Although remote working has been happening for quite some time, it is only now that many companies have adopted it. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make things change and in the case of remote working, the pandemic forced a lot of companies into this.
Which means that many of them are not prepared on how to manage a remote workforce. It is one thing to connect your workforce with a VoIP and try to maintain normality as much as possible, yet quite another to have systems in place to ensure their success.
In this article, we will go over exactly how to set up your remote team so they can not just get the work done, but do it well and thrive.
1 – Have team building exercises
When people think of team building, they generally think of a retreat to a ranch somewhere together as a company where they try to form bonds by solving problems together.
When you have a remote team, that kind of team bonding is not possible, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. There are plenty of team building games for remote teams that will have the same effect and they don’t have to all be in the same place to achieve it.
Not only will these exercises help to make your team able to work together effectively, but it also helps with morale by allowing members to feel like they are actually part of a team. Working remotely can be lonely so this aspect of team building shouldn’t be undervalued.
2 – Help setting up their office
The environment where your employees will work is going to have a huge effect on their productivity. As a company you should help your team work in the best environment possible.
This may be in the form of paying for them to join a local co-working space so they have all the resources available to them. For instance, it could be expensive for them to pay for high speed internet, printers or other office products. They can take advantage of an offer like this to work where those things are available.
On the other hand, some people prefer to work alone in their own home in which case, you could give them some guidelines about how they should set up their home office.
3 – Focus on outcomes
One of the biggest benefits about working remotely is that you have some flexibility. This means that they might work better with a non traditional schedule. As long as the work is getting done then it really doesn’t matter when the work is being done.
Of course, there will be times when everybody needs to have some common time when the work is being done. Meetings or being available for clients to communicate are times that can be scheduled and are mandatory but other than that let your workers work when they work best.
Results are the most important thing and since there is little face time or office hours, then it becomes counterproductive to insist on a set schedule.
Photo credits: coworkinglondon.com