Supporting Your Mortgage Team While Working Remotely

We’ve been talking a lot about working remotely recently, as more and more mortgage teams begin to work from home. 

Considering the current high-stress state of both the mortgage industry and world news, you might be wondering how best to support your team while working remotely. After all, you know how much your team is dealing with: high loan volumes, kids home from school, sick family members, and of course, uncertainty in what the future will hold. 

Because of this, if you can help your team, even in a small way, they will appreciate your thoughtfulness! Plus, by prioritizing your team’s well-being, you will encourage communication and company morale. 

Here are some ideas to inspire you:

Keep Them in the Loop

With all the uncertainty in the world right now, it’s important that you keep your team members up to date. If your entire team is working remotely, send regular office wide updates with any information they may need to know. Whether it’s upcoming meetings, company news about the pandemic, or even news about your local community, your employees will appreciate the extra transparency. 

Additionally, by staying in touch regularly, you’ll show your team that you’re there to talk if they have any questions or concerns. 

Buy Them Lunch

If you normally host team lunches or take employees out for a meal, delight them with delivery! You could coordinate to have an employee’s favorite meal delivered straight to their front door. Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash are all apps that allow you to order food from local restaurants. If you’d rather let your team decide what they’d like for lunch, send them a virtual gift card to one of these food ordering services. Or, you could send your employees gift cards to a restaurant that they could visit in the future once they are no longer working remotely. 

Say Cheers

Video calls are a great way to stay in touch with your team. If you’re looking for a fun and social way to connect, host a social hour. Perhaps you have a virtual happy hour, and invite everyone to have their favorite drink. Or, you could coordinate a game night over a video call. By setting up ways for your team to connect outside of work, you’ll boost morale. 

Send a Gift to the Kids

Make sure you keep in mind that the parents on your team are probably facing extra challenges during this time. With kids home from school and jobs moving to living rooms and home offices, your employees may be feeling extra pressure. 

If you want to lighten spirits, send your employees’ kids coloring books or small toys from online retailers that could help keep them entertained. Or, send your coworkers an Amazon gift card so they can rent a movie for a fun family night in. 

Open Up Office Hours

Without the normal mingling and chatting that occurs in an office environment, it can be easy to feel disconnected from your employees while working remotely. Perhaps they have a quick question or concern that they would normally just swing into your office to ask. But now, having to set up a meeting or scheduled time to discuss a subject can put a damper on productive conversations. 

To mitigate this, set up a specific hour or two a couple of times a week that you will be completely available to your employees. Tell them that from 10 to 11 am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they can give you a call to address anything they may need help with. Opening up a no-pressure, and schedule free time to chat and check-in will lead to higher trust and communication among the entire team. 

Bottom Line

These are undoubtedly unprecedented times, and mortgage teams are having to learn how to communicate and stay productive while working remotely. Staying connected to your employees is a way to set yourself apart as a leader. Investing a bit of extra time, money, and resources during this time will pay off in the long run, and your team will appreciate your commitment to their well-being.