Strong workplace communication and collaboration leads to high job satisfaction, increased productivity, an improved employee experience, better business results and a plethora of other benefits. In fact, companies with effective communication are 50 percent more likely to have lower employee turnover (ClearCompany). Enabling better connections between employees is also good for your bottom line, with companies that endeavour to do that seeing a 20 to 25 percent increase in productivity (McKinsey Global Institute).
Despite benefits such as this, 60 percent of companies don’t have a long-term strategy for their internal communications (Workforce) and 39 percent of employees believe that people in their own organization don’t collaborate enough (Queen's University).
This becomes even more tricky for your business when your employees are based remotely.
To ensure your remote workers communicate and collaborate with each other, rather than working in silos, it’s crucial that your business creates a successful internal communications strategy. Teambonders has listed five tips to do just that here:
1 - Hire the right team
The most important aspect of your business is its employees. Your team is ultimately behind the success of your organization. To ensure you continue producing high-quality work and deliver projects that wow your customers, it’s crucial that you have the right employees in the right places of your organization.
This becomes more important when your team is remote. When looking at candidates, look for those with the communication skills and self-motivated personalities that will ensure they stay connected with their peers when working from home. Employees with the right personalities will stay connected with their team members, even when they're not working in a physical office.
2 - Streamline your processes
When working from home it can be easy for employees to stop communicating and start working in silos. Breaking down company silos among your remote team will encourage staff members to reach out to their peers with ideas, creative problem solving and feedback that will result in higher quality work.
You can do this by connecting your team with technology. Use organization and file sharing tools such as Trello, Basecamp, Teamwork or Google Drive. These tools will ensure your team is constantly connected, working together towards the same goal and will encourage communication and collaboration on projects.
3 - Improve employee engagement
Did you know that organizations with engaged teams show 21 percent greater profitability, and that teams who score in the top 20 percent in engagement realize a 41 percent reduction in absenteeism and 59 percent less turnover (Gallup)?
Communication and job satisfaction is, in large part, an outcome of your communications strategy. Employees who know their coworkers (both professionally and personally), enjoy the company culture and are empowered to creatively solve problems are far more engaged in their jobs than those who do not have these opportunities.
The end result? A better environment to work for your team and increased revenues for your business.
4 - Invest in virtual communication tools
Working from a physical office means your employees are constantly communicating - whether it’s a presentation in the meeting room, a quick team catch up in the lounge area or a one-on-one conversation between colleagues. This can be difficult when your employees are working from home.
That’s why your organization should invest in communication tools to keep your team connected. Consider instant messaging technologies (such as Slack) and video conferencing technologies (such as Zoom). By encouraging your team to stay connected, you’ll be able to build a far more effective internal communications strategy.
5 - Host virtual team building events
One of the most effective and fun ways to build new relationships and make old ones stronger is to host regular team building events. Your company can now organize and host virtual team building events over the internet for your employees.
Virtual team building events will encourage more effective communication between remote teams, drive creative problem solving, improve employee morale, teach your team to trust each other’s judgement and many other benefits.
Teambonders’ team of skilled corporate event creators and facilitators has been developing corporate team building events that boost organization’s communication and productivity for years. Want to learn more about what we do? Contact us today.
