In today's corporate world, working from home has become very common, or you can say a new normal with the rise of virtual office.
Thanks to the recent epidemic, which completely upended the idea of the physical workplace. Before, companies were not required and barely considered allowing employees to work from home.
It can be challenging to manage a remote staff, especially when you want to keep business operations running normally while maintaining a sense of "team unity" when employees can't interact in person.
The global pandemic has now forever altered the way we have worked previously. So we see remote working as the new standard for the future.
Consider these key remote work statistics from a recent survey:
• 58% of people work from home or 80 million people
• Based on a survey, 60% of employees claimed they would prefer to continue working from home
• There is a 62% increase in remote workers' productivity
• Remote workers feel 60% less connected with their coworkers
This article will discuss some challenges the workforce faces while working remotely. We'll also share some tips on how to overcome them and ensure better workforce management.
Top Tips for Managing Remote Workers
- Getting along together is quite a challenge
- Trouble in tracking work and productivity level
- An employee feels disconnected
- Difficulty in scheduling meetings
- Poor communication
- Trouble in establishing trust
- Strong company culture is the way
1. Getting along together is quite a challenge
Working together in one place is a different charm. You walk into your office every day, interact with different people on a regular basis, get to know them, etc.
However, working remotely is quite challenging since remote teams usually have people from around the globe living in various places and different time zones.
If nothing seems possible, then at least schedule a meeting using ChatGPT with all the staff members once a year to meet folks in person. This might include an annual gathering or a group trip to exotic places.
For remote teams struggling to connect in person, exploring the services offered by corporate travel agencies in Singapore could facilitate organizing an annual gathering or a team trip to foster stronger bonds and facilitate face-to-face interactions amidst geographical barriers.
Even freelance contractors might organize an annual gathering, convention, or conference in order to meet up. The best and simplest way to arrange a meetup is to encourage remote employees to visit the office if they visit your city, even if they have their family along for the vacation.
One day from their scheduled trip won't ruin their vacation. Managing a remote workforce comes with a slew of difficulties. But fortunately, you can readily address it.
For instance, you can conduct a meeting considering the Google Slides themes and implement team-building activities for your workers to perform to get along.
Or you can look up online communication tools for better interaction. We see remote working as the future of many corporate companies. Therefore, we must prepare for it and adapt to execute better business operations.
2. Trouble in tracking work and productivity level
Keeping track of how much work is being done by the teams working from home is very difficult.
Many managers might not even know how and at what ratio their employees are working and accomplishing the company's goals because they don't get to keep track of their products since they are not present in person to keep an eye on them.
When working from home and not knowing their productivity, it's difficult to tell if someone is underutilized or not carrying their own load. This way, employees can manipulate easily, affecting your operational system badly.
In order to overcome this problem, the managers working remotely must ensure that they have set up systems for all staff to track their productivity.
For instance, establishing KPIs according to how much activity is scheduled to be performed daily can help them in this matter. To do this they can easily track employee activity levels and find out the most productive employees.
Activities like updating the company's blog section or having a social media presence ensure that the scheduled posts are to be posted each hour, etc. KPI indicators track quite easily whether the given task is done or not.
If you want to track the visits you get on any of your web pages, then you must look up an automated solution, i.e., POWR. Doing so will get to know about the traffic, and through such insights, you can alter your web designs as per the requirement to effectively leverage employee engagement.
However, ensure that the KPI indicators you are using to assess remote workers' performance must have the same standards that you are using to measure in-office staff members' productivity. Doing so will guarantee that you have clear expectations for no discrimination despite how or where your team is working.
3. An employee feels disconnected
Having a physical meeting one-on-one is said to leverage the employee's morale. However, working with remote workers might not be possible, and engaging with each member of your remote team may seem inconvenient.
To overcome the challenge of remote employees feeling disconnected, consider exploring corporate charity team-building events. These events foster stronger bonds among remote teams and align with social responsibility efforts.
By participating in activities that give back to communities, remote workers can engage deeper beyond their regular roles, enhancing their connection to team members and organizational values.
