Some of the things we have done thus far include:

Rethinking how we deliver training. Instead of in-person, day-long training, we now offer half-day sessions online over multiple days. We have found that our people cannot take in information online in the same way they might in-person.
Rethinking what needs to be a meeting and how we conduct them. We have been a very meeting-oriented culture. We found that being on video calls all day was draining, so we have tried to create online meetings that allow for discussion and use breakout sessions to facilitate small groups. We try to use email or a phone call for quick decision-making between one or two people.
Creating social events online. We are trying to continue to bring people together for social purposes and our people have gotten creative. Some teams have a weekly lunch online, others have been listening to concerts online together, some have shipped wine to each other's houses to have an online wine tasting, and we have even had teams conduct online 5Ks.
Making time to connect. Now more than ever, it is so important to keep the lines of communication open—and even expand them, if you can. Make sure people can reach each other (and are responsive) via multiple communications methods like instant message, email, phone, etc. Also, conversations that happen naturally in person—whether in-office during the workday or after-hours socially—don't happen naturally when everyone is at home, so they need to be scheduled. To keep employees engaged, we schedule 1:1 time to just check in on folks, not conduct business.

How has West Monroe achieved this? What are some of the tangible ways employees have come together to stay engaged?

When we went all-remote in March, we decided to be an on-camera culture. That doesn't mean every person has to be on camera for every meeting they attend. But we want to connect with them because we believe that "seeing" each other is a key part of engagement and understanding how they are feeling. Engagement is about connection, and that does happen best in-person, but it is more likely to happen when seeing someone face-to-face, even if on a screen.

Instant Insights /

Make time to connect: How to keep remote employees engaged

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