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Alexandre Diard Remote work has gained popularity amidst the pandemic and the demand for flexjobs and jobs that are fully remote has increased. Although working remotely is associated with many perks such as happy and productive employees, increased flexibility, and improved job satisfaction, remote jobs also come with backlashes. We are now seeing how organizations are adapting to remote employees’ needs as there might be a sense of losing control over staff with bigger parts of work being done remotely. The main source of control is coming from technology, through connectivity and online communication.
In this article, we provide 8 tips on how to engage a remote workforce.
Related articles:
Future HR Technology Trends: The HR Application Framework
Managing Remote Work: A Toolkit for the New Hybrid Workplace
Technology Promotes Remote Work
One of the biggest reasons why organizations have the opportunity to adopt remote work policies is because of technology. As Gen Z is entering the workforce, a generation that is more comfortable with technology than anyone else, technology is becoming more prevalent in more job positions which opens up opportunities for a remote job. Generation Z is also known for expecting more from their employers and being focused on a positive employee experience and a work-life balance.
With new trends in the workforce, pressure is on managers to adapt to new cultures in the workplace. One of the major trends now in the workforce is considering the employee even more. Since this is a new trend, there are many things to learn and incorporate into your HR strategy.
The top 8 tips to take into consideration when dealing with your workforce in a remote position:
1. Technology Integration
2. Communication
3. HR Systems
4. Virtual Events
5. Deadlines and Expectations
6. Personal Connections
7. Avoid Micromanagement
8. Provide the Right Tools
1. Technology Integration
As we are clearly approaching a remote future with more home-based employees, we have to quickly keep up with the times and focus on finding new ways of making remote business that is quicker, more reliable, and that gets results.
By automating business processes, you are engaging your remote workforce and allowing them to work on tasks that bring value to the business. The remote employee will become happier and less distracted as repetitive tasks will no longer exist and the workers can now focus on tasks that require them to be more creative and make decisions on business strategy. Automation of tasks makes work from home easier while it saves time for the employees in their home office.
For a deeper dive into optimizing remote work through technology and to explore practical advice on managing remote teams effectively, check out this comprehensive guide on how to work remotely.
2. Communication
Communication can be something that isn’t a major goal for enterprises. This is the beginning of the problem. If you want to be a leading remote company, employee communication that allows employees to stay connected must be a priority. When you are focused on communication, you will have a better grasp of what the company and employees are facing and incorporate a strategy accordingly. Here are the main topics to consider to increase the performance and engagement of your employees that are working at home:
Planning
Make sure to have a clear communication plan with your staff and the organization as a whole. The plan will ensure clear communication on how to work and what each person is working on. It will also simplify it for each team member to reach out to collaborate or if they have any questions.
Feedback
Provide constant feedback to your work-at-home employees. Valuable feedback provides leadership to your team to get organized, motivated, and ultimately provides guidance that will allow employees to get the best work done.
Expectations
It is hard to work in a company where you do not know what expectations they have of you. Remote working makes it more complicated to find out expectations. Make sure that you are clearly communicating to your teleworking employees what expectations you have of them. It will provide guidance for employees that are teleworking on what is expected and allow them to plan accordingly to reach those expectations.
Problems
There should always be a communication of problems either with other employees or with their work. A work culture that promotes clear and honest communication allows actions to facilitate a work-life where everyone feels comfortable. If your employees in telecommuting jobs feel happy, you will likely decrease your turnover rate.
3. HR Systems
Remote work is done through technology and there are many tools that can facilitate this process. The processes include payroll, reporting, workflows, system of records, feedback and surveys, and onboarding/offboarding.
The tasks can be facilitated through the incorporation of software into your remote business. The top 3 types of software are:
1. Customizable Platform for all HR systems
2. All-in-one HRIS
3. Multiple Best-of-Breed Systems
Customizable platform for all HR systems: benefits
- Adaptable and customized to your complex business and country-specific requirements
- Maintained international expertise from best-of-breed providers
- Centralized interface for all HR functions
- A single system of record for reporting purposes
- Minimized disruption to your workforce as you expand
- Quickly integrate a new workforce
- Ability to standardize processes and build workflows across the organization
- Secure data and information sharing across the organization
- Consistent employer brand; customizable employee experience
All-in-one HRIS: benefits
- Centralized interface for all HR functions
- Single source of truth for reporting purposes
- Standard configuration for each module
Multiple best-of-breed systems
- Minimized disruption to your growing workforce
- Adaptable to complex country-specific requirements and regulations
4. Virtual Events
If you have virtual teams, risks are that some team members are not feeling fully part of the team. As the number of interactions decreases to online meetings that are typically focused on work, an employee that works remotely might feel less integrated with the team. This can affect employee engagement as staff members won’t have face-to-face communication with everyone including suppliers, managers, or external partners. Through virtual events, there can be an increase in inclusion into the team.
