October 2020

Wellbeing From Home: How to Help Keep Your Remote Team Happy in Uncertain Times

While your team works from home, have you stopped to consider their wellbeing from home? As the UK braces for further lockdown measures and more people face indefinitely working remotely on their own, it’s important to stop and consider your mental health. The psychological impact of the pandemic can’t be understated, with many feeling disconnected.

There’s a lot you can do to help make this time a little more bearable for your remote teams, particularly if they are experiencing problems with their mental wellbeing.

Where to start?

Your team wants to do the best for you, they take pride in their work just as much as your take pride in your business. While they need to put the work in, there’s plenty you can do to provide the space and the tools for them to do that.

• Provide your team with the proper tools to work effectively – a bespoke CRM solution that offers all the necessary tools to do the best job and can be used to work anytime, anywhere will help limit the stress of your team.
• Offer flexible working where you can – working 9 to 5 may seem the best way to make a living, but such strict early hours can be detrimental to many with mental health struggles. Particularly with a remote team, loosening up the schedule to allow your team to work on their tasks at a time that suits them will see a boost in overall productivity. So long as daily targets are being met, the time they’re met is less important.
• Allow for “down days” where possible – mental health for many people can be unpredictable, so allowing your team the space to work at a limited capacity when they’re struggling will ensure they’re at their most productive when they’ve recovered. This might mean a harder days’ work later in the week, but if you’re understanding with your team they’ll be willing to play catch up.
• Encourage your team to be open and honest about their struggles. If you give the impression you’re more interested in productivity than wellbeing, your employees won’t approach you when they need help. Suffering in silence will ultimately lead to dips in productivity, and perhaps even see people leaving the team as they struggle to manage their health. To keep up both retention and productivity, make sure you’re approachable and listening to your team with an open mind.

Offer Flexibility with the Right Tools

We talked about offering flexibility for your team to work hours that best suit them. Flexibility is the key to success when it comes to working around mental health issues. As we mentioned earlier, you can’t always predict when you’re going to struggle with your mental health. So, in addition to allowing flexibility, you need to be able to offer the tools to enable that flexibility.

A bespoke CRM solution will grant you and your team that flexibility, giving you the ability to work in any place (even if that is your bed). With a purpose built CRM solution, there’s no more anxiety around wondering if everyone has access to what they need, for you or your team.

Break the Silence Culture

A lot of people struggling with their mental health will suffer with silence. Show your team that it’s okay to talk about their struggles – we’re all human at the end of the day. With a remote team, make time to check in with them so no one is feeling isolated, even if it’s just an e-mail mid-week. Talk to your team about how to overcome their struggles, you can make adjustments to their work schedules without losing productivity.

Do you want to give your team the best tools to manage their stress and keep your workplace happy? Get in touch to try a demo of Lunar CRM’s bespoke solution, or explore our website to learn more.