Due to the unforeseen pandemic this year, remote and distributed ways of working have been accelerated. Although there are many benefits to a workstyle that is more flexible, the challenge is how to engage your remote and distributed workplace teams to maintain productivity and to keep them satisfied in their roles. As a workplace experience provider, we’ve got a few ideas up our sleeves. Here’s our tips:

Build a sense of community through virtual socials and events

Consider creating a calendar of virtual events for your remote and distributed teams. This will help to build a sense of community and team bonding that many feel they miss out on when working remotely. What types of events you decide to do will come down to the interests and needs of your workplace community, But, a good place to start with is a well-balanced mix of general events that most people enjoy. We recommend having an equal share of fitness & wellbeing events, training or educational events and social events. The frequency of the events will depend on your audience. We recommend starting with a social event either quarterly or monthly, a fitness or wellbeing event on a weekly basis and training or educational events once a month. Consider aligning your social events to special holidays such as a virtual office Christmas party. You can iterate the frequency and the types of events you host when you’ve had a chance to look into the engagement levels of the first few that you put on. Look at the number of sign ups/attendees etc to understand the events that are working well. A workplace experience platform like District’s allows you to tap into engagement levels via the Insights Explorer, meaning you can track views, clicks, sign-ups and more to understand what’s working and what isn’t.

 

Keep them in the know about the latest workplace-related Covid advice

It’s likely that the reason your workplace community is currently working remotely is due to Covid-19, or at least their work lives will have been impacted as a result. Therefore, keeping your workplace community informed about Covid-related workplace news is recommended. From keeping them in the loop about the latest government guidelines to informing them about office closures/re-openings make sure you’re keeping them in the know, whilst at the same time not overdoing it.

Take a holistic approach to your workplace community’s wellbeing

More often than not, mental health and wellbeing support in the workplace gets overlooked. The impact of this means a lack of productivity, low job satisfaction and over 80 million work days lost a year in the UK alone. Especially now, providing mental health and wellbeing tips and advice for employees or tenants in the workplace is more prevalent than ever due to the impact of Covid-19 and the effects this has had on people’s mental health. Consider working with a company like Mindcheck that provides a holistic overview of your workforce’s health and wellbeing and provides practical, personalised solutions.

 

Provide a digital workplace hub at your community’s fingertips

District Technologies is a workplace experience platform that allows communities to navigate the workplace and stay connected from anywhere.

Increasing employee engagement and satisfaction is one of the most important factors for many clients that launch a workplace experience platform with us. The platform allows you to engage through various touchpoints including; articles, news, events, services, push notifications, perks and more. Also, through creating better building experiences like seamless door access and mobile desk/space bookings your tenants have a more satisfying experience. As we move forward after lockdown, improving confidence to return to the workplace through increased communication around Covid-19 and specific features like health check-ins will ease employees’ minds around returning to the workplace and increase overall satisfaction.

For on-site days, we’ve got it covered. People can check into the building, books desks and meeting rooms, view food and drink services on-site and many other features that optimise your office locations.

For those remote days, no problem! The app is also a workplace social network which keeps your workplace community connected, with group chats, member profiles and a community directory. Plus, you can keep them in the loop with relevant news and resources and even ping them push notifications from time-to-time with on-point messaging.

Taking it one step further – with District’s premium package it’s possible to integrate with other platforms such as your existing solutions or smart building sensors for the optimal one platform approach. The premium solution takes your brand to the next level with a full white-label service.

District Technologies is the go-to workplace experience platform that delivers to landlords and companies. A snapshot of some of our clients include; WPP, Investec, CEG, Elmpark Green, Cushman & Wakefield.

If you would like to find out more about District Technologies, simply book a demo or get in touch.