Remote work is a growing option for many organizations as they seek to hire someone with the right skills, regardless of geographic area. But hiring and managing remote workers comes with particular challenges because you won’t be interacting in-person on a regular basis. Not only do communication breakdowns inevitably arise, but a remote worker may also feel less connected to the company and its success.
However, remote workers offer too much upside to many organizations to justify a blanket policy of not hiring them. By using the right strategies, you can mitigate problems. Here are 5 that will help you better manage your remote workers.
Have a chat room open all the time
Communication is one of the key challenges of managing remote workers, which is why having a chat room open constantly for your team provides several benefits. It allows team members to discuss important issues and feel connected as a work team. It’s also a space where you can encourage a bit of fun to help everyone get to know one another.
Have them visit the office occasionally
Whether it is for a special occasion, a staff event or even just an important team meeting, having your remote team gather at one location periodically is essential. It helps everyone get to know other team members on a more human level, nurtures a group identity and encourages friendships. You don’t have to do it frequently to experience the benefits. Even once or twice a year can have an impact.
Tracks hours and other productivity measures
As a manager, it’s critical you know and be able to refer to at all times what your team members are working on. It also helps ensure your team members are actually working. Some might be motivated enough to do their job without time tracking, but many need some remote monitoring when working from home and time tracking can help.
Give some flexibility for work hours but try to keep some consistency
One of the main reasons people like to work remotely is the flexibility of hours provided. However, team members working completely different hours can slow down projects and make it more difficult to work as a team. Creating set times every day where all team members need to be online and working can help.
Use a project management software
It might be tempting to simply use email for all of your team projects, but you’ll be better served by implementing a project management software. It will help everyone stay on the same page by organizing documents and virtual meetings into projects. Many project management softwares also come with version control, a critical feature to ensure everyone is working on the most up-to-date version of a document.
