Managing Remote Employees: Tips to Help Them Adapt
Currently, in many parts of the world, working remotely is not an option, it is a necessity. When working remotely suddenly became mandatory, there was a mixed reaction from employed professionals.
A survey showed that when they started working from home, 53% of American professionals were either unsure about or opposed to working from home. After a few weeks had passed, 24% were indifferent about working from home while 27% had started missing their office.
This means, there was a hidden effect of working remotely that many of us failed to predict- loneliness. Many working professionals live alone and working from home (combined with social distancing) means their contact with other humans is limited. This can be especially difficult for those who were used to interacting with fellow coworkers during coffee and lunch breaks at the office.
On the other hand, those that live with children and pets often find themselves struggling to focus on work. With so many distractions at home, employees may often have to put in extra hours, messing up their work-life balance and making it more difficult to keep.
In today’s difficult times, it is important for employers to step up and ensure that their employees are not feeling left out, lonely, or simply overwhelmed while working from home.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
Communicate Often
One of the best ways to remind your employees that they are a part of something bigger is to keep communication lines open with them. Besides the communications for work, it is a good idea for managers to check up on their team members over a casual chat or phone call.
Similarly, it is a good idea to have dedicated communication channels that your employees can use to communicate with each other. This may not help you replace the conversations and socialisation that may have happened during coffee breaks when your office was open, but it will help your employees have casual conversations with their peers.
Provide Training
Providing training to employees has several benefits, especially in a remote working setting. With learning management systems (LMS) and other online training tools becoming more affordable than ever before, there is no reason your business should miss out on the following benefits:
Instill a sense of belongingness in your remote working employees. When they see that their employer is investing in their future, they are more likely to be motivated to bring out the best performance and stick around with your business.
Improve your customer’s experience at every touchpoint with a team of trained and qualified professionals.
Give your employees another way to socialise and establish human contact, helping them combat the feeling of loneliness they may be struggling with because of working from home.
Give your business access to a more qualified and skilled workforce, without having to invest in hiring new resources.
These are just a few of the many benefits of training remote employees. All you need to do is find a content development partner to develop your training content, a reliable LMS company, and a training-focused video conferencing software.
Invest in Virtual Team Building
In the virtual landscape, team building should not be limited to dedicated activities. Sure, you should have dedicated socialising and team building sessions at regular intervals. However, you must combine them with a few minutes of introductions and casual conversations, even during serious team discussions.
Conclusion
Regardless of whether or not you reopen your office again after things return to ‘normal’, working with remote resources is going to be a big part of the future of work and you must be prepared to adapt. We hope that these tips will help you start moving in the right direction.
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