Remote work and employee engagement

There is a quote that goes something like this — “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s watching.”

To me, this quote rings so true, particularly in a work setting.

Ironically, how people are judged at work and rewarded is all about what is seen rather than unseen.

This was particularly true pre-pandemic. But times have changed and for many employees they are working remotely without their bosses or co-workers watching.

When you think about it, what really dictates whether people are truly engaged with their work and your company is what they do when nobody is around to witness their performance. Many organizations and their employees certainly discovered their level of engagement as the pandemic resulted in the work from home and hybrid work schedules.

With a number of employees’ no longer on site at the company’s workplace, they are not in a position to have their job performance observed. As such, direct inperson observation of employee performance has been replaced with trust and a reliance on results.

Ironically, what some managers and business leaders have discovered is that employees who are fully engaged with their work and performing at high levels, are the ones who like what they are doing, know what they are doing and believe in what they are doing, regardless of whether or not they are in the office.

The research is clear that job satisfaction and job happiness are not necessarily aligned with money, good performance reviews or promotions.

These are all important and reflections of a job well done, but sustained happiness on the job comes from within — you are at the right place, doing the right job for your company and feel like you are making a difference. You enjoy your coworkers, really like the work and believe in the company’s purpose or mission.

When that all of this aligns, you may not need your actions to be witnessed in-person to work hard and do the right thing.

This new era of remote work, whether it be full or part-time changes so much about how we think of the workplace and company culture.

Trust has now become so critical to the success of any remote work scenario. It’s a big leap for so many business leaders who were accustomed to managing and leading individuals and groups of employees’ inperson.

Only time will tell how these new scheduling arrangements will work versus the pre-pandemic requirement of coming into the company facilities for employees to accomplish work.

Unquestionably for many employers and their staff, we are in unchartered territory that is exciting and frightening at the same time. Yet, if managed well this “workplace revolution” brought on by the pandemic could yield successful results for businesses and their employees.

It is also important to recognize that there are millions of workers who do not and never have worked fully or partially remote due to the nature of their job. Their actions and job performance remain observed in-person.

How companies deal with the duality of different sets of employees working remote or in-person relative to performance reviews, compensation and reward systems will be a challenge. So much will depend on the leadership mindset in each organization and whether they can embrace the new normal of work.

So whether people work remotely or in-person, who cares what anyone does when no one is watching? Perhaps we all should. Because, when you get down to it, the greatest judge of our character is staring right at us in the mirror.

And, that is something that will never change.