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Remote work has become increasingly popular over the last few years. The main reason is that companies can now expand their search for talented employees on a global scale. Fast internet and stronger computing power made this trend possible. 

Having teams of remote employees doesn’t just help your company lower the overhead costs, but it also helps you tackle international markets with more efficiency. Although remote work has great advantages, it’s not without challenges.

Remote workers are separated from the main office where the majority of employees and managers are. This can lead to a decrease in productivity, efficiency and more because remote workers will sooner or later feel disengaged and neglected.

As a result, companies that don’t take care of their remote workers the right way face increased turnover rates. This is why you must manage your remote workers if you want to keep them. With that in mind, here are a few tips for managing remote workers.

Proper onboarding

Every new employee, even the remote ones, should be welcomed properly. That said, every company should have a well-designed onboarding process. As you may already know, an onboarding process doesn’t just welcome new employees but it also helps them learn the ropes and get adjusted to the company’s culture. This process can also drastically reduce the turnover rate among remote employees. 

Managers can, therefore, focus on remote employees and help them get adjusted to the new work environment and conditions. Moreover, it will show remote workers that you actually pay attention to their needs and that they won’t be neglected in your company. 

That way, you will ensure that they feel like a part of the team, a vital one. In addition, around 69% of new employees who are satisfied with your onboarding process are more likely to stay with your company for three years or more.

Communicate often

Communication is the key to a healthy relationship between employees themselves or between managers and employees. By regularly communicating with your remote employees, you’ll be able to get a sense of how they feel and whether or not things are going well for them. This will not only keep them engaged, but it will also help you notice any signs of distress. 

You can, therefore, do something before a remote employee decides to leave your company because of the issues that weren’t properly addressed on time. However, don’t simply dump this task on the HR department. 

As good as they may be, remote workers know that HR reaching out to them is just a part of the company policy. If you’re a manager, then communicate with them yourself every now and then. This will show remote employees that you actually care. 

Perform regular check ups

Checking up on your remote teams should be one of your priorities. Of course, managers are busy people with a lot of tasks on their plates every day. However, that doesn’t mean you should neglect important obligations. Remote employees are essential, even though they aren’t present in the office, and if you don’t check up on them, things will soon go sideways. Fortunately, modern technology provided a seamless solution that will make this task as simple as possible. 

For example, you can opt for time and attendance software from Australia; this will not only help you check up on your remote workers regularly, but it will also allow you to provide convenience for them by allowing them to clock in seamlessly. With the right tools and technology by your side, you’ll no longer have to deal with common challenges related to remote work.

Involve them

As mentioned before, remote employees can easily become disengaged if you neglect them and their needs. If you want them to remain at your company or even ensure they become loyal, you’ll have to involve them in company activities as much as possible. 

Again, modern technology is here to aid you. For example, you should consider relying on proper video conferencing software. That way, you can involve remote employees in important company meetings and other similar activities. 

Aside from that, you can also leverage various collaboration and communication tools to include remote employees in everyday tasks. Remote workers must be able to interact with other employees and feel like a part of the overall team so that their productivity and morale are always at optimal levels. 

Remote work brings numerous advantages to companies around the world. However, there are still a lot of unexplored possibilities regarding remote work, which creates unique challenges and obstacles. One thing is for certain, if you manage your remote employees well and cater to their needs, there are good chances that everything will go smoothly and that you won’t encounter any problems whatsoever. 

Today, more and more people are working from home or out in the field, as employees, whilst many business owners today are managing their business on the go, perhaps embracing the remote working lifestyle – sipping a cocktail whilst swaying in their hammock on some tropical island… yet, whilst this lifestyle sounds idyllic, there are plenty of challenges to managing a mobile workforce.  

In this article we’re going to look at a number of tools, technologies and strategies that can make life a lot easier in terms of managing a mobile workforce.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

As a manager or business owner it’s your job to keep employees in the loop, and whilst in an office environment it’s very easy to schedule meetings or just have a brief and informal chat by the photocopier, when you have a mobile workforce, life can be made a lot more challenging; particularly if you’re dealing with an international workforce where people are all working in different time zones.

If you’re team are working “deskless” then there’s a fear on both ends of the employment equation that things become “out of sight, out of mind” in the sense that you don’t always know what your employees are getting up to, in the real world, and similarly your employees don’t know whether their demands are being actioned back at head office… meaning, a lot of times people can feel quite isolated and unheard.

Just like with anything in life, communication is key, and when it comes to communication with a mobile workforce, technology is required.  A Zogby Analytics study demonstrated that remote workers stated a lack of information from management and the timeliness of said information to be the biggest obstacles in terms of working from home (39 percent and 38 percent respectively).

In that vein, let’s look at two ways of improving communication in order to manage employee requirements.

USE VIDEO

There are companies such as Librestream that offer video enabled services for rapid response (see: http://librestream.com/solutions/video-enabled-service/) which are particularly useful for empowering your team out in the field, or even having live interaction with customers that can impact customer experience in a very positive way.

Similarly, when it comes to training, it’s very simple to create an online hub of learning materials that are facilitated by on-demand video training.  You could, of course, employ a professional company to take care of filming, but for the majority of use cases, a decent iPhone with a wireless microphone, a simple backdrop, and some decent lighting is enough to create professional quality educational videos that can be used by both your team and your employees.

SCHEDULE 1:1 MENTORING SESSIONS

It’s important to touch base with your team, and therefore, scheduling consistent 1:1 mentoring sessions via video conferencing, or perhaps a phone call if technologically necessary, is a good idea.

The technology is simple, as you can use services such as Zoom.us or Skype.com, both of which are free or very low cost – and ubiquitous in terms of employee engagement.  The consistency of contact is key, as if your team know that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11am, for instance, there will be a team call, it meets the emotional need for certainty and seriously helps people to feel more connected and nurtured.