Managing Remote Employees: 5 Tips To Solve Challenges

The pandemic accelerated the remote working trend with up to 25 percent more workers in digital sectors such as e-commerce and automation than before, the report from McKinsey stated. Although millions of people lost jobs as an aftereffect of pandemic to the businesses, others rapidly adjusted to working from home (WFH) as offices closed. Post-pandemic, companies are making a shift to flexible workspaces after positive experience with remote work during the pandemic as it can reduce the overall office space they need, and save money on rent, utilities, and other office supplies.

However, the advantage of in-office working such as efficient coordinations, career development pace, coaching and monitoring the productivity became a major challenge. What used to be minute-by-minute updates are very difficult to do in a remote setup.

Below are five basic tips to help leaders when it comes to managing in a remote (WFH) setup. If you want a real-time employee tracking software for an accurate decision making, try Better HR Project Management feature.

1.      Monitor daily check-in/out to coordinate who’s working today and who’s on leave

All businesses start their day with attendance – who is working and who is on leave. It used to be that in office setup, you can simply see the person missing. In remote setup, employee is always at the office in but doesn’t mean that he is working today. Suddenly being at the office do not equate to working today anymore. In remote setup, it’s very important that real-time attendance status of the team members are available to everyone in team to coordinate the day’s task completion.

With Better HR software, employees can relay their attendance with remote check-in feature to all members of the team. They just need to take out their phone and request attendance approval with just a click, and managers can see their exact GPS location and approve it on smartphone. All the attendance data and clock-in/out time will be stored securely in the cloud system of Better HR and be available to relevant team members

2.      Maintain constant communication with team collaboration software

Communication with colleagues is convenient at office as it is in-person, but the challenge has arisen for every organization since remote working started. Tools like Zoom, Google meet, and Microsoft Teams which most office workers already use on a daily basis even at office becomes the main pillar in remote working operation. It might be uncomfortable at first, doing like Teams meeting all day, but once you get used to that, it will fully support engagement as much as meeting in person. 

3.      Do regular day-start and day-end meetings with team members

It may not be necessary to do meetings often when you can keep monitoring what your team members working on with just a glance at office. Now, when they are working remotely, it’s hard for you to control. To get work done, you need to assign particular tasks at the start of the day with an exact time frame of the deadline. At the day-end meeting then, have a follow-up on what they have done today and advise tasks for tomorrow. By doing it on regular basis, it would be easier for you to track team members’ progress and make them more productive. 

4.      Create virtual team-bonding events

It’s important to have team bonding even when the whole organization is working remotely. Regular virtual team bonding activities help your workforce quickly adapt to a new remote work lifestyle, remote meetings, and videoconferencing software. Examples of activity types include icebreaker questions, virtual escape room game, virtual campfires, etc. which can be free or paid. This can improve their mental well-being, communication, build trust, creativity, and encourage your team members to understand one another better.

5.      Appreciate employees’ achievements

Managers should also look for opportunities to celebrate the same work success that would be celebrated in the office. The employee of the year, which will appear on the company website or the praise during virtual town-hall meeting, replace the recognition that would have taken place at the company’s annual retreat at office.

Summing it all up

Each of the tips above is simple but not easy. They each require time, effort, and consistency. By carrying out these tips at your workplace, your team members will thank you. With proper planning for remote work culture and the right technology in place, virtual talents can work for you across from the other side of the globe and your business shall flourish. Curious to explore more about remote working management? Keep an eye on Better HR blog page.