Learn how to manage a remote workforce in a better way to keep morale up, even if they are thousands of miles away.
Working and doing business has long shifted from all employees being in one office, to remote work and even employees in different parts of the world. Thanks to technology, people are now able to work anywhere. For a business, working remotely can also more beneficial as it can mean a reduced overhead cost. Nowadays, many small businesses choose to outsource their tasks to a remote workforce so they can continue focusing on the most important parts of their business.
So, how do you ensure that productivity and quality results are still achieved even with a remote workforce? It’s similar to how you would handle personnel management in your headquarters, but with people who are working remotely, it can be a little more complicated.
As a global HR team, NNRoad can handle all technical paperwork so you can focus on managing your remote workforce. We take care of all the details to ensure that you are able to manage your employees and ensure they complete their work for the betterment of your whole company.
As NNRoad works with companies that have remote teams, we have some insights we’d like to share on how you can effectively manage those who are working away from you physically.
Who is a Remote Employee?
A remote worker or a virtual employee includes a large bracket of categories ranging from the employees who work full-time from home for several days a week to those employees who work in a completely different geographical location from you. It could even cover a whole company or business that doesn’t have an actual physical office headquarters.
Throughout the years, virtual working has become very popular as it is more flexible and it gives the employees more options. Because of this, remote work became the primary way to get talented individuals to work for a company especially in today’s situation wherein a pool of available individuals, only a few are genuinely talented. Also, remote work can cut a lot of costs and expenditures on the employer’s side as it allows work to be done without the need for office space.
Making Virtual Teams Work
An ongoing issue about remote work is the level of productivity it will create. When working from home or remotely there may be a lot of distractions. On the flip side, remote workers often take shorter breaks, work longer hours, and are less likely to quit. The flexibility of remote work is a key factor in employee retention for many companies, but employers and employees can run into issues with remote work.
14 Tips to effectively manage your remote employees
To effectively manage a remote workforce set up to run smoothly, you need to set rules for yourself and the administration of your company. This is to ensure that even if the employees are working in remote locations, productivity is still high and what is expected of them is clear. Below you can find the tips about remote workforce management.
1. Make everyone feel that they are part of the team
One issue that most companies face when they have remote workers is that most of these employees feel unmotivated because they are disconnected from the rest of the team. This is the first thing that you should look into when you have a remote workforce. There should be activities that will help promote a sense of community and camaraderie. This can be done through daily calls or short conversations on chat. It is important to let them know what’s going on with the company and their work so they feel connected to the company and other employees. Even if it seems like too much, your remote employees will appreciate the effort you put in.
2. Schedule time for regular communication
It’s easy to forget about the people who you don’t see physically every day. But, with the Internet and the various means of online communication, there is no room for excuses for not communicating with your remote workers. It is best to communicate with your workers on a daily basis. Having a task or project management system also helps in keeping up with the progress of each remote employee’s work. Discuss tasks and projects with your remote workers just like how you would discuss in person. Make time for coffee chats or informal check-ins to ensure your remote employees have what they need to succeed.
3. Make yourself available
In the light of constant communication, also make sure that you are available when your remote workers need you. This is especially important for leadership. It’s easy for your remote workers to lose interest in their tasks if they don’t get feedback when they need it. Lack of feedback can also jeopardize the progress and productivity of the projects. If it isn’t possible to be available to your employees, make sure you specify this to your remote workers. Tell them which times you are available to talk to and tell them a way they can reach you so you can attend to their concerns as soon as possible.
4. Have reasonable expectations
Since monitoring work is quite more complicated if you have remote workers, you may have to adjust and manage your expectations. To do this, you want to create guidelines for monitoring these expectations. Some suggested methods are:
1) Log start and finish times for the day
2) Attend required meetings
3) Including you in emails about important work
It is also important to take note of the remote workers’ performance on a regular basis so you can establish the right expectations and goals. This is to ensure that your employees are happy and motivat