The pandemic has imposed challenges for people and organisations across the globe. Companies have been through a whirlwind to keep up with work, employee motivation, retention, acquisition, the work culture, and business in totality.
But, with the world opening up and a different kind of work setup is in place, the next big challenge corporates are tested against is the deterioration of employee motivation. Whether working remotely, in the office, or in a hybrid environment, skepticism about the pandemic has been ingrained at both ends.
If you are in that lucky minority, your team is as motivated as before. The global outcast of the virus is different from your share of troubles. But, many companies are seeing a drop in employee engagement and motivation, and CEOs and HR managers are working to fix it. So, how is it that you can keep your employees motivated and get their motivation back after almost 20 months of seperation?
In truth, if you don’t galvanise them now, your company will, without any doubt, struggle, as your workforce is the most important stakeholder in your organisation.
Why Is It Important To Keep Your Employees Motivated?
Long Durations Of Work From Home
Your employees have been working from home since the start of the pandemic. For what it feels like a decade, the work from the home situation has been prevalent. In this situation, it is quite obvious that the motivation drops massively.
Not just motivation, but the work from home situation has also impacted the physical and mental well-being of the employees. They have been exhausted, depressed and anxious.
Hence, finding innovative ways to iterate and inspire employees with the new normal is rather important.
Boost Morale
Qualtrics report shows that the prolonged impact of Covid-required working from home has an increasingly pervasive impact on our mental health as 41.6% of respondents report mental health decline since the outbreak of Covid-19.
This figure indicates that boosting the employees’ morale is non-negotiable when returning to work post-pandemic.
Show Support To Those Affected
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken people apart from their place of work, colleagues, and their otherwise day-to-day routine. In the case of many people, it has added stress, created a drop in morale, and disrupted team cohesion, all of which has caused havoc in work performed. This is why actively encouraging a sense of inclusion at work is the essence at the moment.
Small actions can create a valuable impact on the minds of the employees. Help them emotionally, financially, and in another way possible. This will make the employees feel appreciated for their contributions to the organisation.
How Can You Keep Your Employees Motivated and Engaged Post Pandemic?
If you have been trying to keep the employees motivated and engaged after the pandemic, these strategies might be of your help.
Work Together
However obvious it might seem, working together has become even true and relevant, irrespective of working in an office with full attendance, part attendance, or remotely, still at home.
Face-to-face(virtual or in-person) interactions are the essence of building relationships with employees, especially in the case of SMEs. With restrictions lifted and staff wanting to get back to the office, handling their frustration gets even difficult.
Hence, conduct group calls and create systems that help employees motivate and encourage them while getting back to work post-pandemic.
Don’t Miss Out On The Regular Team-Building Activities
Going out on team excursions had its fun in the pre-pandemic time. But in the post-pandemic scenario, going out might not entirely be feasible. Still conducting fun and engaging team-building activities is of preliminary importance as it would help employees get refreshed while also giving them a new outlook of work.
Your team needs time to relax and rejuvenate now more than ever! Conducting recreational activities like paintball, jigsaw puzzles, board games, office debates, listening to some music together are all great ideas to spark inspiration back in your working staff.
Set Up a Digital Signage & Showcase A Social Wall
The next best way to lure the audience’s attention is by setting up digital signage and showcasing various content together.
Through digital signage, you can display the content of different kinds together and make communication smooth. Choose to display motivational quotes, company updates, employee appreciation posts, etc., on your digital screen to fetch the employees’ attention and keep them entertained and informed.
Further, you can also showcase a social wall on digital signage to inspire your audience’s attention by keeping them posted about what people around the world have to say about your business.
A social wall is the aggregation of content created on social media platforms by users, fans, and employees via hashtags, mentions, tags, etc., on social media platforms. Using social wall platforms like Taggbox Display, you can collect, curate, and display this content and share your messages of empathy and togetherness with the employees.
This will also motivate the employees, encourage them to create content, and lift their spirits.
Conduct Fun & Interactive Gaming Sessions
Conducting fun and interactive gaming sessions isn’t difficult for any workplace setting. You can create a space for these fun and engaging activities in your day-to-day schedule too.
These activities can create an interactive and refreshing environment for the employees and keep them looking forward to their day.
Let’s Call It A Wrap
Keeping employees motivated after they come from work is a difficult task, but with a strategic plan, things can get easy.
Nothing is more important than to keep your working staff in the best of their mental shape, to then boost the performance of your business.
Leverage these activities and make a great impact on how your employees perceive work after the pandemic by amplifying their motivation.
Author: Neeraj Singal – CEO of Taggbox, a user-generated content platform.
Photo credit: Sergei Belozerov from Pixabay
