With increasing technology, remote work options are becoming more popular. However, with that can come some challenges. Staying focused, managing time and feeling connected to the office can sometimes be difficult. At MCE, we have Business Development Officers (BDO’s) who work remotely across Ontario. I recently asked them what helps them stay engaged and connected or if there was something we as an organization could be doing better to help support them. Here is what they said.
- Buddy calls: We pair up buddies on a quarterly basis and the phone call is about 1 hour in length during work hours. It is an opportunity to talk about anything you want. It allows for everyone to develop relationships especially those who don’t see each other very often. There was also mention of keeping in touch with coworkers on a regular basis. Simply picking up the phone to say hi.
- Zoom calls every two weeks: The MCE team connects via zoom to talk about current financials. This ensures everyone is up to date on the current status of the organization and what everyone is working on. It also helps keep everyone engaged and provides the BDO’s insight on what the other BDO’s are working on.
- Team Meetings: Once a month, for a whole day the team comes together for things like training, idea generation, review of the business plan and just to have some casual “chit chat” at lunch.
- Events out side of work: We recently volunteered at Ronald MacDonald house and just the other week had karaoke night at the President and CEO’s house. While I couldn’t make it I have never heard such positive feedback and appreciation from a team before.
- Another interesting suggestion, which we don’t currently do is to have an “MCE Monday”. This would entail posting a weekly joke/comedy/what’s happening thread, with a different person each week responsible for making the post.
- The last interesting suggestion is to establish collaborative tasks. This could be anything from having several people working on a valuable project or collaborate on larger client sales when there is a lot of work involved.
One of my suggestions is to continue with the TouchPoint meetings via zoom between Management and remote workers. It ensures regular communication and timely support.
All of these ideas are great and we do implement most of them. We are also always open to new ideas of how everyone feels interconnected. If you the reader have any other ideas or would like to share what you do for your remote workers, please feel free to share via my email listed below.
Thank you MCE BDO’s for taking the time to share your thoughts. My hope is our readers have a takeaway for something they can implement in their own organization.