But by doing so, employees might feel appreciated, and you would provide them an opportunity to put their thoughts out. Moreover, you also get a chance to interact with them and can give them instant feedback on their work performance.
You can encourage team bonding by utilizing Confetti’s team-building platform or conducting virtual coffee sessions, and more.
Remember, if such meetings are not arranged regularly, your remote workers may feel disconnected from the firm and unsure of their position. Even for companies like Drywall Repair Guru, it is extremely important to stay in touch with all their contractors regularly.
4. Difficulty in scheduling meetings
Working with global teams means you get along with people worldwide with varied time zones. Unfortunately, due to these varied time zones, remote workers find difficulty in scheduling meetings, whether it's a video conference or if it's just a phone call.
Independent contractors or freelancers exacerbate this with unpredictable work schedules. Knowing where the participants reside and their regular schedules can help you find the right time that would work for everyone. You must be wondering how that is possible.
Remember, nothing is impossible; you need to think a little smarter.
Firstly, look at online tools since there are many online tools that can assist you with scheduling, whether for the call, video conferencing, or scheduling meetings with a remote workforce.
Moreover, there is a range of techniques to organize a meeting in a less stressful way, from a basic online poll that displays selected days and times that members can choose from to calendaring applications and a variety of other websites and free hosting web applications analyze participant availability.
5. Poor communication
To make your remote working a success, you must have a good connection with yourself.
It is vital to get everyone's feedback and to be aware of what everyone is working on and how they are getting it done. However, it is not always simple to nurture open communication, primarily when teams operate remotely.
For teams struggling to maintain collaboration and productivity remotely, exploring various intranet software solutions can offer much-needed structure and efficiency in managing tasks, communication, and files across different locations effectively.
Email marketing is one way to interact but is typically perceived as a formal technique as it does not allow for rapid conversations.
To overcome poor communication, many remote teams rely on online communication applications to establish a specialized space to communicate with their team, Slack, or Zoom effectively. Such applications allow you to communicate over several channels.
Prepare a Slide Model presentation, display it on screen, and add your teammates to the virtual meeting room. Once you have everyone on board, share your laptop's screen with them.
Voila!!! You are all set to give them a presentation.
This way, remote workers would not feel separated from one another since remote work is becoming a thing because of the pandemic. And now we have a lot of new technologies to tackle such issues.
6. Trouble in establishing trust
It is challenging for remote team members and managers to establish trust among themselves.
For example, managers are concerned that employees are not completing tasks, while employees are concerned about being paid on time (in some cases). Here, transparency can assist all parties in creating trust, especially while working remotely.
Transparency in the following areas can help you create confidence among a remote team:
- Payment schedules
- Updates on the project's status
- Work hours
- Expectations for the project
- Payscale
It would be great if you were open and honest regarding the workload you anticipate your contractors to handle regarding expectations.
Perhaps if that's not the case, several B2B marketing organizations warn freelancers that business will pick up significantly in the following months.
Even though these remarks are quite intentional, many freelancers may believe they are being exploited. They might have bargained a lower fee to be upset when that does not pay off, given the sheer volume.
7. Strong company culture is the way
Developing a strong company culture entails employing the right people, developing healthy communication, and infusing the culture throughout the organization.
But establishing a culture known for its energy requires more effort with a remote team than developing one in an office.
Without any effort on the part of the manager or owner, a company's culture can be shaped. At the same time, it's the opposite in the case of remote teams.
It will help if you come up with proper planning in order to create a strong corporate culture with remote support that reflects your organization's values. It starts at the top, with the owner's or manager's interactions with employees.
In case you want an open-communication culture, then your remote workers must be capable of speaking with everyone, even if it's your CEO, through a virtual policy.
On the other hand, if you desire a fun company culture, you must schedule fun get-together parties, gift certificates, or a virtual movie night. The right motivation can inspire commitment in your remote workforce, enhancing overall performance.
Conclusion
We hope the above discussion might have added more knowledge to your think tank. We assure you that considering these suggestions will result in a better working experience with your remote teams.
