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However, many of those concerns turned out to be unfounded, at least several months into the large shift to remote work spurred by COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, just 1 in 30 companies had at least half of their staff working remotely, according to research from human resources consulting firm Mercer. Of the employers surveyed, 94% said productivity has remained the same or increased since employees began working remotely. Trust that if they’re communicating clearly and meeting goals and deadlines, your employees are being productive and doing their jobs effectively. Sparrow suggests thinking about different ways of creating connections with remote workers.
And that you’re in touch with their concerns, needs, and suggestions. At The Remote Company, we believe managing remote teams is less about strict procedures and all about setting up each individual for success. When managing remote employees, it’s easy to just talk about what needs to get done and jump off your call, end your chat, and get back to executing. And in some cases, that’s exactly what you should do; if you’re on a tight deadline, fighting a fire, or just having a quick standup meeting, that makes sense. True, there’s never any sense in pairing a worker with a bad manager. But managing remote workers effectively requires an approach recalibrated to fit the worker.
These questions and more are available for easy reference in your 1 on 1s when you sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse here. See if your company can help cover the cost of better internet/more bandwidth for your employee, or encourage them to work somewhere they can more reliably take calls. You can also get more ideas for how to build rapport with your remote team members here. I worked with a largely remote team when I ran product at KISSmetrics, and now, the Lighthouse team today is fully remote. Add on top of all of those benefits, according to one study by Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom, remote work offers a tangible boost to productivity even when those employees are only partly remote. Read more on how managers can improve teamwork in the workplace.
Create Well
Business owners and managers also feared that collaboration would fall to the wayside and productivity would decline. “You shouldn’t have to be looking over your team’s shoulders while they’re in the office, so you shouldn’t have to do it when they’re remote, either,” Pellman said. “Regular one-on-one check-ins help managers avoid micromanaging, while still enabling them to keep a pulse on employees and provide them with an opportunity to ensure feedback goes both ways.”
Especially in work, words can come across more aggressive, or not as impactful as you may like. Your “open door policy” fails when it’s,”call me at a time that works….without our time zones conflicting….when I might be at my desk…but you can’t see for sure.” With so many free and inexpensive solutions for video chat , there’s no reason not to switch to video whenever you can. However, if that’s all you do, you’re really missing out on a critical part of management. Without any of the non-verbal clues that come from what we see and hear, communication issues can easily arise.
Implement The Right Communication Channels
If you’re new to 1 on 1s entirely, check out our comprehensive guide to 1 on 1 meetings here, and a step by step guide for starting 1 on 1s here. To combat this, encourage your team members to take a daily walk. There are many cardiovascular benefits to this, and it gets them out of their home without too much risk of infection.
Regularly checking in with your remote employees is a highly effective means of boosting their engagement. Learning to remotely manage a team will have its inevitable growing pains. A crucial expectation you’ll need to set for your remote team is which communication channels to use. Hopefully, you already have some remote communication tools in place.
It becomes much simpler to know a person who is sitting whole day beside you. You work together, spend hours together and you start knowing them in and out, their strengths and weakness and what personality they possess. But when working remotely you will have to try a little to know about your team. Make it a point to have a discussion that gives you a learning about their personality. Since you are working remotely with your teams, you won’t have the moments to talk about issues.
These small gestures can also show that your company values its employees. Video conferencing is also a great way to encourage social interaction. When cameras are turned on, it’s easier to make a connection with your team.
If they feel like they’re under too much pressure and be prepared to adjust work to make things easier for them. Face-to-face video conferencing is a great way to retain non-verbal comms. If your team is particularly large, consider breaking it down into sections for the regular calls.Be mindful that video fatigue exists, and you may need to allow for camera downtime. In fact, our research found that 82.9% believe that not all video meetings require video. Accept that a remote worker’s schedule may differ but that they will still get work done.
Trust And Empower Your Employees
A Bloomberg report supports these claims by recently stating, “America’s always-on work culture has reached new heights.” According to Buffer’s State of Remote Work Report, the top challenge for employees working from home is “unplugging after work.” The arrangement seemingly allows flexibility in scheduling, but the flexibility is a liability, pressuring employees to remain “plugged in.” That said, if the nature of your employee’s work demands some level of surveillance, follow the expert’s advice, and ensure full transparency. Recognition is even more critical than ever in a remote work context.
