How to improve remote team engagement and morale

We get that remote team engagement can feel like an impossible challenge. Everyone’s online every day, but not everyone feels fully seen. 

Without the right tools and rhythms, it’s easy for team energy to fade, and the disengagement that follows can be hugely harmful. Gallup reports that 9% of annual GDP is lost to disengaged workers, and 80% of the workforce doesn’t feel connected to their jobs. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

With some simple shifts in how your team shares updates, connects between meetings, or celebrates small wins, you can build team connections and boost remote team morale with a culture that feels personal and energizing. 

Why engaging remote employees is so important

A connected team is a productive team, and everything runs smoother when your team feels engaged. In fact, workplace engagement data from Gallup shows highly engaged teams are 23% more profitable, 18% more productive, and have 51% less turnover compared to less-engaged teams. 

But the tricky part is that it’s hard to stay engaged when your team doesn’t share a space. Remote team engagement often comes with its own challenges:

• When you don’t have casual hallway chats to lean on, it’s easy for people to drift and feel isolated.

• Context can get lost without facial expressions, tone, and body language.

• Work bleeds into life, and burnout creeps in unnoticed.

When people feel disconnected, momentum stalls. Once you understand these struggles, you can find the right solutions for fostering connection in remote teams.

What really drives remote team morale

Maintaining team morale remotely doesn’t just happen by chance. It’s built on the everyday signals that tell your team they’re trusted, seen, and heard. When these elements come together, that’s where the magic happens and your remote team’s morale begins to thrive.

Only 38% of fully remote workers who are engaged are looking for new job opportunities.

The most effective remote teams prioritize a few key things:

• Psychological safety and trust: Your team needs to know they can share ideas or concerns without fear of judgment. That starts with how you respond—especially in quick moments, like a thoughtful follow-up Polo after someone shares something personal.

• Autonomy and flexibility: Morale goes up when people have the freedom to manage their time. Letting someone respond to an update on their own schedule (instead of hopping on a live call) might be the difference between stress and focus.

• Recognition and appreciation: A quick video shout-out of a specific achievement hits differently than a typed “thanks” or a generic “good job.” When someone hears your tone, sees a smile, and knows you took time to acknowledge their work, it sticks.

• Work-life balance: Encouraging people to log off, take real breaks, and honor PTO sets a tone of care. Your team will mirror that energy back in the way they show up.

Practical strategies for engaging hybrid or remote teams

We know now what drives morale and engagement and why both are needed in a remote work setting, but what else can you do to boost both? 

The best strategies are the small, consistent habits that create a stronger sense of team rather than requiring process overhauls. And when they’re woven into your day-to-day, they’re more likely to stick.

Here are a few ways that remote and hybrid companies are fostering connection in remote teams.

Make communication feel less like a task

Communication culture is more about how easy it feels to share, ask, update, and connect with each other than it is about how often your team talks.

Try balancing live meetings with async touchpoints to boost your remote team engagement. A few small shifts can go a long way:

• Swap a daily standup for a weekly “Monday kickoff” video message on Marco Polo where everyone shares priorities for the week.

• Use a shared thread to ask for input on a decision. People can chime in when it works for them.

• Set expectations that not everything needs an instant reply (and model it yourself).

When your team knows they can speak up without rushing, clarify without overexplaining, and stay looped in without being always on, communication becomes lighter and more effective.

Fostering connection in remote teams

Work is the place where you spend a good portion of your time with the same people. But when connection only happens in scheduled team-building activities, it can feel too forced to be effective. 

As Sandy Torchia of KPMG puts it, genuine friendships are the foundation of remote team engagement:

That’s why it’s important to build low-pressure connection opportunities into each week that help people get to know each other organically. 

• Pair new hires with a “welcome buddy” who checks in via Marco Polo during their first two weeks.

• Use fun prompts to spark conversation: “What’s your current guilty pleasure show?” or “Share what you’re eating for lunch today.”

• Start a weekly “Wednesday Wins” on Marco Polo where everyone shares a small win, personal or professional.

Recognize and reward contributions

When someone does great work, it’s easy to send a quick “thank you” in Slack, but you can make it more meaningful by mixing digital tools with personal touches. 

The kind of recognition that feels personal, specific, and intentional? That’s where short video shout-outs come in. Try:

• Celebrating wins out loud. Tone, facial expressions, even just a smile, can carry more weight than a typed message.

• Sending a 30-second video message on Marco Polo at the end of the week, calling out something you appreciated.

• Encouraging teammates to tag in with their own shout-outs to create a ripple effect.

Recognition doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. But when it’s real and face-to-face, even asynchronously, it reminds people that their work matters and boosts remote team morale. 

Provide opportunities for growth and development

Just because your team’s remote doesn’t mean growth takes a backseat. It just means the support looks a little different.

Make development feel more accessible by:

• Recording short videos on Marco Polos with tips, resources, or lessons learned after big projects.

• Setting up async mentorship check-ins so teammates can share feedback without syncing schedules.

• Starting a monthly “what I’m learning” thread where people can swap wins, mistakes, or courses they’re taking.

It doesn’t have to be formal to be valuable. When you create space for knowledge-sharing and reflection, people feel invested in and want to keep growing.

Support employee well-being

When your team works remotely, the lines blur between “off” and “on.” That’s why supporting well-being means modeling sustainable habits in the everyday.

