Back before COVID, a lot of people would have jumped at the chance to work permanently from home. But now that it has happened, the general consensus is that some are finding it quite difficult to keep themselves motivated. Now, more people are saying that they\u2019d like more of a hybrid model- working from home as well as from the office to incorporate some variety into their working lives.<\/p>\n
This hybrid model is what most companies will opt for when it is safe to have their employees back to the office. However, it seems society isn\u2019t at that point just yet and perhaps some people will never actually return to the office, so how can companies keep their employees motivated and engaged as the novelty of working from home wears off?<\/p>\n
Recruit Ireland spoke with Emma Keane, with Relationships Specialist about how people become disengaged when working from home and what companies can do to reengage them.<\/p>\n
What causes disengagement whilst working from home\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Emma told Recruit Ireland things wouldn\u2019t be as hard for people \u201cif we only had to work from home, and we weren\u2019t limited in what we could and we could go outside our homes, but socially we are compromised. On a day-to-day basis, we are working from home and it has become a capsule environment,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n Emma compares working in the office every day to working from home every day and says \u201cthe room people are working from is the room they\u2019re living in and there\u2019s no variety. They\u2019re not being stimulated enough and as humans we need stimulation. The basis of our behavior is interaction; something as simple as the human touch. There are a few human things that we\u2019re lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n A companies responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n Emma says those in managerial positions need to be responsible for the social needs of their team. She said that \u201cbefore Christmas people would have been ok but now there\u2019s no end in sight and we\u2019re back to back zoom meetings\u201d.<\/p>\n As a manager herself, Emma stressed the importance of \u201cpicking up the phone to people\u201d rather than video calling to avoid Zoom fatigue.<\/p>\n Zoom fatigue is tiredness, worry, or burnout associated with the overuse of virtual platforms of communication, particularly videoconferencing.<\/p>\n The \u2018Three R\u2019s model\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cResponse, recognition, and reward, that\u2019s what managers need to be doing,\u201d Emma said. \u201cRespond to their needs, recognize what they\u2019ve been going through as a person, the work they\u2019ve been doing, and acknowledge that it\u2019s not easy. Reward your employees; human beings are goal-oriented. We still need those rewards, get creative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Emma acknowledges that the idea of wellness and mindfulness as a way of coping with working from home is a jaded concept and says that \u201ccoming together as an organization and bringing someone in from the outside\u201d can help with a team’s re-engagement. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cSometimes people come to work to meet their friends, that\u2019s missing. Zoom isn\u2019t the same and the workspace is cramped.<\/p>\n Companies are having to adapt. Some will do it brilliantly, those who are technologically aware, but the rest of us had to scramble,\u201d she said. \u201cAcknowledge how brilliantly we have done, we have done well in a very difficult time. Communication is key\u201d.<\/p>\n Acknowledgment and affirmation<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAffirm that things will get better. A leader of an organisation has the responsibility to lead at a time like this, they\u2019re the ones that will shine, are able to see beyond the short term, and know that in the long term things will be ok and we will recover. We have to be philosophical. The human spirit is strong, but spirits do need to be built up again. As professionals, we know that resilience can be built up again. On one level you\u2019re dealing with a traumatized population and what heals that is time, affirmation, and positive regard. We need to hold our employees in positive regard where we can,\u201d said Emma.<\/p>\n