Are your employees spread out all over the world?
Are you facing challenges managing your employees and want to provide a flexible remote working environment? Then, this article is for you.
Today, business has no boundaries; businesses seek, hire, and outsource employees from all across the globe. So, in order to stay connected and keep up with the diverse workforce, modern businesses should provide a remote working environment for their employees.
Innovative technology and the popularity of internet use have not only revolutionized workspaces but have also reshaped organizational structures and individual work preferences.
So, let’s learn more about remote working, best practices for managing remote teams, and remote management.
Let’s get started!
Overview of Remote Work
Typically, in an organization, employees have to regularly come to the office in order to work. However, due to globalization, work-life balance, and several other factors, many businesses are switching toward remote working. So, to define remote work, it is a work arrangement where employees can work from anywhere and stay connected using the power of the internet.
You can work remotely using various communicating and collaborative tools like emails, team messaging, video conferencing, meetings, and group calls. This tool allows diverse employees to seamlessly communicate and collaborate with colleagues and perform all the assigned work without being physically present in the same location.
By providing flexibility and remote access, businesses can reduce employee turnover, increase productivity, save costs on office overheads, and increase employee morale.
Types of Remote Work
Remote work can be of several types. Here are some of the types of remote work:
- Full-time remote working: In full-time remote working, businesses hire employees to work remotely on a full-time basis. Usually, whenever they hire employees from different locations, cities, or countries, they offer full-time remote working facilities.
- Work from Home (WFH): Work-from-home remote access is usually provided to the employees when they are unable to come office, sick, or when there is not adequate space in the office.
- Hybrid remote work: In hybrid remote working, employees spend time both remotely and spend time the office.
- Project-based remote work: In this kind of remote working, the organization provides remote access to the employee until and unless the assigned project is completed.
Note: Other types of remote work are Freelancers, outsourcing, gig work, telework, etc.
Benefits of managing remote teams:
Remote management can be beneficial for both employees and employers. Here are some of the benefits:
- Flexibility: remote work provides flexibility to employees, which can result in extra-hour work and increase productivity.
- Improved Work-Life Balance: Employees can improve their work-life balance, leading to job satisfaction
- Reduce cost: Both businesses and employees can reduce costs. Businesses can reduce costs by minimizing office overheads.
- Better talent acquisition: A remote working environment allows businesses to improve talent acquisition and provide access to a wider talent pool. This allows businesses to select the best employee to meet their business needs and increase productivity
- Diverse Workforce: Remote work can support diversity and inclusion efforts by providing opportunities for individuals with varying abilities or constraints to participate in the workforce.
- Business Continuity: Remote work can serve as a crucial component of a business continuity plan, ensuring operations can continue during disruptions such as natural disasters or health crises.
The challenges of managing remote employees
Managing employees is not an easy task. Moreover, managing remote teams is a greater challenge for businesses. Here are some of the major challenges that businesses might face while managing remote management:
Communication
Although remote workers use different communication and collaboration tools like Slack, emails, and calls to communicate, they are not as effective as physical communication. Sometimes, messages can be misread and misunderstood while interacting over digital platforms.
Remote workers use digital platforms to connect with each other. sometimes, important context information can be lost or missed due to various issues like connectivity and jitter. Additionally, written messages can be misinterpreted easily, especially when working with global teams. Also, cultural differences and language barriers can lead to confusion while working remotely.
Team collaboration
Teamwork is a key aspect of the success of any business. For better teamwork and collaboration, there must be a bond between the employees and the business. In the case of remote employees, team collaboration is a greater challenge.
Since the remote workers have no attachments, limited face-to-face interaction, and physical contact with the teams, there is no connection between them. This can disrupt the work process and create a non-friendly working environment.
Monitoring productivity.
Tracking and monitoring the work performance of remote employees all the time can be time-consuming for businesses. Monitoring remote employees constantly could lead to micromanagement and a feeling of being constantly watched, which can demotivate and hinder their performance.
Also, sometimes, while working remotely, an employee might cheat on their work, so better to establish clear goals and objectives.
Isolation, loneliness, and burnout
While working remotely, employees might feel isolated and miss out on the social aspects of work. Since there is no physical communication and engagement between team members, remote employees might feel bored, lonely, and isolated.
Employees who work remotely are more likely to experience burnout. Without clear rules of engagement and remote-working guidelines, they may be “on” all day and never get a break. Since there is no clear separation between work and personal life, they may log in early, work all day, and answer emails at night. This can create frustration and burnout for remote employees.
Time Zone Differences
As remote teams are spread around the world, conducting meetings, collaborating, and bonding can be challenging due to differences in time zones.
Additional challenges:
- Security risks
- Technology issues
- Irregularities and distractions
Best practices for managing Remote employees
As managing remote employees can be difficult. Here are some of the best practices you can use to manage your remote employees and enhance employee productivity:
Set clear expectations
- Communicate your expectations and goals with remote employees.
- Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and goals.
- Set ground rules for all the remote workers.
- Establish communication protocols, preferred channels, and response times.
Use the right tools to communicate and collaborate better
- Use Slack, emails, Google Hangouts, etc, to communicate with employees over text.
- Use Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to conduct video conferencing and meetings.
- Consider using a virtual assistant to manage and schedule tasks for remote employees.
- Use project management software like Trello, Asana, Wrike, etc, to scale up your projects.
- Invest in a virtual phone number and stay connected with your remote employee via a web app or mobile device.
- Invest in platforms that allow for easy task tracking, collaboration, and file sharing.
Develop a clear policy on remote work
- Establish a remote work policy to establish compliance and set guidelines and expectations for remote employees.
- Customize your policy according to your company, industry, and each employee’s specific role.
- Clearly mention working hours and monitor them.
- Ensure that the company’s policies are followed.
- Provide guidelines and recommendations to enhance productivity.
Establish strong personal connections.
- Conduct team-building activities like virtual icebreakers, online team-building games, and group chats.
- Understand team dynamics.
- Encourage communication between employees and build a strong connection.
- Encourage social interaction.
- Foster a sense of community through virtual events.
- Share ideas and promote innovation
- Have fun at work.
Note: Virtual icebreakers are small interactive activities that are used to lighten the mood, typically at the start of a meeting.
Hold regular check inns
- Check the goals and progress of the remote employee.
- Provide feedback on progress and challenges.
- Promote open communication about workload and find the ultimate solution.
- Provide necessary tools and support.
- Set a meeting agenda to provide context and talking points.
Recognition and Appreciation
- Appreciate and celebrate achievements.
- Express gratitude for hard work and dedication provide incentives, holiday trips, or bonuses
- Send Some Snail Mail for appreciation
- Focus on results
Tip: Snail mail is the common term for traditional postal mail, referring to the physical delivery of letters, packages, and other items by the postal service.
Additional practices:
- Provide guidelines for secure remote work practices.
- Promote work-life balance.
- Establish a system for feedback from remote employees.
- Facilitate mentorship and networking for remote employees and support their professional growth
- Allow for flexibility in work hours.
Also read Benefits of Using Virtual Phone Number for Remote Team in the USA
Conclusion
As the trend of remote working increases, 4 in 5 employees claim they would “recommend working remotely. So, modern businesses must be prepared and allow employees flexibility to keep up with the modern business environment.
Businesses not only cut off their office expenses but managing remote teams helps businesses acquire a talented pool of employees from any part of the world and enhance their business processes. Moreover, remote working allows employee to manage their work-life balance, provide job satisfaction, flexibility, and enhance their overall productivity.
So businesses today must master the art of managing remote employee to make the best out of their employee.
