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 resulted in a decline in their morale, which can negatively impact 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, facing a deep sense of insecurity.
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 work remotely or in 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 are still an integral part of the organization to motivate them during and even after the pandemic.
Organizations need to communicate extensively with their employees and share any significant updates without delay.
The organization should deal with employees in an empathetic and patient manner.
Also, they need to provide clear and precise information to employees about any changes in their roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Organizations should encourage employees to express their views and opinions about various issues.
Hence, seeking ideas from the employees as inputs for products, policies, and processes can make them feel valued and improve their motivation levels.
This action can help increase their involvement in the business operations and decision-making of the organization and motivate them.
Organizations need to focus on improving teamwork and collaboration between their employees in the post-COVID world.
These can have a significant impact on driving 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 reduce the stress of such employees 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 the workforce’s motivation levels.
Organizations should consider recognizing employee behaviors and efforts made by employees in light of the various 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 assuring the employees that they enjoy the trust of the management, such initiatives provide them with the requisite learning required for taking up 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 corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in leadership roles with 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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