When we&rsquo;re together in the office, the ability to have genuine, tangible impacts on each other&rsquo;s days is so much easier. It&rsquo;s a lot simpler to look after the person sitting before you than to guess how they&rsquo;re feeling through a video call. As we move forward into more digital workspaces, we can&rsquo;t let this important aspect of cohesion and caring slip. We simply must get more creative with the ways we engage with our team.
The easiest and most important way to maintain adequate morale is to keep up the communication. In fact, you should probably double it. We all crave to be heard as employees, so when it feels like we&rsquo;re going unnoticed, our performance and happiness suffers. Establish consistent check-ins throughout the day and week to engage with your employees on a human level above all. Just because you can&rsquo;t see them physically doesn&rsquo;t mean they don&rsquo;t need the same type of connection. Remember that back in the days of the office, check-ins happened frequently throughout the day in a natural way, so try to replicate that as best as possible when taking things online.
Another important practice you can have is to not take the above too far. Trust your remote work employees like you would in the office. We can get down when it feels like we&rsquo;re being watched in this new space like never before, when the fact is that your employees may actually be more productive and relaxed than ever in this new setup. Know that you&rsquo;ll be well-aware if there&rsquo;s any dip in performance and that for the most part, the general employee will be doing great in their new way of performing this job.
Be sure to celebrate and honor your employees like you would back in the office. Without things like all-office meetings to set the stage for celebrations, replicate this as best as possible in a virtual space to ensure that those deserving are getting the recognition they crave. On top of this, don&rsquo;t lose focus on collaboration. Though it&rsquo;s easier to grab your team and huddle up at the office in some cases, there are still plenty of ways to keep the group work going online. Keep everyone in the loop so it never feels like you&rsquo;re out there alone in your own solo work bubble.
Take things even further by emphasizing the importance of one-on-one conversations and communication. It can be easy to feel like we&rsquo;ve got a good pulse on the team after a group video call, but that might not be enough for some employees. Take the time to speak with everyone directly throughout the week so that you can get a sense of how they are doing. Close this out by giving your employees more freedom for their lives. You have a great opportunity to give them moments throughout the week to work on themselves. To take some time to engage in something they love outside of work. Not only will they be happier for it, but they will likely return to work more energized and ready than before.
It doesn&rsquo;t seem like remote work is going anywhere for the time being, so it&rsquo;s important to make the experience as great as possible while we can. There are plenty of ways to make sure your team is feeling great and productive at the same time. With action and purpose, you can keep team morale high and reach even further without ever physically interacting with one another.

As we move forward into more digital workspaces, we can’t let this important aspect of cohesion and caring slip

Staying Positive: The Importance of Maintaining Team Morale from Afar

When we’re together in the office, the ability to have genuine, tangible impacts on each other’s days is so much easier. It’s a lot simpler to look after the person sitting before you than to guess how they’re feeling through a video call. As we move forward into more digital workspaces, we can’t let this important aspect of cohesion and caring slip. We simply must get more creative with the ways we engage with our team.

2020 was a&hellip; weird year, to put it mildly. Extremely mildly. As this year finally comes to an end, we need to look forward to the types of skills that will be in demand coming up, because they&rsquo;re more important and dynamic than ever after this past year has moved the goalposts in so many ways. It&rsquo;s never too early to start sharpening your skills for the future ahead and we&rsquo;ve got a few of the must-haves to be the most well-rounded candidate on the market in 2021.
<h3>Desire to Learn</h3>
Upskilling will never go out of style. In fact, it&rsquo;s becoming only more important as we go forward. Showcasing your insatiable desire to add more skills and tools to your bag is as attractive to potential employers as anything else you can do. The great news is, it&rsquo;s never been easier to find ways to become better and more talented than ever before. With online courses in a variety of different fields and disciplines, <a href="https://www.careercircle.com/career-paths">your ability to showcase</a> your thirst for knowledge is waiting for you to come get started.
<h3>Problem-Solving</h3>
It&rsquo;s no secret that 2020 was full of problems. More so than any other year in recent memory. If anything, it&rsquo;s highlighted that our ability to deal with them gracefully, intelligently, and compassionately makes all the difference. Showing off your problem-solving skills in 2021 should be at the top of your list because every team can use someone to depend on. Someone who can bend with the circumstances, but never break. A more innovative approach to solving the problems of the team and organization will absolutely go noticed.
<h3>Flexibility</h3>
We&rsquo;ve learned a lot this year, but one of the biggest lessons was in flexibility. Going forward, let&rsquo;s showcase this as a genuine positive for any organization that wants us. By focusing on your flexibility, you&rsquo;re signaling that you&rsquo;re adaptable in these uncommon times. That you can roll with the punches to get the job done under a variety of circumstances. Flexibility in the workplace is sure to excite any potential employer because it means that you&rsquo;re as dependable as you are diverse.
<h3>Virtual Mastery</h3>
Tagging alongside a sharpened dedication to flexibility, one of the top skills you can hone in on in 2021 is your ability to be a virtual asset. With work from home becoming something of a norm for the foreseeable future, demonstrate that you&rsquo;re ready for this world ahead. An employer needs to know that you have turned your own working space into a virtual office that in many cases exceeds their own, and that you&rsquo;ll have no issues getting the job done from the remote space should they bring you on board.&nbsp;
<h3>Dedication</h3>
2020 kicked many of us down. But you know what? We always picked ourselves back up. Show this off through proving how resilient and dedicated you are for the year to come. Turning the year that was into a positive can be displayed through how much you&rsquo;ve learned from it. A future employer will love to see a candidate that has become tougher in the face of hard times and become an even more dependable employee because of them. This year stunk, plain and simple, but kept moving. Proudly show this off to anyone looking for a top potential candidate.