Here’s how small actions can make a big difference:

• Send a quick Polo reminder before long weekends to log off and recharge with no guilt.

• Normalize async check-ins that don’t require camera-on time or perfect energy.

• Celebrate the non-work wins too—like someone finally taking that vacation or setting a new boundary.

Well-being doesn’t need a program. It needs permission. And when your team sees that space is respected, they’ll be more present when they’re working. These small well-being wins add up to big gains in maintaining team morale remotely.

Common pitfalls in remote team engagement

Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to fall into habits that drain energy instead of building connection. If your team’s ever felt a little off, chances are one of these is happening and interfering with your remote team engagement:

• Too many meetings: Filling up the calendar to “stay connected” often leads to fatigue, not engagement.

• All text, no tone: When everything’s written, nuance gets lost, and misunderstandings pile up.

• Assuming culture will build itself: Without intention, culture becomes whatever fills the silence, which rarely reflects your values.

• Recognition that’s routine, not real: Chats can fall flat when it comes to complimenting team members on their accomplishments. A focused, verbalized shout-out with tone and emotion is a more meaningful way to give recognition. 

We’ve all been there, but thankfully, these are easy to shift. Start small, lead by example, and build rituals that feel natural for your team.

Tools and platforms that support remote team engagement

There’s no shortage of platforms out there, but the best tools are the ones your team will use because they make the day feel smoother, not more crowded.

• Slack keeps conversations organized 

• Zoom handles live collaboration 

• Notion keeps documents and project details in one place 

And then there’s Marco Polo Pro—the async video tool that helps your team stay connected face-to-face, without adding another meeting. It’s perfect for quick updates, shout-outs, onboarding intros, or just sharing a moment that doesn’t belong in a doc. 

When tone, timing, and clarity matter, Marco Polo fills the gap.

Why async video is a powerful engagement tool

Remote team engagement doesn’t always happen in real-time, but it does need to be felt. 

Tools like Marco Polo Pro let your team connect face-to-face, even when they can’t be live. This helps teams convey tone, nuance, and context that text can’t deliver. That’s why it’s perfect for updates, shoutouts, onboarding, collaborating, and more.

With Marco Polo, you can:

• Share context-rich updates without overthinking the wording.

• Give a warm welcome to a new hire, even across time zones.

• Offer feedback with empathy, not just edits.

• Celebrate milestones with energy that a Slack message just can’t match.

When people can see your face, hear your tone, and respond when it works for them, connections get stronger.

How to keep track of your remote team morale

Building morale and remote team engagement requires effort, but you can’t see how your efforts are helping or where you can improve if you aren’t tracking sentiment. 

When you’re leading a small remote team, you don’t need a 10-question survey to know something feels off—but your close-knit team can still benefit from quick, periodic morale checks. Here are some ideas:

• Try lightweight video communication to gauge morale: Use a regular cadence of Marco Polos (weekly or bi-weekly) to ask thoughtful, open-ended questions like, “How’s everyone feeling about workload lately?” 

• Look for patterns, not scores: Instead of tracking metrics like eNPS, watch for recurring themes. Are people feeling isolated, burnt out, or unclear about priorities? Noticing patterns gives you something to act on.

• Respond with action, not just acknowledgment: When someone shares honest feedback, show you heard them. Make a small change. Bring it up again later. The fastest way to build trust is to do something with what you’ve learned.

The goal is to create space for honesty, hear what people need, and respond in ways that build trust. That’s what turns feedback into fuel.

Real-world remote team engagement that works

The best remote teams [Link to remote team success stories article] didn’t stumble into connection. They built it, one intentional habit at a time. Take a few cues from teams doing it well:

• GitLab uses clear onboarding and transparent documentation so new hires feel grounded from day one, no matter their location.

• Buffer puts well-being and recognition at the center of their culture, including mental health days and team-wide appreciation rituals.

• Zapier leans hard into async communication, giving people the flexibility to contribute on their own time, without sacrificing connection.

From async shout-outs to flexible check-ins, these teams are proof that when you meet people where they are, engagement follows.

Key takeaways

Great remote team engagement doesn’t just happen. The best teams make connection and collaboration a key part of the workday for remote workers, not an extra. Here’s what they’re doing right.

Culture is a habit, no an assumption

Remote or hybrid, culture and remote team morale only happen when you build them with repeatable, low-lift rituals like post-sprint reflections and monthly celebrations. Culture grows when you prioritize it.

Face-to-face moments matter — even when remote

When engaging remote employees, tone, facial expression, and voice do what written messages can’t. Whether it’s a 60-second update or a “you crushed it” moment, async video helps your message land with clarity and care.

Async video strengthens flexibility and connection

Asynchronous video keeps connection and collaboration alive between remote workers while respecting work schedules and time zones. It’s an easy way to build rapport, share ideas, give updates, and maintain remote team engagement without more meetings.

Recognition is more impactful when it feels personal

A typed “thanks” is nice. But a short Polo with a smile and a specific callout? That kind of appreciation sticks. And it’s easier than you think to make it a regular rhythm.

You don't need an office to have a thriving team

The most engaged remote teams aren’t the ones who share a space. They’re the ones who share intention around how they communicate, show up for each other, and make space for real connection in the day-to-day.

With tools like Marco Polo and a few thoughtful habits, you can build a team that’s motivated, supported, and connected wherever your team members are.