Isolation Motivation: Leaders, Are You Doing Enough?

16 Apr, 2020

It’s been well established over the past few weeks that working from home is the new normal, and will be for a little while. Every company that can, has been enforcing this in order to protect themselves and their employees from the Coronavirus crisis. With this change, as with any, comes perks and hitches.

Generally speaking, technology is an area that often brings about hindrances more frequently than you’d hoped. Childcare can also make working hours more difficult, especially now that since lockdown, there is none. One thing you must make sure doesn’t become a key issue in this remote working situation, is employee motivation and wellbeing. This is a topic that can sometimes be neglected unintentionally, whilst weak internet connections and video cameras that won’t connect take the stage every time.

A key factor of home working is self-motivation, which is especially difficult when something as serious as a pandemic is happening. What’s more, there are constant updates and reminders of the situation coming through on our phones and other screens. This means that naturally, sometimes employees need a bit of help.

As the management team of your company, it’s your job to motivate your team during times like these. This is where your employee motivation and wellbeing strategy is needed more than ever.

Don’t be a stranger

Firstly, as any regular home workers will know, working from home gets very lonely. Something that may take a bit of getting used to is not having other people around you, people that you’re used to seeing every day. This is where video calls come in. You may be wondering why video calls rather than regular phone calls…

Having daily catch ups with your entire team is good for you and for everybody else in the business as well, as it ensues a good habit of regular communication. On the wellbeing side of it, you need to see them to make sure they’re okay and make the conversation as real and as useful as you can. You might be surprised about how much a group video call can boost the morale of the group – especially if like us, you sometimes make it a costume call!

If you have had to make the difficult decision and furlough team members, you should help them to still feel connected, don’t forget about keeping in touch with them! We’ve turned our Friday afternoon catch up call into ‘Fun Friday’, and the team members who are on furlough are able to join in with the crazy quizzes we do!

Managerial Support

Secondly, employees keeping in regular contact with their line managers can work wonders for productivity levels. Something that we practice at ISO QSL, is during our daily catch ups and email to our line managers, we share three things, big or small, that if we complete during the day, we’ll feel a sense of achievement.

Making self-care a priority

Finally, the obvious yet still forgotten about wellbeing tips include things regarding physical health, which in turn benefits your emotional health. These tips consist of things such as: drinking enough water, getting some exercise, going outside at some point in the day, eating regularly, getting enough sleep and taking regular breaks from working. Reading these, you’re probably thinking – well, yeah? Isn’t that obvious? Yes! So why do these things still get treated as if they aren’t a priority?

One possible answer may be around the management team’s main focus, which understandably would be trying to get the business to the other side of this pandemic in one piece. However, whilst all of this is going on, you need to be looking after the people that make your business successful!

Our infographic around wellbeing might help you… click here.