the annual reviews are the only way to measure individual performance.

To tackle employee engagement for remote workers effectively, managers need to have a complete and effective toolkit. HR professionals need to look at the fundamental elements that make up engagement (use our model on page 20 for this) and plot how the current tools at the disposal of their managers support this.

This excerpt is from our latest best practice guide: Employee Engagement in a Remote Working World. Download your copy using the form below.