{"id":13894,"date":"2020-12-08T13:26:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T13:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=13894"},"modified":"2020-12-08T13:26:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T13:26:54","slug":"keeping-workforce-engaged-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Watch the preview video to see what you&#8217;ll read about in this blog:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc-responsive-embed\"><iframe title=\"Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/szx7bfzBD9s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Employee productivity and engagement has long been on the minds of corporate leaders as they seek to get the very best from their employees. Long before employees were sent to their at-home workspaces and conducting meetings over RingCentral, organisations focused on employee engagement <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.jostle.me\/blog\/5-reasons-why-employee-engagement-is-important\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as a way to increase employee productivity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While these programmes do indeed pay dividends (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbeshumanresourcescouncil\/2018\/06\/22\/four-lessons-from-companies-that-get-employee-engagement-right\/#78bdde2f21bd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research shows that engaged employees<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are 21% more productive than those that are not engaged) companies still have a long way to go. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vouchercloud.com\/resources\/office-worker-productivity#:~:text=New%20research%20from%20the%20UK's,employee%20productivity%20each%20working%20day.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A study conducted by VoucherCloud in the UK<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that the average UK worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes per day in a typical eight-hour workday. A myriad of other activities conducted during the workday was the culprit for the lack of productivity; including checking social media, reading news sites, and engaging with colleagues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this lack of productivity was evident before home offices were the new normal, imagine the challenges that present themselves to companies and employees in today\u2019s environment? This is where leadership needs to play a pivotal role\u2014ensuring they are keeping their workforce virtually engaged and productive. Here are a few suggestions on how that can be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practice emotional intelligence\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is an understatement to say that the last number of months have added stress to virtually every professional environment. I have spoken to many colleagues and professionals who feel the strain of being removed from their team, having to manage a <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/how-to-setup-voip-server-home-office\/\">home office<\/a> (if they have an office), kids, and a new routine during the workday. As a result, they are finding themselves with an increased level of stress and emotion that can impact engagement and productivity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the best things leaders can do to help their teams is to recognise these emotions, give space for employees to be open about their stress levels, and, if needed, invest in counsellors that can connect with their teams to help them process these emotions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I have written before, business is about people and now more than ever leaders need to take good care of their teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fringcentr.al%2F3pp4Rvp&#038;text=Now%20more%20than%20ever%2C%20having%20an%20engaged%20and%20productive%20workforce%20is%20vital%20to%20the%20health%20and%20success%20of%20any%20business.&#038;via=RingCentralUK&#038;related=RingCentralUK' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Now more than ever, having an engaged and productive workforce is vital to the health and success of any business. <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fringcentr.al%2F3pp4Rvp&#038;text=Now%20more%20than%20ever%2C%20having%20an%20engaged%20and%20productive%20workforce%20is%20vital%20to%20the%20health%20and%20success%20of%20any%20business.&#038;via=RingCentralUK&#038;related=RingCentralUK' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/blockquote>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be present\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A friend of mine was recently telling me that since going virtual they have seen more of their leadership. Their leadership team has made a point of using video to communicate, holding town halls with the staff to answer questions and give assurances. In a word, they have been present.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My father has been known to say, \u201cIn the absence of communication, the imagination runs wild.\u201d This is never more true than today, so it is imperative that leaders be present, be ready to listen, and lead by example. Doing so will increase your employee engagement and productivity.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t@media (min-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img {\r\n\t\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\r\n\t\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img img {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta {\r\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #001138;\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 30px;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy {\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 0 30px;\r\n\t\t\t\toverflow: hidden;\r\n\t\t\t\tcolor: #fff;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy .btn-primary {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp IID-cta-69d0daea22f7b\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"cta\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/john-123.png\" alt=\"Call to action banner\">\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">How will our leaders take us forward? Read 'The role of leadership' eBook.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"download ebook\" href=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/uk\/ebook\/role_of_leadership.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dl-additional-info=\"How will our leaders take us forward? Read 'The role of leadership' eBook.