Collaboration and maintaining the right connection is always very challenging in a remote setup. Assuming you are a team manager reading this piece, you need to focus a lot of energy towards making the team feel the team spirit and making them feel the drive to work towards a common goal. At the end of the day, it all boils down to two elements, connection and collaboration. You need to help your wide-spread team -- who will probably never get a chance to assemble -- feel the togetherness in things. Also keep a check on things like their day to day struggles or concerns; never stay out of the loop. 

Let’s address the worst first - not feeling connected

A study by Harvard Business Review indicated that remote workers feel left out and shunned by their in-house or remote peers in many cases. It is more like they feel very left out.

Out of 1,153 employees polled remote employees, 52 percent of them stated that they work, at least some of the time, from their home office. Many feel that they are not being treated equally by colleagues, they felt mistreated and left out of the loop of a lot of things. 

And most importantly, they felt bad that the peers were foul mouthing them behind the curtain or their backs. Some specific issues which they faces were - changes being made to projects without their consent or without being kept in the loop of things. They felt zero support, colleagues don’t take a stand for them whenever it’s required in the typical office dynamics. 

To address this remote workers and employees should do the following:

1. Practice frequent communication with their peers in mostly private chat sessions. 
2. Promote open ended friendships, this can prove to -positive friendships among coworkers can help dismantle some of these concerns that plague many remote employees. Discuss things out loud and keep everyone on the same page about project status, changes and deliverables. 
3. Be more on the compromising end and make it obvious that you are willing to take a step towards a peace offering in situations where there is a potential misunderstanding or dispute. 
4. Practise more communication frequently, prefer video calls over voice calls when you sense a more engaging meeting. 
5. If you are working from your home, you definitely need something to keep you going and we have a must-do list for that:

Take 10 minutes breaks every now and then

After working for even 45 straight concentrated minutes, your mind needs a break to recharge and taking 10 mins off will only help you boost your productivity by manifolds. You don’t have to go and take a walk always, you can eat a fruit, take a short coffee sipping break, stand by the window and watch the street in action or anything you prefer on a recurring basis. Just make sure you are shuffling between activities to keep the freshness alive and prevent any monotony from coming the relaxation time’s way. 

Assess and reward your productivity

You have to keep assessing and rewarding your productivity. Rewarding your productivity is extremely rewarding, yeah. This can mean you are most inclined towards making a mark in your daily tasks and you will feel the urge to do things and get them done, this is very much inclined towards helping you boost your own deliveries and timeline. 

What are some things you can do to reward your good work or concentration?

1. Go binge eat on ice creams, have a sugar rush once in a while. 
2. Go cycling for long hours or take a run and then eat the fattest dish. 
3. Ignore the food intake consciousness for sometime and make it feast on whatever comes to your mind. But in limited quantities, so that it doesn’t ruin your strict efforts on diet and restrictions due to some health issues or mere concerns. 
4. Also try this, take time off and spend the time unproductively, this will not only help you relax but also make you realise the importance of productivity everywhere. 
5. Go swimming or take a short trip. The last but the best rewarding in nature. 
6. Keep your mind fresh with citrus 

If you have a habit of snacking in the middle hours or off-treat hours, you can keep a bunch of citrus fruits like oranges or melons or grapes or anything which gives you the citrus chills. This will not only help your brain in feeling active all of a sudden but boost your concentration. That’s a neat little psychological trick there. 

Also, to make it feel like you are going to work, pack your lunches in the morning itself. Do not over do, just ensure that you don’t have to wander for lunch during the remote work timings. Keep it handy and you’ll be good to go. Treat yourself with healthy different options which make you want to eat and feel good. 

Take a walk alone for relaxing purposes

Take a walk on a street nearby, do some brisk walking or strolling over there. It proves to be very helpful sometimes. Gives you time with yourself and the society around you. If you live in an area where it’s easy to walk to a café, try doing that a couple of times a week to switch up your work environment and get some exercise in. Even if you don’t walk anywhere specific, just taking a walk around the neighborhood for 10 minutes is enough to get the blood flowing.

Stand often to stay active 

Studies have shown that using a standing desk isn’t just good for your health, but it may significantly improve your productivity, as well. Sitting for hours is not good for your posture as well as your mental metabolism. It is always recommended to stand every often in order to stay par with your productivity levels. 

Change your spot from time to time 

If your desk happens to be in a dark area, consider moving it to someplace with a window. Proper lighting will help you stay productive and happy while working, while poor lighting can put extra strain on your eyes. If you can’t set up shop near a window, do some research to find out which desk lamps and light bulbs are best to use.

Compartment work life from regular home life 

If you work from home, it can be hard to separate your work life from your home life. In order to ensure you take time for yourself, try scheduling it in your calendar the way you would a meeting. This could mean blocking out 30 minutes each afternoon for a run, yoga class, or a quick bike ride. You’ll feel so much more productive once you do it. 

Coming to motivation. How do you plan to stay motivated in such an alone setup?

1. Wake up early 
2. Talk to peers about their thoughts and ideas
3. Get a change in clothing every now and then 
4. Give yourself time to think 
5. Always make sure you are rewarding yourself

Summing up 

These Remote working tips can maintain a super healthy work environment and will always prevent you from holding grudges or bottling up in the remote workplace. You can utilise all the freemium productivity tools available online. At the end of the day, you have to understand that motivation can be hard to find, especially in a remote setup but you always have to be strategically and psychologically pro active go out their and help your co-workers.