How do you boost staff morale and encourage team building when you’re all in different locations? Four Houzz professionals share their tips and tricks for helping your employees maintain their mental and physical wellbeing while working from home.
Professional advice from: Trevor Brown of TBA; Heather Shaw of Resi; Cristina Macia-Briedis of RISE Design Studio; Rosie Ellis of My Bespoke Room
Check in frequently
Constant communication is key when it comes to lifting staff morale remotely, according to our professionals. “I make sure I speak to my team every day, even [if it’s] briefly,” Trevor Brown says. “Everyone has concerns and pressures, so open and clear communication is the key
“The main challenge is not being able to take advantage of the group’s shared knowledge,” he continues, “but everyone knows they can pick up the phone for a quick question or send an email.”
Sweat the small stuff
“The biggest challenge is actually the small things,” Cristina Macia-Briedis says. “It’s very easy to answer important questions or address issues, but, with the distance, you lose the small office interactions that build team culture and bring colleagues together.
“In order to avoid losing touch in this way,” she says, “we encourage communication regardless of the weight of the matter – even if it’s to reach out and ask, ‘How’s it going, guys?’”
“Just taking a little time to enquire how someone’s doing is extra important,” Trevor agrees.
Encourage self-care
It can be easy to focus only on work, but staff health is equally crucial, so make sure you give your employees permission to prioritise these things.
“It’s important to remind staff they need to take care of their mental as well as physical health,” Cristina says. “Encouraging communication in this aspect is key.”
Approachability is vital, Rosie Ellis says. “We’re very clear that we’re a listening ear to anyone who needs us – work-related or not,” she explains.
Keep it casual
Team-building often happens during informal interactions away from the desk and, with a little effort, you can recreate these moments remotely.
“We have a regular virtual coffee break, where we all stop working and video call in for a non-work chat,” Trevor says.
There are other creative ways to do this. Heather Shaw’s team are planning virtual Friday drinks, while Rosie’s firm is going one step further with a virtual pub quiz.
Form online groups
Embrace technology to help with both informal get-togethers and group meetings. “We’re big fans of Slack,” Heather says, “not just for day-to-day work, but for fun channels, such as our ‘Watercooler’ chat group, where people can catch up as they would in the kitchen, or our ‘ListentoThis’ channel, where people share music recommendations.
You can also collaborate as a team using Houzz tools, such as Ideabooks, where you can share articles, images and ideas, or even dream spaces, with one another.
Heather suggests using Google Hangouts for conference calls, but says, “If you want to have 90+ members of staff on Google hangouts, we recommend using the mute button!”
Rosie also embraces the use of online groups, and says, “We have a designer group chat where we share different themes each day, such as pets, home-working stations, homeschooling ideas with the kids, or home updates we’ve got around to doing.”
