How to motivate your remote workers after a vacation

Getting back to work after a vacation can be hard. It requires readjusting to schedules, routines and workload. And this is even harder for people who work from home. 

Although remote workers may have a more flexible schedule, they still need to find the motivation to pick up where they left off. 

As more and more people work remotely, managers also need to find ways to motivate their employees and keeping their team engaged and productive. 

When it comes to motivation, managers need to take into account that each individual is motivated by different things. There is no miracle solution that can be applied to ensure you get the best results from everyone.

If you are trying to find ways to motivate your team, here are some tips you can take into consideration and adapt according to your needs.

Communication is the key

People are social beings, they need to interact and be part of a group. For co-located workers, seeing and talking to their colleagues make being back in the office and getting back to their routine much easier. 

People who work remotely also need to communicate, so make sure you keep in touch and bring them up to speed to the development of the project while they were away. 

Good communication goes both ways, so make sure your employees know they can reach you whenever they need assistance. And one-on-one communication will also give you an insight into what motivates them. 

When requesting things, try to give a reason. Using the word “because” makes people more compliant and also makes employees feel that they are talking to a partner rather than a boss giving orders.

Also remember that a simple “thank you” goes a long way. 

Remind them of the goals

When coming back from a vacation, resuming your tasks and all the new requests that arose during your time away can be overwhelming. 

You should organize short meetings, either with the whole team or individual ones, to review targets and prioritize tasks. Allow time to readjust and set clear and simple tasks for the first few days. 

Use rewards

Rewards are always a good incentive to motivate people, you just need to find the right ones for your team. You may already use a reward system for major deadlines and projects throughout the year, but don’t forget those little incentives to help your workers stay motivated in slow periods, like an afternoon off or a letter of appreciation from a manager recognizing their performance.

Challenges

A little healthy competition can help your employees get back quickly into the “working mode’. You can share examples of other people’s achievements to motivate employees who will also like their work to be lauded. An internal competition between teams will make team members motivate each other and get focused easier. 

Remember their careers

Even if they are not present every day at the office, remote employees are a part of your team and have career aspirations of their own. Make sure you understand their chosen career paths and offer them possibilities to work toward that. 

If you want to find out more about how to manage your remote team, we will bring you more tips in the upcoming posts.