Keeping Hybrid Employees Engaged

These days, proximity is harder to come by than ever. Even employees who do go into the office may find it empty or populated by coworkers they barely know due to hoteling or hot-desk arrangements. As evidenced by employee engagement surveys, burnout, and attrition across industries, employees’ social and emotional needs are no longer being met. Managers are in the best position to tackle this problem because of the personal relationships they have with each member of their team. But managers themselves need more support. Company leaders and HR teams must support managers with specialized onboarding, training, metrics, and ready-to-use FAQs and playbooks. In these dynamic times, corporate leaders also need to grant managers greater autonomy to cut through some of the bureaucratic red tape and make the right decisions to support their employees in real time. Once managers have the support they need, they can take steps outlined in this article to foster emotional connection, team bonding, and fun to compensate for the loss of proximity in the office.