4 Ways to Engage your Remote or Hybrid Team

Even a few years after our worlds have been flipped upside down, 35% of US employees who are able to work remotely choose to do so most of the time. According to Pew Research Center, 41%  “of those with jobs that can be done remotely are working a hybrid schedule”. More and more teams around the world are opting to work remotely, either completely or a few days a week. In the old, in-office days, we took it for granted that you could see and say hi to anyone on the daily. People were engaged just by coming into the office and having lunch with their coworkers. Employee Engagement was a topic of conversation, but not nearly as much as it is in the world where remote and hybrid work have been more than a trend.

Even in-person companies are more likely than ever to have employees in multiple offices, sometimes in multiple countries, with each location growing its own separate culture. 

As a leader of a remote or hybrid team, how do you engage your employees in a way that is authentic and invites genuine engagement? 

What is Employee Engagement? 

Quantum Workplace defines employee engagement as “the strength of the mental and emotional connection employees feel toward the organization that they work for, their team, and their work.“ When people are engaged in their work, they are more excited to collaborate with their colleagues, overcome challenges and master their roles. 

Why does Employee Engagement matter?

When employees are disengaged the opposite happens: their colleagues and their organization suffer as a whole. According to Gallup’s survey on employee engagement, in 2023, only 33% of employees reported feeling engaged at work, with disengaged employees causing $1.9 Billion in lost productivity. Even prior to the lagging indicator of financial harm, some of the key benefits of an engaged workforce are employee retention and lower turnover, increased customer satisfaction, reduced absetenteeism and higher morale. 

The good thing about employee engagement is that it is built, nurtured and created by small things, done well, every day. As a leader, the best thing you can do is start trying new ways to engage your team today, and see which one works for your team. Here are 54 simple ways to engage your employees despite the physical distance between them: 

1. Create an off-topic channel in Slack or Microsoft Teams for people to engage in non-work conversations. 

Get to know your team as human beings by creating a new channel on a topic that is near and dear to their heart. Some crowd favorites are pet channels and cooking channels. This will create a space for your team to share their favorite pet photos or recipes without obligation. As a leader, lead the way: be the first one to share, ask questions every so often to encourage people to share, and engage in other’s contributions along the way. As people start getting more engaged in non-work topics and building relationships (even remotely) with their colleagues, their engagement and enthusiasm will transfer to work-related situations as well. 

2. Invest in synchronous team-building activities

Planning a synchronous team building activity can be difficult when everyone is remote, or split between remote and in the office, but luckily there are so many providers and tools that make that task easy. Companies like Teambuilding.com have specialized in organizing and providing team building experiences focused on anything from virtual escape rooms, to trivia games and wellness experiences. For a less programmatic experience, consider scheduling team lunches or happy hours where people get to enjoy their meal or favorite beverage while chatting with their colleagues. 

3. Schedule time for volunteer work as a team

Even though your team is remote, volunteer work as a team is not a far fetched activity. Schedule time on everyone’s calendar when work is likely to be slow (Friday afternoon, as an example) and encourage everyone to sign up for a volunteer activity for the afternoon. People who are in the same city can team up and do a volunteer project together, while the rest can pick an activity of their choosing. Encourage people to share ahead where they are volunteering and at the end of the day, ask people to share photos and summaries of their experiences. This will allow people to content simply by doing something important at the same time, even though miles apart, and share stories of their individual experiences later. You can also partner with someone like Impact4Good that helps your team engage while also doing good.

4. Leverage a peer-to-peer recognition tool

For people who prefer to engage asynchronously and who would like to know more about all the work that is happening in the company, peer-to-peer recognition is a great way to put the power to engage in everyone’s hands. With a tool like HeyTaco, every employee has 5 tacos, or 5 messages of appreciation, to give out to their teammates every day to recognize the work they are doing. This practice helps recognition become an active habit everyone on the team is building in their way and the comfort of their own remote offices. Plus, it helps people know the awesome work their teammates are doing, which in turn becomes a great conversation starter for the coffee chats and 1-1’s. With HeyTaco, you have a tool that lives on its own and that provides a type of team engagement that your remote team can enjoy every day, regardless of time zones and countries.

HeyTaco helps you engage employees in a fun and meaningful way

Peer-to-peer recognition can be a fun and meaningful way to engage your employees. By integrating tools like the HeyTaco app for Slack or Microsoft Teams, employees have the opportunity to share messages of gratitude to their teammates by including a playful taco emoji. By encouraging and building a habit of gratitude, employees share recognition with each other, allowing them to learn what others also value about them. That knowledge helps employees engage with their team, with their work and find purpose in how their work helps their team and their company.

For over 8 years thousands of teams around the world have leveraged HeyTaco to help engage employees in building a habit of gratitude that becomes a foundation of an engaged workforce.

Start your journey toward a more engaged and connected workplace — one taco at a time. To get started, download the app and watch your team flourish.