It is clear that remote work is here to stay, with most companies adopting either a hybrid or fully remote work model in recent times. Remote work can benefit the employee as it provides greater flexibility, a healthier work-life balance, and financial benefits, but it can also benefit the company. Businesses can enjoy lower costs, access to a larger talent pool, and a happier workforce with remote work, but there are also challenges involved. Managing a remote team can be challenging, especially if you have spent many years managing a team in-house. With this in mind, this post will offer a few handy tips.
Provide High-Quality Equipment & Tools
First, you must ensure you provide high-quality equipment and tools. You cannot expect your remote workers to work to their potential each day if they do not have everything they need at home to carry out their duties to a high level. Office equipment, software, and tools should be provided to your team.
Communicate Your Expectations
Unsurprisingly, communication is key to success when managing remote workers. It is important to establish what your expectations are and what rules you have in place for remote workers. This must include key aspects like breaks, running errands, and flexible working hours.
Use SIP Trunking
You want communication to be seamless when it comes to remote work, but this is not always straightforward. One way to improve communication is to adopt SIP trunking (Session Initiation Protocol) from a supplier like Frontier, which uses a broadband connection as opposed to traditional phone lines for communication. This works well with remote workers because they can access your company’s phone system and make and receive calls as if they were in the office. Additionally, communication will be virtual, and various different devices can be used. Different communication methods are available, including videoconferencing and instant messaging.
Understand Each Member’s Remote Work Style
It is important to outline your expectations and what rules you have for remote workers, but you also need to have some flexibility and understand each team member’s remote work style. Everyone is different as some people prefer to keep communication to a minimum and will be happy with email and instant messaging, while others will prefer regular calls throughout the day. To keep your team members happy, you should learn their style and be flexible in your approach. Additionally, put trust in your team to complete their work and avoid micromanaging – this is one of the biggest mistakes when it comes to remote management.
Create A Sense Of Belonging
While there are many benefits to remote work, it can be isolating, and this is something that many people have found in recent years. This is partly why hybrid work has emerged as such a popular option, but even with this, it is important to create a sense of belonging. You should arrange online and in-person social events, conduct regular team meetings, and plan collaborative projects to help employees feel connected and a part of a team. Internal newsletters can also be helpful for creating a sense of belonging.
Check In Regularly
Leading on from this, you should also check in with each team member regularly. This is helpful for making sure that they are managing and not suffering from isolation as well as providing the opportunity to give and receive feedback. As mentioned before, communication is key to success when managing remote employees, and this needs to go both ways. This will help to maintain strong relationships and ensure issues are addressed before they become major problems.
Encourage Flexibility
Finally, it is important that you provide flexibility for your remote workers. It is important that your team can enjoy the benefits of working remotely and be flexible with their hours. You do not want your team to feel that they cannot leave their desks, so you should encourage them to run errands, get out of the house during the day, and enjoy the flexible nature that remote work can bring.
Hopefully, the advice in this post will be useful and help you to improve your remote management. Remote work can benefit all parties, but it can also be challenging to manage a remote team and get the most out of your workers.
