As the effects of the pandemic are starting to ease, companies are looking to manage their remote teams better. Studies have shown that employees who work remotely are more satisfied and less likely to change jobs. Yet, not many companies know how to manage remote teams effectively.
In this article, we have put together some of the best tips that you must keep in mind if you are on the mission of building the best remote team of workers. Keep on reading.
Table of Contents
How Can You Find And Recruit The Best Remote Workers?
The last few years have been extraordinary in every way possible. Remote jobs are now becoming the new norm, and workers are now more inclined to work from home. Hence, if you are a manager on the lookout for the best remote workers for your company, you will want to know the following tips.
1. Choose The Right Employees
One of the first tips you should keep in mind is to hire a group of workers who can effectively work from home. Ideally, any employee with a computer and decent internet connection should be able to work from home without any obstacles. But, that is not always the case. All workers are built differently; hence, as a manager, you should look out for employees who can work independently and show initiative.
Managing a team of remote workers is much more difficult than managing employees in an office. You won’t be able to constantly monitor them, which restricts you from making effective judgments. Hence, it is best to hire employees who know how to manage schedules, work under pressure, and navigate their work with little supervision. As a manager, you can cut yourself some slack and won’t have to lose your mind over which employees are working and which are not.
But, how can you know which workers are right and can manage their work? Give them small tasks throughout the hiring process. For instance, ask them to set up a Zoom meeting where you will interview them or ask them to email important people in your company. You can use various techniques online to find great talent. You can start with LinkedIn, although that requires a lot of manual work. Furthermore, you can post job offers on your website or on certain websites in this domain. And you can also try a platform such as signalhire.com to find your potential employees’ valid phone numbers and emails—and then you can approach them directly with an offer or interview request.
2. Offer Friendly Communication
Communication is one of the biggest hurdles of remote work. It’s not the same as an office where you can engage in face-to-face conversations and get things done. Hence, when managing a team of remote workers, you must use a workplace communication system appropriate for the type of business you conduct.
Solutions like video conferencing and Slack are great for managing a stable flow of communication between your employees. Don’t be afraid to do your research and invest in tools that can help you effectively interact with your workers and understand their difficulties. Even though some of these can be expensive, remember that they are still far cheaper than setting up a physical office.
Lastly, apart from just investing in tools, you need to keep in mind the different communication styles your employees use. When building a remote team, chances are you will be hiring professionals from across the world. Hence, you must be ready to understand their style of communication and work approach to assist them better.
3. Conduct Yearly Get-Togethers
No matter the benefits of remote work, there’s no denying that working in a physical office promotes deeper connections between your employees, which is very important if you want them to work harmoniously. Hence, conduct yearly meet-ups for your employees.
Through these meet-ups, your employees can get to know one another better, which can then reflect in their work. If you don’t trust your employees or they don’t trust each other, it won’t be long before your company starts falling apart.
Therefore, fly your employees to a common location and encourage them to bond. This can build empathy and connection between workers and help develop an understanding among your workers about the company’s direction and vision. The best way to do this is to create a budget for these get-togethers and build up from there. Don’t be afraid to splurge in these meet-ups since you will be saving money from the remote system anyway. This shows that you care for your employees.
4. Navigate Time Zones
Another big challenge in managing remote teams is time zones. You can always hire people in the neighboring or same time zones since it will be easier for you when you want to conduct a quick call or session among your workers. But, this way, you will be limiting yourself from one of the many benefits that remote work serves- diversity.
A great way to ensure that you can get everyone on board is to conduct meetings only when everyone is online. This can be a little frustrating since different time zones can often lead to unproductivity and delay. But, don’t forget that diverse teams come up with innovative solutions; hence, it is a small sacrifice that you can make if you wish to make your company a success.
5. Promote Flexibility
By leveraging remote work, as a manager, you will be exposed to one of the biggest opportunities: flexibility. You are not necessarily tied to a specific place or schedule, unlike in-house work. However, this can often pose a problem, especially for managers who are older and not accustomed to such remote settings. Hence, first, learn to acknowledge the merits and demerits of flexibility regarding remote working.
You cannot constantly monitor your workers in a remote setting like you can stay in an office. Hence, remote workers tend to be most productive when offered large projects to finish. Since you cannot micromanage everything remotely, it is best if you don’t give your employees hundreds of small tasks to finish since otherwise, you have to be in constant touch with them. Trust your employees to be proficient and give them proper instructions beforehand.
Lastly, choose employees who are willing to be flexible. Since they are not bound to the four walls of the office and stringent office hours, your employees can turn out to be more productive than you think. Incorporate that in the questions to ask in an interview. Learn whether they are willing to expand their horizons and take initiatives as necessary.
Get Advice and Invest in the Best Tools
The latest lockdowns and the resulting need to shift to distributed teams have hastened trends that were already evident in the corporate world. Some businesses moved to virtual workers much before they were required to, and they ran into the issue of keeping people motivated and engaged while working remotely many years back.
Hence, there are several tools available and a plethora of specialist knowledge on how to make remote work a success. To put it another way, if managing remote workers is driving you insane right now, know that you are not the only one in this boat. Many resources have emerged as the world dove into the WFH system that can help you effectively manage your employees. Don’t shy away from using them.
Final Thoughts
With the emergence of the pandemic, virtual work is slowly replacing traditional office settings. This has its pros and cons, just like most things. However, the biggest issue with remote work is effective management, which many companies are still figuring out. The ultimate tool that you need is communication. As long as your workers communicate effectively, everything else will fall into place. Keep the above recommendations in mind and build the most successful remote team.
Varsha