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"How will our leaders take us forward? Read 'The role of leadership' eBook. | Download the eBook\">Download the eBook<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help them set boundaries\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Numerous studies have shown that over the last six months of going virtual, the average workday has increased by two to three hours per day. I have not seen any study that says productivity and engagement have improved as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/shouldstorm\/202008\/teams-are-more-productive-when-they-dont-work-hours?fbclid=IwAR10v9uvI-vJ1qsPpG8QzXunifP9-2UeyQigRJLMiYCAd5yh76pFULje1e4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a recent study has shown<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that teams are more productive when they have clear work-life boundaries. The idea of boundaries is something that I have spoken about quite often, and it is something that leaders should promote among their employees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As human beings, we are not able to work continuously with no downtime. We are not wired to be always on, working well past \u201cbusiness hours,\u201d and at the same time able to be productive. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pilargerasimo.com\/2016\/08\/28\/all-about-ultradian-rhythms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Science has proven this to be the case<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If leaders want employees who are highly engaged and equally productive, they need to build a culture that enables employees to set boundaries and discourages continual overworking; all parties will benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now more than ever, having an engaged and productive workforce is vital to the health and success of any business. Following the steps above is a good start to ensuring your business will realise the benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<div class=\"uc-expo-cta-2 style-4  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"ctaButton\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inner-container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>What else do leaders need to deliver in preparing their businesses for the new world of work?<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"button\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" href=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/uk\/ebook\/role_of_leadership.pdf\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-additional-info=\"What else do leaders need to deliver in preparing their businesses for the new world of work?\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"What else do leaders need to deliver in preparing their businesses for the new world of work? | Download the eBook\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener\" title=\"download ebook\">Download the eBook<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch the preview video to see what you&#8217;ll read about in this blog: Employee productivity and engagement has long been on the minds of corporate leaders as they seek to &hellip; <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":14256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[56,178,66,42,41,39],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive | RingCentral UK Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Employee productivity and engagement requires high virtual connection as corporate leaders seek to get the very best from their employees.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos Hidalgo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive | RingCentral UK Blog","description":"Employee productivity and engagement requires high virtual connection as corporate leaders seek to get the very best from their employees.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos Hidalgo","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos Hidalgo","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13a40a87ed33436ac05ba1963642a7ee"},"headline":"Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive","datePublished":"2020-12-08T13:26:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-08T13:26:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/"},"wordCount":790,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["collaboration","employee experience","future of work","managing remote teams","productivity","remote working"],"articleSection":["UC - Collaboration"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/","name":"Keeping a Workforce Virtually Engaged and Productive | RingCentral UK Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-08T13:26:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-08T13:26:54+00:00","description":"Employee productivity and engagement requires high virtual connection as corporate leaders seek to get the very best from their employees.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/blog\/keeping-workforce-engaged-productive\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"RingCentral Blog","item":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UC - Collaboration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral UK Blog","description":"RingCentral News and Tips","publisher":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#organization","name":"RingCentral UK","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","contentUrl":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ringcentral-logo.png","width":1921,"height":416,"caption":"RingCentral UK"},"image":{"@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13a40a87ed33436ac05ba1963642a7ee","name":"Carlos Hidalgo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.co.uk\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mf-profile-pic-01-150x150.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.co.uk\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mf-profile-pic-01-150x150.jpeg","caption":"Carlos Hidalgo"},"description":"Carlos Hidalgo is a 25-year business veteran. Over the span of the last two plus decades, Hidalgo has held corporate roles, started his own entrepreneurial ventures and served in non-profits. In addition to his various roles and business pursuits, Hidalgo is the author of two books Driving Demand, one of the Top 5 Marketing Books of all time according to Book Authority which was published in 2015 and The UnAmerican Dream which was published in 2019.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cahidalgo_","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/carlos-hidalgo-4a805a1\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/cahidalgo"],"url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/author\/carlos-hidalgo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13894"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}