Raise your hand if you work for a remote company! At AddEvent, we’re proud to be a remote (slash hybrid for those who are lucky enough to call San Francisco home!) company with employees located all across the globe.

We’ve been this way since before the 2020 pandemic forced a lot of organizations to rethink the way they work. Still, we are excited to see this trend continue to grow every year as more and more organizations see the value of building a robust, remote workforce.

After all, a 2022 study from Tracking Happiness found that working remotely increases employee happiness by at least 20%! And we all know that happier employees are more productive, healthier, and overall extremely successful in both their work and personal lives. It’s no surprise that happier, more satisfied teams are extremely loyal to their companies, which significantly reduces expensive turnover.

But just because there are tons of benefits to embracing a remote workforce, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other factors that now need to be carefully considered.

One of the largest complaints made by remote teams is the lack of community they typically have within a physical office environment. This sense of isolation or disconnection from not having that “water cooler talk” between each other can make it extra difficult for employees to feel as though they know one another and are connected to the company as a whole.

Another issue that often pops up is miscommunication or a lack of communication between departments or teams that don’t necessarily work closely together. There’s a real need for strategic, organized communication processes to avoid anyone feeling as though they don’t know what’s going on with the company at large.

Here’s the thing: remote work is an incredible opportunity to hand-select the best team members available from all around the world, but it does require some extra effort to execute it successfully year after year.

Here are some unconventional and inspirational ways your team can implement easily within your remote strategy. Check it out!

Host Virtual Get-Togethers with a Twist

Not every meeting needs to be a boring one. There’s not much worse than getting together for a meeting and feeling like it was a complete waste of time — which is why it’s important to infuse an element of excitement into your regular virtual calls.

Our team at AddEvent tries to incorporate a little bit of fun into every company-wide meeting we gather together for. Whether it’s hosting a virtual baking session, ordering lunch via Uber Eats for everyone to enjoy during lunchtime calls, or playing Kahoot as a team, each of these acts as informal team-building exercises that allow us to get some insight into each other’s personalities outside of the 9–5 grind.

Keep those Communication Channels Wide Open

It can be hard to get everyone’s feedback on certain things when there’s a lack of small talk happening around the office, so be intentional about collecting everyone’s thoughts on various topics like company initiatives, events, and future ideas.

Use an online tool like Google Forms or Survey Monkey to allow everyone to anonymously disclose their feelings on things without the fear of being singled out.

By actively seeking their opinions on various aspects of work, you’re demonstrating a commitment to their input, ultimately boosting engagement and making employees feel valued and seen, regardless of where they log in from every day.

Praise and Recognize Accomplishments

Keep that morale up by acknowledging and appreciating employee efforts as soon as possible! Create a Slack channel that everyone can use to give props to each other for jobs well done and encourage them to share wins that might be happening in other areas of their lives. By including not just work-related accomplishments but also celebrating major milestones in each of your teammates’ lives, you can forge stronger connections with each other despite the distance.

Whether it’s a project completion, exceeding targets, or demonstrating exceptional teamwork, public acknowledgment goes a long way in boosting morale and reinforcing a positive work culture, even in a remote setting.

Prioritize and Incentivize Health and Well-being

Everyone who’s spent any amount of time working from home understands how easily the lines blur for that work-life balance we’re always talking about. If your home is your office, and your office is your home, how can you ever truly end your work day?

This is made even more difficult for teams who are positioned across a variety of time zones since some of your employees will start and end their workdays earlier than others. Because of this, it’s important to be clear about your expectations for work/life balance — and encourage your team to log out at the end of the day and avoid checking their email or communication channels until they log on to work next. By being conscientious of the lives your team members have outside of their careers, you’ll find that they will be much more dedicated to their work during work hours.

Make it a Priority to Meet IRL A Few Times a Year

Now, this might be difficult to pull off, depending on how big or spread apart your team is, but we highly recommend making it a priority to get the entire team together at least once (if not a few times!) a year. This allows you all to really get to know each other during these in-person offsites and also gives your team something exciting and rewarding to look forward to!

AddEvent is proud to get heads-down on some serious work when we gather together all across the country a few times a year. Not only do we take the opportunity to collaborate cross-departmentally on some big projects while we’re all together, but we also make sure we schedule some fun activities there, too! It’s a great blend of work hard and play hard when we take the time away from our “normal” lives to come together on these company retreats.

In today’s world, it’s no longer enough just to allow your company to “go remote” — you need to take an active role in making sure each and every one of your employees feel engaged, productive, and like they’re a valuable part of your team. Try implementing a few of these tips into your engagement strategy, and see how much stronger your business can become!