So, now that you’ve moved all of your documents, files and collaboration onto the social intranet, it’s important to keep it well-organized. The last thing you want is for it to become the corporate scrapyard Managing Remote Teams where employees are forced to sift through tons of junk, searching for the few nuggets of information they need. Organize employees into groups for departments, projects and other subsets that make sense.
From a management perspective, the lack of in-person interaction may feel like a barrier to monitoring productivity. Managing remote employees, however, requires a different approach to traditional, office-based strategies. In this article, we take a look at the challenges and opportunities presented by the remote work model and how to manage remote workers and offsite employees. Remote work becomes more efficient and satisfying when managers set expectations for the frequency, means, and ideal timing of communication for their teams. With so many great tools and apps like Dialpad out there to make remote work easier, you’ll find that communication and management are as easy as if your team were in the office with you. From sharing work-related files to just having fun face-to-face interactions and regular phone calls, it is possible to retain many of the best parts of in-office work as a remote workers.
Include Physical Meetings Sometimes
Reaching out to employees individually allows you to gauge their general wellbeing, identify any issues they’re experiencing, and answer any questions they may have. It also communicates their value and helps to keep them motivated. Different employees require different resources, especially when it comes to communication tools, so respond to their individual needs.
There should be a clear timetable for meetings, and employees should know what different people are doing so that they have an idea of where they fit in the process. For how to do this, check out tips for effectively onboarding remote employees. The isolation can also hurt team building and relationships with colleagues. If you have minimal contact with your supervisor or co-workers, it’s easy to feel like you’re not part of a team.
- Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the remote workforce was growing.
- You may notice that the employee is not taking their lunch or is leaving late every day.
- Remote employees are faced with unique challenges and you have to understand those challenges to effectively manage them as part of your team.
- Give them one day in a week for one-on-one to discuss their issues and you can give them your instructions.
Apart from these, a lot of productive discussions can take place during unofficial in-office chats. To make up for the lack of face-to-face interaction, try to maximize other communication channels. Goals will tell your employees what they need to achieve, but it’s just https://globalcloudteam.com/ as important to establish clear expectations. Your expectations will provide your employees with parameters to work with. Buy your remote workers a gift card to a local coffee shop they can work from. They want retreats, virtual hangouts, and spontaneous phone calls.
If you do a poor job, morale and productivity will suffer; if you’re successful, a remote workforce can build loyalty and boost engagement. Here are some tips to help you tackle the challenges of managing remote employees, plus the pros and cons of having a remote workforce. The competencies required for successfully managing remote employees don’t differ significantly from those in on-site management roles. Face-to-face connection is important, especially with remote employees. If you don’t schedule times to talk with one another face-to-face, silence can become very loud and remote employees might end up wondering how they’re doing. Scheduling a regular cadence of video calls can help you stay connected, and video conferencing is 30% more effective for communication than audio-only setups.
Essential Tips For Managing Remote Employees
It doesn’t need to be monetary; consider public acknowledgment, tokens of appreciation, development opportunities and low-cost perks. Take this opportunity to provide development opportunities to employees who normally do not have capacity. “As a manager, you have to stop paying attention to the process and pay more attention to what things are getting done. Just talk to your team about what you want them to accomplish,” says Kropp. Emphasize objectives over processes to create greater clarity for employees — and drive greater engagement levels.
If you operate a hybrid working model, your policy should also explain the instances when employees are required to be present in the office, such as for security or practical reasons. Join your peer CHROs and senior HR executives from leading organizations to discuss specific HR challenges and learn top HR trends and priorities. “During periods of disruption, employees’ desire for recognition of their contribution increases by about 30%,” says Kropp. Set a schedule for regular conference calls on progress or problems. This also includes individuals being able to contact you if needed. Every person has their own preferences for how they absorb new information.
They need different kinds of stoking and check-ins than introverts need. You control all the tools your employees use, and it’s your job to make sure they use the right ones. Set them up with your team and have clear expectations for how to communicate.
I understand that the data I am submitting will be used to provide me with the above-described products and/or services and communications in connection therewith. Celebrate short-term wins, reinforcing the team’s shared effort. A team charter can help you stay on track, clarify roles, and meet your objectives. Read more about how to keep your team on track with a team charter. Remote work refers to an arrangement where employees are not required to report to a specific place to do their work.