Recognition for staff members who suddenly find themselves working from home

How quickly has life changed in many workplace across Canada and around the world in just a few weeks.

People who have always gone to offices or other workplaces every day now find themselves working from home. Managers, supervisors and other leaders who made a practice of stopping by staff members’ work stations to say, “Great job,” are struggling to find ways to recognize staff with whom they no longer have face-to-face interaction.

Back in January, when I wrote an article listing nine ways to recognize off-site staff, I never imagined how relevant those suggestions would become for so many. 

Rereading that article, I also realize that it was written with a different work environment in mind, on in which only a few worked remotely. Most who worked from home, at a library or in a coffee shop, rather than in more traditional settings, did so by choice.

Frequently, those who worked off-site visited traditional workplaces to consult with colleagues and supervisors or to attend meetings. Remote and onsite workers might also have had face-to-face meetings in other locations. Most did not work in complete isolation.

Those were the circumstances I envisioned when I wrote that article two months ago, before many who had always worked in traditional workplaces were suddenly told to pack up and head home for the duration and avoid contact with anyone other than those with whom they lived.

Recognition techniques that might have worked then don’t fit the work situation in which many now find themselves, which leads me to revisit this topic and suggest other ways to show staff members who suddenly are working from home—both as individuals and as a team—that they are valued and appreciated for what they do under difficult conditions:

• Many newly working-at-home folks will be without the resources they need to do their job, which are readily available in the workplaces they have left behind. Provide them with an allowance to purchase the supplies they need to do the job.
• Convey messages of appreciation in different ways. Do rely on thank-you emails. Text staff members. Teleconference. Pick up the phone. Send e-cards.
• Never underestimate the impact of a handwritten thank-you note that arrives in the mail.
• Remember the families of staff members. Unlike off-site workers back in January, today’s off-site workers must care for children who can no longer be sent off to school or daycare. Consider ordering books or games online to be delivered to the children of your at-home staff so they have something to do while their parents focus on their work. Send thank-you notes to children, expressing gratitude to them for giving up time with their parents so that your employees can do the work that is assigned to them. 
• Order lunch to be delivered to staff members’ homes. A delivery of flowers would also work well. Not only would staff members appreciate the gesture, but it will also help struggling local businesses remain afloat during this time.
• No matter the circumstances, recognition is best when it’s Explicit. Be specific in describing the behaviour for which staff is being recognized. It shows you notice and value their contributions, which is what staff members want. This is no time for generalized messages thanking people for “everything you do.”
• Your workplace is a community. Maintain that feeling by encouraging people to connect, such as during virtual coffee breaks.
• Encourage peer recognition, even if that can’t occur in person. During virtual staff meetings, schedule time for staff to express appreciation to colleagues, as you would during regular staff meetings.
• Use service anniversaries and birthdays that occur when staff is away from the office as times to reflect on staff members’ contributions and achievements over the past year.
• Express appreciation by extending opportunities for professional development through online courses or by providing how-to books that will enable working-at-home staff to learn new skills.
• Show you understand the stress everyone is experiencing by reminding your working-from-home staff to take care of themselves. Remind them to take regular breaks, just as they would if they were still in the office.
• Eventually, we’ll all get through this and everyone will be back to where they were. Prepare for that day. Plan to celebrate their return.

Andrew Johnstone, the graphic artist who designed my books, websites and many other documents, recently reminded me of a line from the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that we might all do well to keep in mind. The proprietor says, “Everything will be all right in the end … so if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end!” 

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Now it’s your turn. What are you doing? If you are a leader, how are you recognizing staff or colleagues caught up in this change to their work lives? If you’re someone whose work life has been turned upside down, what are you doing to recognize colleagues? What has your supervisor done to express gratitude for how you are handling these circumstances?

Email a description of how you’re showing staff members who are now working from home that they are appreciated to nmscott@telus.net. You can also leave your thoughts in the comment box below.