4 Key Tips to Successfully Manage Remote Employees

Why? Global Workplace Analytics says remote work can help employers save approximately $11,000/year per employee who work remotely for half the time. It also increases employee engagement and productivity. These 4 tips will help you manage remote workers and reap the rewards of remote work using remote working software.

Establish Communication Guidelines

Working remotely even with custom software can cause communication problems. These problems can be solved by following the below-described guidelines for remote work.

1. Document Your Communication Strategy

After you have created a strategy, it is important to document it and make sure it is shared with your remote employees. This policy should be a guideline for telecommuting. There should be clear expectations about the communication channels that employees should use. For remote employees, structured frameworks to help them communicate. Create a list of communication standards that you expect your employees will adhere to. Contact someone to talk to if you have any questions or concerns, such as a supervisor or a HR (Human Resources). You need to have a reliable internet connection in order to create an acceptable workspace. You can also add this policy in your onboarding information packet for new employees. This will ensure that remote workers follow the same protocols.

2. Remote Communication And Collaboration Tools

To keep in touch, a distributed team often uses multiple communication tools such as email and video conferencing. Let’s take a closer look at what remote communication tools you will need. Video conferencing tools allow you to conduct remote meetings and have discussions via video conference. Zoom and Skype are two examples.

Instant messaging platforms: Allows you to send files and messages to your entire team. These platforms are also great for instant replies and chats. Examples: Slack or Microsoft Teams. Cloud storage and collaboration tools: Share files easily with remote team members and collaborate in real time. Examples: Google Drive, Dropbox.

Each tool is essential for remote communication and collaboration. However, too many tools can be overwhelming. Why? You will have your messages scattered across many different platforms. It can be difficult to keep up with everything as employees may not know which communication tool is best for them. This can be avoided by marking default communication tools for each purpose. Instead of using multiple messaging apps, limit your use to one. You can also limit the number of video conferencing apps, spend management apps, and cloud storage or collaboration tools you use. You can improve overall efficiency by streamlining virtual team communication.

3. Find Out The Common Availability Hours

You must know when your remote team is available in order to collaborate effectively. This can be challenging when colleagues work in different time zones and have different working hours. To deal with this, you can create a schedule that allows everyone to be online during the week. This will ensure smooth collaboration. This will help. This allows you to schedule tasks that require real-time feedback and collaboration. Remote workers can also use this time to communicate with their team members for team building, discussions, and other activities.

4. Establish Firm Response Times

What time will my remote employees respond? Remote teams can find it difficult to know when they will respond. Remote employees often work according to their own schedules, so you don’t know when they will be able to respond to your messages. This uncertainty can be overcome by setting clear deadlines or response times for remote employees. How can you do this? Each mode of communication can be given a deadline.

Take, for example:

Email responses must be received by the close of each workday. Within one hour, instant messaging responses can be expected. Within three hours, project management and task updates will be communicated. These response times are a way to ensure accountability and uniformity in all communication. This ensures that all messages get a prompt reply, eliminating the need to micromanage. These measures can be strengthened by requiring remote employees to notify the team if they are unavailable or absent from their laptops during a specific period.

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