If you were waiting for a sign to finally embrace remote work, there couldn’t have been a clearer one than 2020. After the coronavirus reached America’s shores, it didn’t take long for the federal and state government to issue stay-home orders or advisories.
Millions of businesses that had never had a remote employee suddenly found themselves needing to go remote. It was either that or stare at failure in the face.
Thumbs up if you successfully transitioned to the remote work structure, but then new challenges are bound to arise. In this article, we’re telling you how to manage remote employees the right way.
Continue reading to learn more!
1. Embrace the Benefits of Remote Work
As an employer, you want the best for your business. If you’ve never had a remote working system, it’s easier to think and believe that this system is working against your business. With such a mindset, you might not be effective when it comes to managing your remote team.
You need to truly embrace remote work for you to become great at managing a team that’s working remotely. For example, remote work can bring big savings to your business while improving productivity. When you know this, you’ll be able to keep at it, even when it looks like you aren’t getting the most out of your remote team.
2. Develop Policies That Support Your Remote Employees
For most organizations, it’s hardly possible to go fully remote. In most cases, you’ll find that you need to maintain a balance between in-house and remote this.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but your policies must support both remote and in-house teams. If your workplace policies seem to favor the in-house structure, you’ll be doing your remote teams a big disservice.
For instance, when you have remote employees, it doesn’t make sense to require them to report to the office often. If they’re remote, everything should be remote. They’ll put in good shifts when they know their work is 100 percent remote.
This is how you build a team of remote employees that cares about your organization.
3. Provide the Right Remote Work Technologies
Technology is the primary driver of remote work. Without it, companies would find it super difficult to allow employees to work from home.
Are you providing the right technologies for your remote employees? Remote technologies aren’t created equal, so if you’re flying by with the cheapest software around, you aren’t getting the most out of your team.
Invest heavily in the right technology. Don’t cut corners with free versions just to save money. It’s understandable that you might be running on a shoestring budget, but when you want the best out of your remote workers, this is an investment you need to make.
How to Manage Remote Employees Effectively
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our businesses, remote work was already increasing in popularity. If you’ve just embraced this format, you’ve got some learning to do, especially on how to manage remote employees the right way. Use this guide as a starting point, but don’t stop here.
Keep reading our blog for more management tips and advice.