Remote working is a trend that has been on the rise in recent times, and it is easy to see why because it can bring benefits to both the employer and the employee. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has forced businesses to adopt remote working, so there are now many leaders managing entire workforces remotely, which can certainly be a challenge. It is easy to see remote working continue to trend in the years to come, so learning how to manage a remote team could be highly valuable and help you to get more out of your staff – read on for a few tips.
Agree On Best Way Of Working
The key to success with remote working is making sure that everyone understands what is expected and how it will work. This is why you need to agree on the best way of working from the start, such as a daily check-in phone call at the same time each day, and to communicate what deadlines need to be met.
Use HR Software
Managing a remote team can be complex when it comes to HR, especially if you have a combination of full-time, part-time, and freelance workers. It can be streamlined by implementing an advanced HRIS so that areas like payroll, time off, salary changes, and performance management can be easy to manage and to keep your remote workforce organized and happy. You can also use pay stub generator for easy payroll management.
Trust Your Staff
Perhaps the most important aspect – yet an area where many employers struggle – is simply to trust employees to complete their work unsupervised. It is easy to manage staff lounging around and watching TV, but often you will find that people are more productive working from home, and if you have recruited well, then you should have faith that your team will get the work done.
Find Ways To Avoid Isolation
One of the biggest problems that remote working can create is employees feeling isolated, which can bring a range of further issues – this is particularly true for those that are not used to working from home. Team calls for social purposes and even virtual office parties with care packages sent to each staff member can all be highly effective at reducing feelings of isolation.
Provide Feedback & Support
Leading on from this, it is important to make an extra effort in terms of providing feedback when you have employees working remotely. In addition to ensuring that work maintains a high-standard, this also helps employees to feel supported and connected while working remotely. If they are struggling in terms of loneliness, workload, productivity, it is also important to provide support and to communicate to find the best path forward.
With remote working on the rise and COVID-19 forcing employees in all industries to work from home, it is vital that you know how to manage a remote team so that you can keep the business performing to a high standard and keep workers happy and engaged. This can be challenging – especially for those that are not used to remote working – but the above tips should help.