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Remote work has won a fair amount of converts over the past few years. But like anything, the novelty can wear off and attitudes can change.
Lately, the focus appears to be more around the challenges of making remote working work. But given the model’s popularity with employees and the growing acknowledgement that work from home — be it full time or part time — is what work looks like for a growing number of people, it's a challenge well worth tackling.
Over 58% of workers have worked remotely to some extent in recent years according to a McKinsey report. And while not everyone has a chance to do so due to their work function, for those who can, 87% jump at the opportunity.
Whatever a company’s approach and early successes with remote work, there are several pitfalls — and fixes — to making the most from the remote experience. Here are five key considerations for leaders looking to create the best remote experience for employees and employers alike.
1. Documentation Is Your Friend
Remote work is more than a set of cloud apps and a regular supply of coffee. Successful remote teamwork relies on a culture with many moving parts that need regulating, monitoring and, yes, documentation.
As noted at the Talent Summit in Dublin last spring, “a culture of documentation is a superpower for remote teams.”
That’s because building the path to open collaboration and a flexible workplace requires clearly elucidated leadership and team management, in addition to — and may even before — implementing the technology needed to get work done. To achieve this, managers must listen to workers, giving them not only options to collaborate but also the ability to make suggestions on many points and in various ways (formally, informally or anonymously).
One example: Is your PTO request form flexible enough for remote workers to note their needs and intention to catch up? Say an employee needs an hour off mid-day to go to a vet appointment or visit a relative in the hospital. Does the company’s policy provide them the ability to tend to this personal matter at will? Do they need to specify how they will “make up” the hour at a more convenient time?
The documentation — or guidebooks — provided in a remote environment should not leave areas of ambiguity that make it challenging for both managers and employees to go about their days, particularly if there are repercussions to taking certain actions.
Related Article: Avoiding Burnout and Boosting Engagement With Your Remote Employees
2. Consider New Employees’ Expectations
When you welcome new employees to a remote workplace, keep in mind that they may be used to very different remote work practices. Make them aware of and comfortable with your company’s way of working, and guide them through any transitional processes.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to remote working. Not only are some organizations more flexible than others, some workers or positions within a company may require a higher degree of management, while others expect to fly solo, with a strong degree of autonomy. The same is true of collaboration.
Setting up core hours where everyone is expected to be at work, regardless of location, reduces the potential for stress and miscommunication, particularly among those new employees. It also helps team members know when it’s a good time to message someone and sets clear boundaries between work and home.
Finding a balance that fits your organization’s and employees’ needs will improve team performance and avoid leaving individual workers feeling left out or left behind. A leader’s role involves identifying what works and implementing the approach that will best benefit the team.
Finally, while each business will have its own performance metrics to monitor, remote work leaders should be ready to adjust their expectations should those numbers not quite add up with the new employees. The effects of change, burnout and stress can creep up on those who are not used to a remote work environment, and perhaps not obviously so in the metrics.
“Master of Change” author and consultant Brad Stulberg said, “Change is challenging, even in the best of times. It follows a cycle of order, disorder and reorder. While the re-order is often a better stability than where you started, you still have to go through the disorder phase to get there. Just knowing this and expecting it to be hard can go a long way to mitigate additional distress and freakout moments."
In remote working, the disorder from change can disturb workers’ momentum. Managers need to watch for signs of disturbance or distress, either by digging into the numbers or talking to the people concerned. Then, bring back balance or look for ways to improve the situation, whether this means using technology, incentives or other tools available.
3. Shake up Collaboration and Productivity
When your workers have settled into using the technology provided to them, things can quickly fall into the normal cadence of business. At that point, most people accept their lot and go with the apps they have, because that’s what everyone uses.
But successful managers will try to evolve or “shake up” the remote experience from time to time, so don’t hesitate to try new tools to see if it can improve how your team members collaborate and develop new skills. This could mean tapping into tools such as Figma, Cosmos or other collaborative tools that can help improve interaction, make meetings more fun and allow people too timid to speak up to also participate.
There is a growing number of tools developed to help in delivering a lighter-hearted tone to the meeting experience, and while they might not be appropriate for all events, they can help teams build up a better rapport beyond the meeting cut-off time.
“Traditional tools like Zoom or Google Meet make discussions feel boxed in, but there are more natural ways of connecting,” said Cosmos CEO Karan Baweja. “Teams can chat and share ideas whenever they feel like it, without worrying about schedules or disturbing someone's focus.”
By breaking down the traditional communication barriers, managers are not just enhancing productivity, they have the ability to reignite the warmth, immediacy and human touch in remote collaborations.
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Related Article: Don't Let Distributed Work Kill Your Team Community: Communicate More
4. Help Avoid Isolation
Another key element of managing remote workers is to provide plenty of ways for them to ask for help. Being remote can lead to loneliness, making poor decisions in isolation and shunning opportunities to meet up.
A Psychology Today article has a list of issues and possible solutions, but the key for HR leaders and managers is to ensure the right levels of support are in place, communications channels are accessible, and workers can cut off from the ever-present screens when needed.
Leaders can also reinforce a sense of supervision without it feeling overburdening, improve professional lines of communication and avoid the blurring of personal relationships across teams.
5. Establish Bonds
For all the power of remote working, it often lacks the option for people to meet up or access hybrid or return-to-base working to build relationships.
Knowing when it’s time to bring people together, whether that’s in the office or at an off-site, is a powerful skill for a manager.
These decisions will vary wildly across any business, but remote workplaces must assign a budget and the flexibility to bring people together. Close relationships, whether they are true friendships or simply strong bonds between team members, will help boost performance, loyalty and the overall employee experience.
Related Article: Workers Are Lonely: Here's What Leaders Can Do
