Are your employees feeling the love?

Optimize the remote employee experience with this cheesy and hypothetical example.

Jim’s Bicycle Shop was in peak form when the pandemic hit—like Lance Armstrong when he won his first Tour de France. Sales kept hitting double digits month after month, all his fulfillment and repair tickets moved smoothly through the system, keeping his 10 employees busy and his customers happy. But the pandemic pumped the breaks on Jim’s business model. Customers and employees really wanted to minimize interaction to stay healthy.

Rolling a new direction

A drastic change in Jim’s operation had to happen to keep his business moving. He adopted a virtual showroom model for customers to view his inventory and offered free trials. His employees worked from home now most of the time, collecting bikes that needed to be repaired from the shop and fixing them off site. While his infrastructure supported this change, he didn’t really have a plan in place to deal with the isolation of remote work. His employees didn’t connect with him or each other like they had before. Simply put, they no longer felt the love. And employee experience was in the ditch.

Jim needed to downshift and make some changes. And maybe your company does, too. Here are five things Jim 'did' in his business that might help improve your employees’ remote or hybrid work experience.

No more #$@! tech issues

Being on site at a bicycle shop didn’t require videoconferencing but being remote did. Jim found that device-as-a-service made upgrading his employees’ tech affordable. They got new everything and tech support. He got a predictable monthly price. Staying in touch with customers and each other was way easier. And less frustrating.

Training on wheels

Because Jim’s shop carried elite street bicycles, knowing the latest and greatest mattered. He asked each of his people what they wanted to learn about most and found an online learning platform that served up most of the topics. The result? People could log on and learn at their own pace. And they could apply their new knowledge daily.

Dinner and a movie

Remote work is tough on morale—especially when you’re used to working side-by-side with people you really like. To boost employee spirits and show appreciation, Jim sent his people a food delivery gift card quarterly along with an online movie rental coupon. Before the company’s status meeting following the gift, employees reviewed the movies they watched to give each other ideas on what they might want to see next.

Watercooler happy hour

Company culture in a remote setting hinges on communication, keeping employees updated on company goals and bonded as a team. And giving them ample opportunities to share ideas and socialize. Jim solved this potential obstacle with weekly Watercooler Happy Hour. He kicked off the Teams meeting with a bullet or two of shop talk, then everybody raised a glass and talked about whatever—from how their families were doing to football playoffs. The camaraderie helped a lot.

Therapy dogs (and cats)

As a long-time pet lover, Jim knew pets helped reduce stress. And made his employees happy. That’s why he allowed pets in the showroom and workshop when employees wanted to work in the office. His golden retriever, Maggie, loved hanging out on the sales floor and the jar of treats on the counter kept kids entertained while parents shopped.

With the new hybrid set up, he created a pet channel on the company’s messaging platform so that no one missed each other’s hilarious pet antics. His employees kicked up the pet channel a notch by having pet costume contests. Herbie the hamster almost always won.

Appreciation Matters

Taking employees for granted isn’t an option in a world where good talent is hard to find. Learn from Jim’s experience to create your own good remote or hybrid workplace vibes.

Head over to this thread to share what ways you show your employees you appreciate them. Or ways your boss shows appreciate to you. We’d love to know!

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