Jace Valerie is an employee relations manager committed to fostering conducive work environments, whether they be online or in the office. In her free time, she keeps busy with Pilates and yoga.
While working remotely provides employees the freedom to work comfortably at home and even set their own While working remotely provides employees the freedom to work comfortably at home and even set their own working hours, it also comes with a unique set of challenges that managers need to address. One such challenge that’s more apparent in remote teams since covid hit is that employee wellness seems to be prioritized less. Because physical communication and contact are almost non-existent in digital offices, managers have a much harder time assessing the state of their team’s wellness and overall wellbeing.
When we think of wellness, we often think about two things: mental and physical health. However, there’s more to wellness than these two aspects. According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness is the active pursuit of choices, lifestyles, and activities that result in a state of holistic health. If remote work managers want their employees to be more productive and work towards the betterment of the organization, they need to stay on top of their team's wellness and wellbeing. In this post, we’ll discuss the different dimensions of wellness and what remote work managers can do to help their employees achieve overall wellness.
Mental wellness pertains to the ability of an individual to manage their emotions and mentally adapt to the challenges they face. To help their teams achieve mental wellness, remote work managers should check up on their team regularly. Through regular check-ins, they can mitigate miscommunication and build enough trust for their employees to open up about their mental and emotional struggles.
Good financial health is something that all of us should strive to achieve. However, not everyone has strong financial literacy skills and understands how to use different financial tools to their advantage. If an employee suffers from poor financial health, they may have a harder time focusing on their tasks and become a burden for the rest of the team. For this reason, remote work managers should hold financial literacy workshops and webinars that will teach their employees how to use financial tools to their advantage, particularly when it comes to saving money. For instance, Laura Gariepy, a financial writer at money management firm Charlie, explains that employees must be taught about emergency funds. As part of this education, she outlines how they can be taught to set up a high-yield savings account. A high-yield savings account will help employees grow their money through compounding interest. Other topics that should be explored in a financial literacy workshop are: how to responsibly use credit, budgeting and expense tracking, and an introduction to investing.
Remote working can be lonely as employees work by themselves inside their homes. This, then, takes a toll on the social wellness of an employee. In order to keep their teams from feeling isolated and to boost employee morale, remote work managers should hold employee engagement activities through teleconferencing programs. Whether it’s through trivia games or skill-building activities, managers can help their employees attain social wellness through fun and engaging remote activities. It'd also be a great idea to consider various wellness swag bag ideas to show appreciation for your employees.
Put simply, an employee accomplishes occupational wellness when they feel satisfied with their jobs and current career paths. To help their teams find satisfaction with their jobs, remote work managers should be able to align each individual employee’s personal values and goals with the work that they do. This means listening to what each employee wants to achieve in the long run, as well as helping them find fulfillment by offering professional opportunities whenever possible.
Physical wellness is all about having a healthy body and making sure that your body functions optimally and properly. Most remote work managers are aware of the importance of physical wellness, as sick employees directly translate to low work output and low productivity rates. To take care of their team’s physical wellbeing, remote team managers should offer remote physical wellness initiatives such as subsidizing healthy activities and teaching employees how to prepare healthy meals.
By staying on top of each wellness aspect, remote work managers can expect their employees to perform better at work and mitigate the common issues that plague remote working arrangements.
This article is a guest blog written by Jace Valerie.
For more information about remote work, check out 13 surprising WFH statistics here!
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