Many small and midsize businesses today rely on remote workers for various reasons. Employees or independent contractors who work from home can save a company money by reducing the need for office space, while also giving it the flexibility to hire people who don’t live near company headquarters. For workers, telecommuting can provide greater work-life balance and more professional opportunities.
However, having workers in several different locations also comes with logistical challenges, and many employers worry about reliability, communication, and productivity, suggests Hassan Osman, author of Influencing Virtual Teams: 17 Tactics That Get Things Done with Your Remote Employees. For example, a manager might worry if remote workers will get projects done on time. They also might worry that employees won’t collaborate or communicate nearly as frequently if they’re not working together in an office.
Fortunately, some techniques can help small and midsize companies build trust with virtual workers and foster a collaborative culture even with employees who rarely, if ever, come to the office. Here are three key tips to managing remote workers:
1. Set clear expectations
When people work in the same place, it’s easier for managers to explain what they want and to monitor progress informally. If you’re assigning tasks to a remote worker, set a clear due date and “be precise and prescriptive about what you want”, says Osman, who’s also a project manager for technology maker Cisco.
Managers should also establish a communication plan that will “define the rules of engagement and the frequency of communication,” Osman says. The plan should include details such as how the manager prefers to communicate (by email, instant messaging, or phone), how soon the manager expects a response, and what the escalation path will be if urgent matters arise.
2. Humanize your people
In a face-to-face environment, workers get to know each other naturally, such as at the coffee station. With remote workers, you’ll have to make a more conscious effort to “humanize one another and establish a level of comfort and familiarity, which breeds trust,” says Heidi Gardner, a distinguished fellow at Harvard University and author of the book Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos. Some effective strategies:
- Reserve the first few minutes of any meeting for small talk, typically in the form of upbeat personal or professional updates.
- Workers with video can give the team a virtual tour of their workspace so they can better understand the context of their work, Gardner suggests.
- Play virtual games that encourage team members to share personal details. Osman has developed a few virtural team building activities that require video or screen sharing
3. Use your bandwidth strategically
Gardner explains that many people fall into the habit of relying too much on one form of communication with remote workers – often email. Instead, choose your mode carefully, depending on what you want to communicate. And fit your expression to your mode. For example, save sarcasm or sensitive topics for a medium where people can read your body language or the tone of your voice.
To that end, adopt technologies that allow you to effectively communicate. A growing number of work collaboration tools are available that make communicating through multiple types of media, such as group chats or video calling, easy. And these services are available at prices well within the budget of small businesses. Group chat allows for greater spontaneity and informality than email, especially within teams. Video is the best tool for fostering personal connections, Gardner says. Many video or chat services also allow for screen sharing. Make sure the one you choose is easy for your remote workers to use.
New online tools are emerging every day that are designed to help remote workers manage projects, share documents, and communicate more clearly with office teams. Choose these tools carefully and they can help your business build a culture of seamless collaboration.
