How to Connect Your Dispersed Workforce (Updated)

The dispersed workforce is growing all the time—especially in a post Covid world. At the beginning of the pandemic Gartner reported that 88% of global companies have encouraged employees to work from home. Buffer’s annual State of Remote Work report found that 82% of people who work remotely full time are happy with their current set up.

Remote employees love the flexible schedule and ability to work from any location, but they’re missing the human connection. In Buffer’s 2019 and 2020 State of Remote Work report, remote employees cited loneliness and collaborating and/or communication as their biggest struggles with working remotely. Recognizing these challenges, companies are looking for new approaches  to help employee in building relationships at work.

Connecting Your Dispersed Workforce

With the massive shift toward remote work, employers are tasked with finding new and creative ways to help their remote employees feel happy and engaged at their day jobs. By following a few best practices, you can help connect your dispersed workforce and ensure they feel happy and engaged at work.

Focus on Internal Communication

One of the biggest challenges every organization faces is effective internal communication—especially when it comes to remote employees. One way to improve internal communication among your dispersed workforce is to use the company’s intranet and internal newsletter to ensure remote workers stay up to date.

Live org chart software is also a useful communication tool for connecting your dispersed workforce. With a searchable employee directory, interactive employee profiles, easy-to-access contact information, and the ability to sync with contact and calendar platforms, this technology includes many helpful features that improve internal communication.

Encourage Remote Collaboration

Dispersed employees don’t have the same opportunities to collaborate with team members face to face. They often feel isolated from the organization’s on-site employees. However, there are many virtual tools available that help remote workers feel involved and collaborate from a distance.

For example, video calls and screen-sharing tools can transform an ordinary conference call into a more collaborative meeting. Project collaboration software is also helpful for engaging your dispersed workforce, as it allows for frequent updates on projects. Additionally, live org chart software helps remote workers learn who’s who in the organization, making it easier to locate people to collaborate with internally.

Build a Digital Company Culture

Your dispersed employees may lack a sense of company culture that would otherwise help them feel connected and engaged. That’s why it’s so important that you take steps to build a digital company culture for remote employees. But how can you bring a digital culture to life?

Building a digital culture begins with internal channels, such as the employee intranet and org chart software. By maintaining an active presence on the intranet and encouraging employees to build out personalized profiles, you can help your dispersed workforce feel more connected. You can also use social media platforms, such as an employee Instagram account, to build out (and show off) an impressive digital company culture.

Utilize Live Org Chart Technology

Technology is making it possible for remote workers to feel connected with their team members and organization—even from a distance. And believe it or not, your company org chart can actually be your greatest management tool.

With personalized employee profiles to encourage relationship building and an always-updated version of the company structure, live org chart software can help your dispersed workforce feel connected in multiple ways. This allows remote employees to see where they fit in at the organization, to develop a better understanding of the company goals, and to put faces to names, ultimately encouraging internal communication and collaboration.

Change the Game with Technology

Although your dispersed workforce might not be able to interact face to face, with the use of technology, there are many ways to prevent engagement drop-off and help them feel more connected to the organization.

Are you thinking about embracing live org chart software to help your dispersed workforce feel more connected? Download 4 Ways to Find Out If Modern Org Chart Software Makes Sense to find out if live org chart software is a good fit for your business.