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Employee Engagement in Today’s Socially Distant World

  • July 09, 2020

  • The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center

Despite Social Distancing and Working from Home, Now More Than Ever You Should Be Focusing on Engagement with Your Co-workers and Employees.

The CDC has recommended many essential precautions to address COVID-19 and as a result, social distancing and working from home are the new normal in many of our daily lives. As states and geographies progress into various re-opening phases, one thing is certain: Social Distancing isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. As we take precautions and look out for ourselves and others through social distancing, we are at a critical point in time where must take more time than ever to invest in the needs of our co-workers and employees.

How can we remain engaged with our co-workers while we are apart?

Alleviating some of the stress our co-workers and employees are feeling will allow for better engagement and as we know, engaged employees are more productive, more innovative and influence co-workers in a positive way. Three big things we all need during this time.

Today we highlight four actions you can take to feel more connected to your employees and co-workers:

  • Show compassion.  Take a moment and ask the people you work with how they’re doing and really listen. No one expects you to have all the answers, but a compassionate ear goes a long way.
  • Ask people for their ideas and thoughts. We’re in uncharted waters, involving people in the planning of the work that affects them feeds innovation and inclusion.
  • Assume best intentions. Don’t assume people are abusing this new, largely remote, work world. Assuming people are trying their best allows you to approach every conversation with a positive and productive frame of mind.
  • Host a non-business focused connect: Take 30 minutes once a week and host a team connect (do not title it a meeting!) and do just that: re-connect and catch up on non-business related topics. You may be surprised how great it feels to take the business lens off – even if for a bit each week!

With topics spanning Employee Engagement to Leadership, we offer a catalog of virtual programs, keynotes and courses that can be delivered at your fingertips. Contact us to learn more.