It’s never too early to start sharpening your skills for the future ahead and we’ve got a few of the must-haves to be the most well-rounded candidate on the market in 2021.

Off to a Skilled Start: 5 Important Skills You’ll Need in 2021

When we settle in at a job, we usually start to get comfortable. The process of physically getting there, or how you plan out your day once you stepped inside of the office, was an important element to putting your best foot forward. Now that many of us have switched to remote work, that routine may look wildly different, but the importance it has on both our productivity and our happiness is as big as it ever was.
Before your workday even begins, the first step to kicking off your best routine is to get a full eight hours of sleep. Nothing can throw off even the most well-planned routine like a fatigued, dragging start to your day. Working from home is every bit as taxing as it is from the office, so never take for granted how important it is to get adequate rest before the day begins. Consider keeping the same waking hours that you had when you went into a physical space. This will help you create a sense of routine and allows you to keep consistency in your approach. A tactic like this goes hand-in-hand with another major WFH tip, and that&rsquo;s to ensure that you&rsquo;re creating a schedule for yourself. It can be easy to just wing it a bit more when we&rsquo;re working from home, but a schedule for your day, and even your week, will provide the structure that many of us need to focus on the tasks we need to get done. On top of that, it will plain feel good to knock them out during the day and feel like you&rsquo;re progressing in the same way that you would at the office.
Now that you&rsquo;re ready to get to work, make sure that the place you&rsquo;re working in is set up to do exactly that. Finding the balance of comfort and productivity in your workspace is everything. To know that when you&rsquo;re up you have a place to go to get the job done will give you one less thing to worry about. Even more important than that, having a space to work in that feels comfortable to you gives you the ability to focus more on your tasks than outside distractions or even the headaches of working within an office. Just as vital as making sure your area is great to work in is making sure that you leave it every once in a while, too. Sometimes when we&rsquo;re working from home, we can lose track of time. We can forget that we&rsquo;ve been at it for hours without a break. A part of your daily schedule and routine should be to work in breaks that allow you to step completely away for a while. For some, a midday workout is just what they need. Others just need to get up and walk around. Whatever feels best for you, ensure that you&rsquo;re allowing yourself to step away from time to time so that you can return to your workspace more energized to finish strong
The truth is, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40575835/let-this-brain-scientist-optimize-your-morning-routine">your brain craves routine</a>. Whether it&rsquo;s in work or life outside of it, you&rsquo;re at your best when you have some consistency in what may be in store for you. By creating a routine around your work schedule, you give yourself the comfort in knowing that there is a structure in place to perform at your highest. Because many of us do not have the consistency of the office life to push us towards more production, we have to replicate many of those things at home. But the good news is, if we set it up right we can be every bit as productive as we were in the office and a whole lot more comfortable, too. Navigating this new world of work from home will continue to be a learning process, but take the necessary steps to give yourself a routine for each day and watch how much better the whole thing becomes.
Ready to find the right work-from-home job? Explore our <a href="https://www.careercircle.com/Jobs">jobs page</a> and start applying today!

Your routine may look wildly different, but the importance it has on both our productivity and our happiness is as big as it ever was.

The Importance of Building a Work From Home Routine

Now that many of us have switched to remote work, that routine may look wildly different, but the importance it has on both our productivity and our happiness is as big as it ever was.

Get in the Groove: The Importance of Building a Work From Home Routine

*UPGRADE IN PROGRESS* -- CareerCircle platform upgrades will occur between Monday June 27th 10PM Eastern Time through Tuesday June 28th 4AM Eastern Time.&nbsp; The system may be intermittently unavailable during this timeframe.&nbsp;&nbsp;

*UPGRADE IN PROGRESS* -- CareerCircle is upgrading its capabilities and as a result the system may be temporarily unavailable as we bring new capabilities and infrastructure online to better serve our members.&nbsp; If you receive an error during this timeframe please bear with us as we're working to improve our system and you may need to retry that operation at a later time.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Keep up to date with CareerCircle's latest blog posts on keeping an inclusive workforce.

Staying Positive: The Importance of Maintaining Team Morale from Afar

Off to a Skilled Start: 5 Important Skills You’ll Need in 2021

Get in the Groove: The Importance of Building a Work From Home Routine

Staying Positive: The Importance of Maintaining Team Morale from Afar

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