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See the AgendaBy Tim Vaughan
— January 29th, 2020
Due to the evolution of technology, and easy access to information and resources, remote working has become a possibility for millions of people around the world.
Hiring employees to work remotely offers businesses the advantage of selecting from a much larger talent pool. Remote working also has a positive impact on employee productivity, happiness, and work-life balance.
It's important to keep in mind that remote working does not come without its challenges, especially for employers who may be more accustomed to dealing with workers face-to-face in traditional office environments.
Common issues that arise when managing remote teams include a lack of effective communication, projects not being completed on time, and trouble monitoring employee efficiency.
A remote team is a group of individuals who collaborate from various locations, leveraging digital communication tools to achieve common goals. Unlike traditional teams that work in a shared physical space, remote teams operate from diverse environments such as home offices, coffee shops, co-working spaces, or even different countries. These teams can consist of full-time employees, freelancers, or contractors, all working together seamlessly through platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and other communication tools.
Remote teams offer a multitude of benefits that can significantly enhance both employee satisfaction and organizational performance. Here are some key advantages:
Despite the numerous benefits, remote teams also face unique challenges that can impact their effectiveness. Some of the most common issues include:
Fortunately, there are a number of useful tactics that can be utilized to overcome remote team-building issues, bring remote teams together, and explain how best to manage them. They include:
Effective remote team communication is crucial in overcoming these challenges, as it enhances collaboration, optimizes meetings, reduces distractions, and leverages collaboration software.
The most important step in establishing an effective remote working team is ensuring employees are aware of what is expected of them.
Organizations can achieve this by setting clear guidelines for remote workers to follow.
These guidelines should allow employees to be just as certain of their objectives when working from home, as they would be working from the office.
If employees understand their duties and responsibilities, it will improve their levels of productivity and quality of work significantly. Employers should ensure their workers are aware of:
One of the major disadvantages of working remotely is that workers often suffer from a sense of isolation and disconnect.
These feelings of isolation will have a negative impact on employee morale and motivation, ultimately having a damaging effect on business.
To counteract such issues, organizations should maintain regular engagement with remote employees. This can be achieved by:
When remote teams have the correct set of tools at their disposal, it greatly impacts how well the team functions as a whole. Task management tools are crucial in facilitating collaboration and organization within remote teams.
Businesses should focus on implementing tools that help employees increase communication, manage tasks, and share information.
Selecting the best tools to utilize will vary depending on business size and industry.
It’s useful to keep in mind that some tools may be required by the entire remote workforce, while others may only be useful to certain teams and individuals.
Lack of communication is one of the most common issues that arise in remote teams.
As strong and effective communication is the key to business success, it is vital that remote workers have efficient methods of staying connected, now that talking to each other in person is not an option.
Thankfully, now more than ever, there is an abundance of tools and technology available such as email, instant messenger, and project management software, that organizations can implement to make it easy for remote teams to stay connected.
To navigate the challenges of remote teams and foster successful collaboration, consider implementing the following strategies:
By adopting these strategies, remote teams can overcome the challenges of distance and achieve effective collaboration, leading to increased productivity, creativity, and overall success.
When working in an office setting, it is easy for workers to build strong relationships with each other, but when it comes to working from home, developing these relationships becomes significantly more difficult.
Organizations must actively work on ways to keep their employees engaged with one another. One effective way of doing this is to create an online chat, not one to be used for discussing work-related matters, but one in which employees can chat more informally.
Similarly, hosting virtual lunch or coffee breaks is a great way for employees to socialize with each other throughout the workday.
Putting together activities for remote workers can be a great way of building connections and feelings of inclusivity.
Team building activities can include setting a fun company-wide target. Fitness challenges and wellness sessions are some examples of activities remote workers can partake in together.
Regularly reaching out and getting in touch with remote workers is a great way for employers to show their employees that they are not being overlooked.
If employees feel a lack of communication from management, they may feel their work is not being appreciated and that they are just another cog in the machine.
Instant messenger, video calls, or even regular phone calls are all great ways to get in touch with workers.
Likewise, giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback by listening to any opinions, concerns, or suggestions they have, will ensure they feel seen and supported.
Companies that employ both in-house workers and remote employees must ensure that those working from home are kept up to date on company news, updates, and announcements, just as well as those situated in the office.
Remote workers should never hear company news that is passed on through a colleague. If a business aims to build a strong remote working community, then it must treat remote employees as an integral part of the company.
Setting up universal channels that both types of workers have access to is the perfect way of doing this, as there will be no disconnect between what the office knows and what remote workers know.
When employers take the right approach to managing remote workers, it not only helps them create an effective and productive remote team, but it also offers their remote employees a strong community that provides them with a sense of inclusion, purpose, and motivation.
Having this high level of job satisfaction will result in employees being more dedicated and motivated as they carry out their duties, and employers will see the effort they put into making remote working a success reflected back to them in the company's achievements.