Working with remote workers – whether your team is fully remote or hybrid – does mean adapting your processes to keep everyone involved, engaged and in the loop. Here’s how to see real results from your remote or hybrid workforce!
There are many benefits to hiring remote workers in the current economic climate, and to keep pace with the fast moving marketplace and your competitors! This is one of the most competitive job markets we’ve ever seen and for many employers, remote hires aren’t so much a choice as a necessity.
With more international and diverse teams working remotely there are different challenges than managing a team in-person in the office. You need to adapt the way you work and collaborate to see the benefits of a good remote working system.
With the right understanding, you can iterate towards a working process that benefits everyone, whether that’s fully remote or hybrid, and that sees real results: increased employee wellbeing and retention, increased productivity, and a broader and more inclusive talent pool.
1. Effective digital communication
One of the main challenges of remote working is usually a lack of communication.
Working from home removes the possibility for any spontaneous face-to-face interaction in the office and in-person meetings can’t be held spontaneously. All communication will need to become planned and deliberate.
An effective way to overcome this is by launching a dedicated place for communication among workers, whether it be employees in the same department or freelancers working on the same project remotely from home.
A team communication tool like Slack or Teams helps with opening up communication to everyone, which you can keep focused on a particular project or team with dedicated channels connecting employees wherever and whenever with progress updates. It also provides an easy way to answer commonly asked questions and share information with employees around your company.
2. Creating team cohesion with remote teams
Another challenge faced is the ability to achieve full team cohesion among all team members.
Building a sense of camaraderie among all colleagues can be difficult at times when the team doesn’t share the same physical space during work hours.
One way to overcome this is by trying to minimize unconscious bias in the workplace and to treat remote working employees in the same way that you would other on-site staff members. For example, if your remote team members enjoy flexible work hours, it may be an idea to extend that advantage to your office-based staff members.
3. Managing across multiple time zones
Different time zones can have a direct impact on operations in your business.
Your clients and remote working employees may not be based in the same country. This could directly affect how you operate.
We recommend scheduling meetings at a time that is reasonable for all team members involved. If this proves challenging, there is the option of having the meeting recorded for remote workers to access at a later time.
Communications platforms with threads – like Slack or Microsoft Teams – can also allow workers in different time zones to catch up and contribute to the conversation in their own working hours, which can be easier than scheduling a virtual meeting depending on the time difference.
Hiring remote working employees? Salt finds the best remote talent in the world
Whether you’re looking to expand your team or improve your work life balance, hiring remote workers can help to achieve your goals. Your international talent hire could be a mere (virtual) handshake away!
Salt is committed to diversity and inclusion. Our expert consultants can help you build a team that delivers results now and in the future. We can help you find the right talent for your needs.
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