Experts predict that many companies worldwide will implement a hybrid work model where a certain percentage of its workforce will operate in physically-based offices while a certain percentage will work remotely. Regardless of this fact, many managers and supervisors are still in the process of adjusting to this unforeseen shift. The fact is working from home leads to less interaction with fellow co-workers and more distractions from people, places and things. All of this can lead to a loss in productivity. To manage remote workers more efficiently, they need to take advantage of new technologies and connect with their team.
1) Be More Flexible
When it comes to collaborating with remote teams, for you to maintain consistency, you have to give them flexible hours. Even though you must develop a concrete plan, you should be more flexible in their work hours. Regardless of whether employees prefer to work in the evening or morning shouldn’t matter, as long as the quality of work they produce is consistently high.
2) Take Advantage Of Productivity Tools
One of the easiest and most important things you can do to ensure that your team maintains a high level of productivity while working remotely is to give them the tools they need to remain productive and connected. Project management tools such as Slack were specifically designed to help remote workers communicate and collaborate through one single hub. Providing project management tools will help ensure that managers and employees are on the same page, regardless of where each individual is located.
3) Set Expectations From The Beginning
One of the most important things you can do is to set boundaries and provide employees with guidelines from the beginning. Additionally, you should encourage feedback to provide clarity when it comes to performance goals and company expectations. Finally, supervisors and managers should ensure that remote teams are updated with staffing and policy changes like the traditional workplace.
4) Track Team’s Progress
This falls in line with setting expectations from the beginning. Managers should invest in a time and attendance systems that should consist of each team members schedule and a list of tasks that they need to complete within a given time frame. This helps to quell your fears that the team may not be performing up to standard and give the team an overall structure.
5) Communication Is Key
Most experts agree that it’s essential that managers regularly communicate with their teams. This helps to remind workers about upcoming deadlines, challenges, company expectations and available resources. Additionally, you should communicate with your team to determine which communication channel works best, whether via SMS text, video chat or phone call.
Once you’ve determined your team’s preferred communication channel, you should find a healthy balance of pinging reminders and radio silence.
6) Build A Connection With Your Team
Statistics indicate that many workers feel disoriented and isolated when it comes to working as a remote worker. This is why it’s recommended that managers build connections with their remote team. This entails encouraging humour related conversations, providing positive feedback or whatever helps to remind your team that they aren’t alone. Good managers tend to make themselves available to their teams. They have an open-door policy for remote teams as well. Taking advantage of webinars is also a very useful technique. StealthSeminar is among the best choices for this.
7) Do Not Micromanage
The reality of the fact is that if you’re used to working in the office, not being able to see your team may tempt you into micromanaging them. But, when it’s all said and done, you shouldn’t have to look over your team’s shoulder when they’re at the workplace or if they’re working remotely. This is one reason you need to establish expectations early on, such as conducting a routine one-on-one daily check-in.
Daily check-ins enable managers to keep tabs on what a particular employee is doing and provide them with an opportunity to improve in areas they may lack, such as failing to meet deadlines.
8) Non-Work Interactions
As mentioned, some remote workers tend to feel socially isolated and disconnected from the company. On the other hand, people at a traditional workplace are able to socialize with their coworkers and talk about topics that go outside the scope of work. Therefore, managers need to encourage non-work interactions amongst their teams. Meaning, you should create the space and opportunity for remote memories to talk about hobbies, news, sports, video games and other non-work-related topics, as they would in a traditional workplace setting.
A simple yet ingenious way to encourage this would be to reserve 5 minutes after or before a video conference starts to give team members some time to catch up.