Virtual events can be organized as professional events, or be less formal. Your imagination is your only limitation here! Examples of virtual events include:
- Online office games
- Online conference calls
- Virtual campfire
- Webinars
- Online boot camps
- And more
5. Deadlines and Expectations
With a remote workforce, it is more important to establish clear guidelines and structure regarding deadlines for projects and tasks, and the expectations you have on your employees working from home. With a remote team, casual check-ins are removed, which requires more structure from managers and employees. As an HR manager, you can help your remote workforce by creating a handbook for the expectations of a remote workforce. For example, you can use software that allows managers to easily manage their remote employees.
Here are some other things to consider when establishing guidelines and structure for a remote workforce:
- Determine working hours
- Establish clear objectives for projects and employee performance
- Set up communication channels
- Set up a structured schedule
6. Personal Connections
With remote team members in your company, personal connections will be decreased. Without personal connections in the workplace, your employees’ well-being is likely to be affected, with increased levels of loneliness and isolation.
As a leader of a remote workforce, it is your responsibility to find ways for remote workers to still connect on a personal level. As discussed earlier, virtual events are great to increase personal connections in a remote company. Other ideas to improve the remote experience for your workers include:
- Create an “online coffee shop” where remote colleagues can have a coffee together and chat
- Host weekly virtual lunches (you can ask all employees to prepare the same food)
- Encourage group chats and continuous conversations throughout the day
- Encourage video phone calls and consider a “camera-on” policy
- Implement team activities (can be anything from a fitness challenge to a book club)
Again, your imagination is the only limitation in how to increase personal connections for your employees that work outside the office. Be creative and make it fun!
7. Avoid Micromanagement
It is essential for managers that are remotely managing their workforce to avoid micromanagement. Micromanagement of remote employees is counterproductive and can lead to your employees feeling stressed, anxious, and diminished creativity.
Although initially, managers might feel that they lose control over control over their employee workspace with remote work, technology provides many techniques that can amplify micromanagement.
Are you a micro-manager?
To not get lost down this rabbit hole, it is important that managers analyze themselves and their management practices with employees that work remotely. To find out if you are micromanaging your remote workforce, ask yourself these questions:
- Do I want to be informed and sign off on every step of the process?
- Do I peek at my employees’ online statuses to see if they are working?
- Do I peek at system records to see if someone did what I asked them to do?
- Do I often have concerns about employee productivity?
- Am I constantly scheduling meetings with my employees to check in?
How to stop micromanaging
If you answered yes to all of the questions above, it is essential that you take action to reduce your micromanagement by trusting your employees that work virtually and allowing them to do their job in peace. The first few steps are to stop doing everything mentioned in the list above. After that, continue by taking these steps:
- Build up trust and engage less
- Practice letting go of control
- Focus on the bigger picture in a project rather than the small details
8. Provide the Right Tools
It is essential to have the right human resources tools to engage a virtual workforce. The right tools will help virtual companies save money while allowing employees to connect to their workspace regardless if they are outside the office or in different time zones. To ensure optimization and increased productivity for your employees that are in a remote location, look out for HR software that promotes:
- Employee communication
- Team collaboration
- Consolidation of employee data
- Adaptability
- Time management
- Flexibility (mobile application)
In particular, it is critical to have an HR system that removes distractions and promotes communication between all employees, regardless if they work in person or remotely.
PeopleSpheres: the People Platform
PeopleSpheres is an HR platform that consolidates all your HR tools in one place. The PeopleSpheres platform is a one-stop for all your employee data and enhances the employee experience for your employees in remote positions. Your employees can access all their human resources tools and work from anywhere with the mobile app.
Conclusion
An office environment differentiates itself from a virtual work environment, which is now shown through employees that are feeling less engaged in the company and their teammates. Whether you are a virtual company or have set up flexible work arrangements that give your employees the freedom to work from anywhere, it is important to adapt strategies that engage your employees that are working virtually. To ensure the most productive and self-motivated virtual team, managers should adopt HR technology that provides the right tools to promote employee communication and engagement for telecommuting jobs.
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