As COVID-19 continues to loom in our future, Canada’s major banks have announced their plan to let most of their staff work from home until next year (The Canadian Press, 2020). Helena Gottschling, RBC’s chief human resources officer expressed the bank’s concern regarding the spread of the virus in a memo to bank staff. Gottschling says the number of employees working in the RBC premises of the GTA area will be extremely small.

Given the sudden shift from in-person office work to virtual work-from-home environment, companies are wondering if they need to change the way they can keep employees engaged. Engaged employees have higher levels of job performance, productivity, and creativity (Chamorro-Premuzic, Garrad, & Elzinga, 2018). In comparison, low engagement in the workplace results in higher burnout rates, turnover rates, and counterproductive work behaviours such as harassment and bullying (Chamorro-Premuzic, Garrad, & Elzinga, 2018). Studies have also shown that employees working from home may suffer from isolation, lack of motivation, and loneliness which might have a severe impact on their work performance (Collie, 2020).

Due to COVID-19, team RBC is trying to find the most innovative and effective ways to drive engagement, boost motivations and monitor employees’ work as the team is now working remotely.

Imagine you are an external consultant to RBC, what would your recommendations be?