Productivity and engagement in a remote/hybrid world

Advice for leaders concerned about the "quiet quitting" phenomenon

DEAR STAGE 2:  I’m noticing a trend of employees being ‘checked out’, particularly in a remote environment -- not online for normal hours, putting in the bare minimum hours, completing assigned tasks but not contributing ideas or looking for the next area to have impact, etc... I don’t want to micro-manage my team, but know I could (should?) be getting more from them. What can I do? ~Trying to (re)engage

DEAR TRYING TO (RE)ENGAGE: You’re not alone! Whether you call it ‘quiet quitting’ or a correction from our last few years of feeling connected/on 24/7, there does seem to be something happening right now. 

Many companies are struggling to consistently motivate employees, especially in a remote environment. More and more companies are going back to the office, or at least to hybrid environments and I am hearing from more founders that they are focused on creating the right types of accountability measures internally. We all want employees to feel connected and engaged, which naturally translates to increased productivity and higher job satisfaction.

Kara Gilbert, Stage 2 LP, former CRO and Chief People Person, and current Executive Coach helped me explore this topic. We started by breaking this challenge down into 2 questions:

1. How do you hire for work ethic and look for people who are passionate, driven and are aligned to your culture?

We’re in agreement that this isn’t new and Kara noted ‘the best companies and leaders have always emphasized this during hiring AND ‘enforced it’ culturally.”

What does this look like in practice? It's critical to define your cultural norms. What values do you prioritize as a company? How do you live these values daily and communicate/share them publicly? If you learn to articulate your culture and the expectations of the role, you can be transparent in the interview process which will help you attract people who are a good fit for your unique company culture. 

When it comes to assessing a candidate, try to focus on questions that are grounded in reality v. hypothetical. Kara recommended a great interview question to get the candidate thinking, see how introspective they are and open up a conversation on how work has changed: “What have you learned about yourself in the last 2-3 years?”. The last few years have tested all of us and it’s important to understand how potential hires have learned to manage their energy levels and how they have adapted their work style to best support remote/hybrid/office based work. 

Other sample interview questions could include:

• What were your goals last quarter? How did you break these goals down over the course of the quarter? What was the outcome?

• How do you handle challenging or stressful situations at work? Share an example

• What motivates you to do your best work? When is the last time you noticed this in practice?

• What specifically have you changed in your schedule to adapt to a WFH environment? 

• Walk me through your week - what do you prioritize and when do you do it to know you are going to hit your quota?

2. How do you do a reset for existing employees to improve engagement?

If you're already feeling employees disengage, it's not too late to turn things around. We recommend starting with some reflection on your management team - this team is the secret sauce to any company’s success! Kara shared a few questions to get you started: How are managers enabled?  Is there a community among managers where people can open up/ share challenges, trust their peers and leaders?  Are they trained or experienced in how to have tough conversations, recognize and celebrate employees, share wins, get to know people, etc?  The tone is set at the top and if you view management as an investment you can develop a group of leaders who have tremendous impact - introducing new ways of thinking, making key hiring and promotion decisions, raising productivity, and influencing results. 

Our brainstorm led to some additional steps you can take - there is no one size fits all here, but hopefully you can pull from these ideas to suit your unique situation:

• Gather feedback from all employees: Pulse feedback and scheduled one-on-one meetings allow you to gather your team's perspective on what's working well and what's not.  If you’re looking for inspiration the Gallup Q12 survey is a great example of asking the ‘right’ questions. This will help you identify specific areas that need improvement and give you insight into what motivates your team members. If you go this route, be prepared to share your findings and act on (some of) the feedback!

• Understand what's working for top performers: Take a closer look at your top-performing employees to see what sets them apart. Are they motivated by a particular type of work, or do they respond well to specific types of feedback? Use this information to help motivate the rest of your team and inform your hiring profile. 

• Set clear expectations and goals: Be clear about what you expect from each employee, including deadlines, quality standards, and communication expectations. Set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Kara took it a step further  “Do people know what’s expected of them? Because at the end of the day if I’m meeting expectations and have hit my goals, shouldn’t my boss/employer be happy? What’s missing?”.

• Create a culture of accountability (and celebration!): Encourage employees to take ownership of their work and hold each other accountable for meeting expectations. This can be done through goal settings, public review of key metrics, regular check-ins and all hands meetings, and recognition of achievements. Celebrate progress against the goals you set!

• Offer growth opps: These can come in many forms - career ladders, workshops, L&D budget, lunch and learns, team lead program or even special projects. These opportunities for employees to learn, grow and connect with other employees go a long way in showing that company leadership cares about employees building community. Kara also highlighted the importance of ensuring that this community building is available through a work setting and is not always tied to happy hours/after hours events. 

• Make changes…don’t settle for low performers: If you've tried everything and an employee is still not meeting expectations, it may be time to make a change. Don't settle for low performers, as this can have a negative impact on team morale and productivity. 

Hope these ideas help catalyze some change within your organization. Until next week!