In the era of COVID-19, many workers are working at home for the foreseeable future. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports at least 24% of workers are doing some or all of their work remotely.
If your company has remote workers, you need to be sure they are maximizing productivity and efficiency. You do this by giving them the best tools, technology, and support. If you don’t, your bottom line may take a hit, and your employees may explore other opportunities.
Here are five ways to improve the success of your remote workers.
Give Them The Best Training
When you onboard remote workers, you need to train them to improve their skills and learn how to use your firm’s technologies and systems. If you don’t teach them well, they will hit snags when working out of their home offices that will cause delays. Even the highest skilled remote worker can have productivity problems if they don’t understand your protocols and processes. Another issue is when they have a problem and can’t get rapid support.
Remember that remote workers are on their own and can’t immediately access the expertise they need by walking over to the next department.
Keep Employees Connected
Your remote workers can’t meet with other employees to talk about the news of the day or the newest series on Amazon Prime. They don’t get this type of daily social interaction, and it can isolate them and make them feel like they don’t know what’s going on. The good news is there are effective ways to maintain a connection between your remote and office-based workers.
New remote work software with an interactive and dynamic intranet solution is the best tool to develop and grow your remote workers and keep everyone connected.
Hold Regular Virtual Meetings and Company Calls
Emails and project management software is text-based and is not as personal as video or voice communication. Also, non-verbal communication may misunderstand if the information offered is not complete or has an unclear tone.
To eliminate confusion and keep all employees dialed in, put aside time to have virtual meetings and company conference calls.
Doing so offers your remote workers and office-based workers the chance to interact, bounce ideas off each other, and talk about business-related subjects in a personal manner.
A rule of thumb is to set up virtual meetings once or twice per month, when convenient for everyone.
Fly Them In
Having remote workers means you are saving cash on rent, electricity, furniture, parking, and more. So you should have money available to fly them into your headquarters once per year. Regular in-person meetings let employees get to know each other and bond in the office.
If you have remote workers fly in, think about having some fun team outings or events. Games and team-building exercises are enjoyable for workers and give everyone a chance to chill and get to know each other.
Recognize Achievements
One of the best ideas for remote employees is to recognize their achievements throughout the organization. Telling them that you appreciate what they do every day will go a long way to make remote workers more productive. Recognizing when someone does a project well creates a great work environment and can lower worker turnover.
Making remote workers more successful can be challenging as they are not in front of you every day. But with proper planning and programs established, you can easily make remote employees some of your most successful staff.
Additional resources:
- Cerity Insurance – protect your employees
- Remote Career – how to succeed
- Do what you love – why choose a career you really like
- Custom Packaging – can it boost sales?