Managing your remote workforce is a tricky affair. Among the many challenges, communication, using the right technology, keeping everyone motivated and in sync are some hurdles that the management must overcome.
But how can you do that? This article will guide you through the practices that can help you build a productive remote workforce. Stay with us.
Remote work has become the prevailing work arrangement in many organizations, with much of the workforce, if not all of it, spread out across the globe. This sudden shift in work culture and its transformation is witnessed post-Covid-19. The pandemic has changed the work cultures and forced companies to adopt remote working practices.
Today, however, technological advancements have made it possible for us to work remotely without having a lot of difficulties. Nevertheless, since remote work is an increasingly common practice, business leaders must ensure that the right remote workforce management practices are followed to manage their remote teams.
Remote workforce management is the process of effectively managing and leading remote employees. It is composed of communication, processes, and technology designed specifically for managing a productive remote workforce.
7 Key Practices To Successfully Managing Your Remote Workforce
1. Daily Check-in
The main struggle for management to build a productive remote workforce is keeping everyone in sync and function as a whole. You can no longer make impromptu in-person conversations or team meetings with remote workforce scattered across various time zones.
Since remote workers are dispersed in different geographical locations, you must have daily check-ins where everyone can update their work and share information. The idea is to keep everyone on the same page and not drift away while working remotely. Regular virtual team meetings are a great way to provide work updates and maintain the workflow.
2. Clear Goals and Expectations
To make remote working less confusing, set clear expectations with your employees. Conduct weekly/bi-weekly meetings to update them on the goals and objectives. Since remote employees must have different time zones or personal commitments, it is advisable not to micromanage them. The entire remote workforce arrangement is built on trust, so keep your expectations clear and allow them to work at their own pace and with better flexible work arrangements for better productivity and morale.
3. Employee Feedback
Employee feedback is crucial for any business today. Whether you have a hybrid, onsite or remote workforce, it is vital to understand their perspectives and how they feel about the work culture. If your employees are happy and satisfied with their jobs, sooner or later, they are going to leave you.
Therefore, conduct employee engagement surveys or continuous feedback surveys to understand their engagement and expectations. For example, you can run surveys on categories such as Employee Engagement, Benefits and Compensation, Employee Well-being, Employee Productivity, Employee relations, etc., to get a clear picture of employee experience. You can use the insights from the surveys to implement HR strategies to boost employee experience and keep them happy.
4. Employee Recognition
"People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, rewards, and praise."- Dale Carnegie.
Employee recognition is a fundamental need for any employee, and it builds trust and good relationships with their peers and management. Therefore, implement a culture of recognition for your remote workforce through a digital recognition platform. And encourage peer-to-peer recognition, celebrate work accomplishments, and build strong internal communication of your dispersed teams.
Always reward your employees and motivate them to take pride in their work. These small gestures will help your employees boost their morale.
5. Invest in the Right Remote Workforce Management System
Invest in the right remote workforce management system and global payroll on-demand according to the size of your remote team and its accessibility. The idea is to minimize as much distraction and confusion as possible for your employees to work effectively.
As we mentioned earlier, in the onsite work environment, you can conduct impromptu meetings or discuss your concerns with your employees immediately. In a remote setting, however, it is not possible. Therefore, create communications strategies that are able to address this issue. You can utilize management tools such as Asana to keep the team's workflow organized. Or use Zoom or Slack for your virtual meetings and instant messaging. Invest in the tools that works for your work culture.
6. Trust Your Remote Workforce
When the management shows genuine trust to their employees, a company thrives, and this is especially true if the workforce is remote. Give them guidance and the tools they need to work effectively and leave them how and when they want to do their jobs. Do not micromanage your remote employees. People are working remotely for a reason. Many have commitments towards their family and kids or some need to take care of their ailing parents. Therefore, let them do their work with enough flexibility. As long as it doesn't affect their productivity, you have nothing to worry about.
Have trust and believe in them.
7. Invest in Employee Well-being
Employees who feel cared about and valued in their work environment tend to feel more motivated and engaged, which creates happier and more productive teams.
The world that we live in today demands a lot of our emotional and physical energy, and it often takes a toll on our well-being. Therefore, be mindful of your employees' well-being and provide them aid and support whenever they need it.
Consider implementing a digital wellness program for your remote employees so that they can achieve their fitness goals. Build a culture where employees can openly talk about their mental issues so that you can support them before they lose their morale.
When employees have stable mental and physical health, they are at their best and can fulfill their potential.
Role of Digital HR Software in Flexible Work Arrangements
Building flexible work arrangements and managing the remote workforce has become easier with newer digital HR technologies and innovations. As we all know, businesses are built on communication; how employees interact with each other and with customers plays a crucial role in how well the company will perform. But if the communication channels are not in place, it can affect your business, create confusion, and spread misinformation. When managing the remote workforce, you are dealing with different time zones and flexible work hours. Therefore, the biggest challenge here is to put everyone in the same room. But with digital HR software, you can keep everything in sync digitally, either its payroll, communication, or employee engagement processes.
Here is how digital HR software can help you:
Digital HR software makes HR processes simple, easy, and accessible for all.
With an integrated HR software system, employees can also communicate, appreciate, and work in complete sync.
Working with a single integrated platform enables virtual team members to stay connected and work with complete trust and transparency.
Company updates/information are communicated to all from a single platform virtually.
It also helps you build a virtual company culture with your core values and principles.
As you can see, managing your remote workforce is not very difficult when you work towards it in a systematic way. The important aspect here is to build the right communication channels and tools that can make the job easier for all. We hope this article will assist you in managing your remote workforce or provide some insight that will be helpful to you.
This article was written by Braja Deepon Roy. He is a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at Vantage Circle. He is passionate about corporate culture and the latest developments in the HR software space.