Employee engagement is hard enough as is. When you take employees out of the office and disperse them across dozens or hundreds of physical locations, it becomes exponentially more challenging. But with the right strategy, you can keep your team connected and engaged with minimal blowback.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement isn’t about keeping employees happy (though it certainly helps). It’s not even about employee satisfaction. It’s the emotional commitment an employee has to your organization and its goals.

As entrepreneur and business owner Kevin Kruse says, “This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don't work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization's goals.”

When employees are engaged, they go the extra mile. They use what Kruse calls “discretionary effort” - working overtime when needed, taking initiative when necessary, and owning responsibilities even when there’s no direct accountability. They also happen to be happier and more satisfied in their roles (though, as previously mentioned, this is not the ultimate goal).

Kruse points to a research report that suggests companies with engaged teams have 6 percent higher net profit margins. In other words, there is a tangible impact on the bottom line.

4 Employee Engagement Tactics

Employee engagement is arguably harder to foster in a remote setting where there’s limited face-to-face interaction with employees and coworkers. It’s not, however, impossible. With the right approach, you can keep your remote team engaged and productive.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Spend One-on-One Time With Employees

It’s one thing to have a macro understanding of your team. It’s something else to know your employees on a personal level. The more you spend one-on-one time with your employees, the easier it becomes to know your team’s dynamic, what makes them tick, and how you can help them feel more invested.

For a remote team, one-on-one time might look like a 15-minute video call with one employee every day. If you have 20 employees, this means you’re meeting with each employee once per month.

While it’s fine to discuss work on these calls, it’s best if you save the majority of the time for other topics of conversation. The goal is to understand who your employees are on a personal level, while also giving them the opportunity to get to know you. By cultivating this two way street, everyone feels more invested.

2. Develop Better Feedback Loops

Good feedback loops are essential to building a successful business. Not only do they help identify bottlenecks, improve customer service, and lead to better and faster innovation, but they also have a positive impact on employee engagement.

When employees have the ability to provide feedback and feel as if their feedback is being listened to and applied, they’re much more likely to go the “extra mile.”

3. Use a Social Intranet Solution

Part of employee engagement is helping employees and team members feel connected with one another. There’s obviously no conference room, break room, or holiday office parties in a remote environment. So your next best option is to use a social intranet solution.

Social intranets are basically like private internet networks that exist for the sole purpose of connecting your team, sharing knowledge, and collaborating with one another. They provide a virtual platform for connection in spite of physical separation.

4. Share News

It’s hard for an employee to feel engaged if they don’t feel like they understand what’s happening in the organization. It’s up to you to keep your employees abreast of what’s going on so they can feel like they have a pulse on the direction of the company.

In addition to sharing company news, also give people a platform to share their own news - like baby announcements, family happenings, or personal accomplishments. A weekly or monthly email newsletter is a convenient and approachable option.

Adding it All Up

Don’t let the fact that you’re managing a remote team prevent you from pursuing and maximizing employee engagement inside your company. As this article shows, there’s ample opportunity to generate traction in this area. But at the end of the day, it’s up to you to initiate and follow through.