If anything good has come out of this pandemic, it is that many employers have embraced remote work. Unfortunately, like most good things, there seems to be a downside to remote work- fatigue. A number of remote workers are beginning to experience fatigue especially for those who have been isolated for the best part of the year. This makes it imperative for managers, team leads and Chief Executives to consider ways to deal with fatigue in remote teams.
How To Deal With Fatigue In Remote Teams
While remote work has certain advantages, there are also concerns about its adverse impact on mental health. Click To Tweet
In order to boost your team’s morale, and deal with fatigue in remote teams, here are a few suggestions by Andrew Bourne, regional manager, Africa, Zoho Corporation.
1. Organise virtual team building
While micromanaging defeats the success of remote work, holding regular virtual meetings that include brainstorming sessions is advised. You can assign each team member with a date to spearhead the session or discuss topics that are relevant to the team. An in-depth dive into a subject can spark up ideas and creativity. If the organisation can afford it, you can bring in experts to discuss specific topics. This will ensure that the team gain fresh perspective.
2. Give them time out
Without the usual corporate trips or weekend outings, every day probably feels like a weekday for the team. Why not consider giving the team a few days off. This will bring back the leisurely weekend feel and in turn gives the team members, confidence that you care about their well-being and that their jobs aren’t in financial jeopardy.
3. Introduce a mental health wellness programme
Bringing a mental health professional on board can be extremely helpful for employees; especially for those who find it hard to deal with social isolation and loneliness. You can hire an in-house counsellor or offer subsidised clinical screening to those who need help. You can also host seminars to increase awareness and initiate internal discussions to normalise conversations on mental health.
4. Get people moving
Exercise can be a great way to reignite people’s mental freshness. After months at home, they may have slipped into moving less than they did previously. You could organise a virtual group class that everyone can get involved in or make a personal trainer available to advise them on exercises and workouts. You can also inspire them to eat healthy meals by having a chef give healthy food and snack advice, perhaps even including a virtual cook-along class.
5. Use the right tools
Using the wrong tools while working remotely makes online collaboration an extremely frustrating experience. Support your team with the right tools like using a technology provider that offers all the tools they need, so they interoperate seamlessly. For example, an office suite should enable productivity as well as unified communication and collaboration between teams in your office. It should also centralise your team’s workspace, simplify file storage, and streamline team communication.
With the right tools at hand, it also matters how the leadership leverages them. If you have a social intranet platform, use them extensively to connect with your employees. At Zoho, for example, the CEO makes monthly posts about business outlook to talk about how we are faring as a company and what to expect in the coming months. He also hosts open house sessions, where people are free to bring in their concerns and ask questions. Regularly communicating with your employees, and being open about the situation will allow everyone to feel invested and secure. You may choose to read our article on how to select the right software solutions.
Decisions to stay fully remote or to go back to the on-site office are not exclusive of each other anymore. Instead, you may find yourself opting for a hybrid solution where people spend some time in the office and the rest at home. Either way, online collaboration will play an increasingly important role in the workplace. Applied correctly, the lessons you learn here will serve you in the long term.
About Andrew Bourne
Andrew Bourne is Zoho’s Regional Manager for the Africa region and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has more than 15 years of experience in sales and marketing and has spent the last five years focusing on the implementation and testing of various business technologies. He is very passionate about Zoho and has exceptional insight into the business and marketing world.
About Zoho
With 45+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world’s most prolific technology companies. Zoho is privately held and profitable, with more than 9 000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas. with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. More than 50 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. For more information, please visit www.zoho.com.
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