Whether you have a handful of remote employees or your entire staff is located around the world, it takes some talent to manage them. A remote workplace might help.
You may be saving lots of money by letting your staff work remotely, but it is not easy to keep the team working as a unit.
Tips for Managing a Remote Workplace
Logistics get very complicated even when your employees share the same time zone as your main office. It’s definitely worth embracing as the trend shows that the future looks bright for leading a team that has no office.
Here are some ways to manage the whole thing.
Create a structure
Working from home or at a coworking space is challenging to stay focused. Without an office structure, it can feel like being lost.
Make it easier for your employees to stay grounded in your office atmosphere by time tracking. Tracking remote workers’ time gives them structure and transparency.
In addition, it also helps managers coordinate resources and know which areas need some pushing. Quickbooks time tracking is an essential tool in keeping your employees’ production visible.
Use video for meetings
Not seeing the same person in the office every day makes communication difficult. Most communication happens visually so using video calls for meetings will help convey more meaning to the meeting.
Seeing reactions helps to understand how people really feel about what is being discussed.
With advances in internet speeds, it is cheap and easy to set up frequent video meetings.
Schedule more one on one time
Meetings are a great way to make sure everybody is on board with the company processes. But, one on one time is also very important. This is especially true when it comes to the challenges of handling autonomous employees.
Since people can’t just knock on your office door or you knock on theirs, it is important to schedule some time to chat individually. Get to understand the challenges the remote worker faces. Or even find out some of their ideas they may be reluctant to bring up in a meeting.
Send care packages
Getting a parcel in the post is always a welcome surprise. An easy way to boost morale is to send some items to your workers once in a while. Some customized company t-shirts go a long way to help remote workers feel part of the team.
And snacks from the area the home office is located in is always a great way to bridge long distances.
Online brainstorming
Often, great ideas on the direction the company should take come from the employees. Use some apps to make whiteboarding or ideating easy for some impromptu sessions in which the employees get to bring some fresh ideas to the table.
Make sure to set up space and time for this to happen occasionally so employees can feel like they are a vital piece of the company puzzle.
Bring them home
The last idea is to set up a day or week once a year when all the employees can meet face to face. A company picnic is a great way to do this.
It’s definitely worth embracing as a remote workplace. The future looks bright for leading a team with no office.