Over the last decade, there's been a shift in the workplace, one that prioritizes the health and happiness of employees. For large corporations, like Facebook and Google, that might include time allotted to working out each week in an on-site facility, and for most, it's meant a shift in work schedules from in-person office time to hybrid models. This new "business as usual" allows increased personal freedom and an improved work-life balance for many. However, for managers, it has necessitated an overhaul of procedures to ensure traditionally effective business standards are met.
Here are some tips for balancing a new standard of trust in employee accountability, as visibly monitoring staff becomes a thing of the distant past:
Define expectations:
Clearly communicate expectations to your employees for both quality and quantity and define your role in managing productivity. It might make sense to invest in a digital project management platform that can be accessed and updated by the entire team to better manage schedules and track measurables. Have guidelines for regular check-ins whether that means weekly summary emails, zoom calls, or in-person office meetings. Avoid micromanaging to successfully implement virtual work relationships.
Structure:
Create agile remote work policies and procedures that can be regularly reevaluated and reassessed. Each team (and the unique group of people of which it is composed), industry, and business type may require a different set of guidelines and policies to support workflow and timely delivery. Research remote models and management strategies that have proven effective and then curate them to your distinct needs.
Lead with understanding:
You're not the only one adjusting to a new norm. Between managing lack of interpersonal interactions to video fatigue, distracting home offices, and barriers to quick and simple communication, employees have an equally difficult challenge ahead. Patience and compassion can be integral to a smooth transition to a remote workplace.
Anticipate needs:
While remote employees need the same supplies and resources that onsite employees do, they may also require improved computer programs, internet connectivity, and hardware. These additional considerations might include digital communication tools, programs, and video conferencing services; laptops, printers, or company phones; and reliable high-speed internet or co-working space access that can provide it.
Foster teamwork:
Offsite work models make establishing a team mentality and fostering those important cooperative relationships a challenge. Do what you can to encourage regular contact between employees. Consider team-building exercises, mixers, or social events to help create trustworthy, open lines of communication between co-workers and management.
Make meetings work for you:
Much can be accomplished by simply creating consistent daily or weekly meetings for on- and/or off-site staff to share concerns or problems and for managers to effectively assess and alleviate issues as they arise. Begin meetings with a clear agenda, set expectations, and hold to a schedule. Meet with remote employees frequently at first to determine general job satisfaction and needs. As individual relationships develop, each remote worker may require more or less regular interactions and routine meeting schedules can be adjusted accordingly.
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