1. Organizations must create a sense of belonging by communicating transparently and empathetically with employees to boost morale in the post-COVID world.
2. Encouraging employee input and fostering teamwork through online tools can enhance engagement and collaboration among remote and on-site teams.
3. Regularly seeking feedback and recognizing employee efforts, especially in challenging times, is crucial for maintaining motivation.
4. Empowering employees with decision-making authority can build trust and prepare them for leadership roles, further boosting their motivation.
COVID-19 has forced organizations and their employees to adjust to new routines of how, when, and where they work. The crisis has reduced their morale, which can negatively affect their work efficiency and performance. Hence, it is unsurprising that organizations are exploring ways to boost employee motivation in a post-COVID world.
Whichever way one looks, people seem stressed, anxious, and, in most cases, deeply insecure.
Employees are worried not only about their health and well-being but also about their loved ones.
They are further stressed by the possibility of job loss due to the pandemic, as many businesses have announced layoffs.
This is impacting the morale and motivation of the employees. This, in turn, is causing a dip the productivity levels across organizations, which they want to avoid.
Hence, keeping employees engaged and motivated in the post-COVID world has become one of the top HR priorities.
All businesses are adjusting to a new work model: employees are working remotely or on staggered shifts.
In each case, organizations need to reassure the employees in these difficult times. They need to improve their motivation levels to ensure better productivity.
Here are a few key steps that organizations should look at taking:
Organizations should reassure employees that they remain integral to the organization to motivate them during and after the pandemic.
Organizations need to communicate extensively with their employees and share any significant updates without delay.
The organization should treat its employees with empathy and patience.
Additionally, they must provide employees with clear and precise information about any changes to their roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Organizations should encourage employees to express their views and opinions about various issues.
Hence, seeking ideas from employees as input for products, policies, and processes can make them feel valued and improve their motivation.
This action can help increase their involvement in the organization’s business operations and decision-making and motivate them.
Organizations need to focus on improving teamwork and collaboration between their employees in the post-COVID world.
These can significantly impact employee engagement.
Organizations should use various online tools and platforms to help their remote and on-site employees stay connected and enhance teamwork.
Seeking regular feedback from the employees has gained even greater significance in the current times.
By doing so, organizations can understand their concerns, especially if they provide negative feedback to vent their frustrations.
In such cases, organizations must provide appropriate counseling to alleviate employees’ stress, rather than criticizing them and further damaging their confidence.
Another initiative that has gained greater significance during and after COVID-19 is that of recognizing the hard work of their employees.
Hence, effective and timely employee recognition can significantly boost workforce motivation.
Organizations should consider recognizing employees’ behaviors and efforts in light of the challenges faced during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
This is the right for the organization to check the decision-making capabilities of the employees.
In addition to ensuring that employees enjoy management’s trust, such initiatives provide them with the learning they need to take on leadership roles.
Therefore, employees can feel more responsible and motivated.
In a post-COVID world, where employee engagement and productivity levels are likely to see a significant decline due to the negative news in the business environment, pay cuts, layoffs, and remote working; organizations need to work on various initiatives to boost employee motivation.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings. Previously, Sagar has held leadership roles at companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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