If you own your own business and are responsible for managing remote workers, then you need to do so in a way that’s both efficient and effective. If you aren’t properly managing your remote worker’s duties and daily tasks, then their performance can be negatively impacted. Poorly performing remote workers can result in your company underperforming, becoming more and more unprofitable with every day that passes.
Fortunately, improving your remote worker’s performance (and managing them properly), isn’t at all difficult. This post will tell you some easy ways that you can do that:
Monitoring Software
When your staff are working from home, it’s highly likely that they will be surrounded by distractions. It is understandable that this is the case, but distractions can lead to poor performance, which isn’t acceptable. In order to ensure that your staff are working as they should be (and aren’t slacking off), you can download monitoring software. This software provides you remote access for real time monitoring of your employee’s devices. You will be able to see what they are doing, whether or not they are working, and how much they are using their device. Monitoring can help you to identify staff that is working hard, and staff that isn’t.
Set Expectations
When you are managing a remote team, it’s crucial that you make your expectations known from the very beginning. This is so that your staff doesn’t have any excuses if they do underperform. If you aren’t managing your own company and just run a department in somebody else’s, then you will likely receive guidance on how to run your team from your own manager. Make sure that you set realistic expectations for your team. If you don’t make your expectations achievable, then staff will always underperform, no matter how hard they work.
Provide Software
You also need to make sure that your staff has the tools that they need to complete their daily tasks. If you work for somebody else, then you can request that they invest in high-quality software. If you own your own company, then you will be responsible for doing this. The software that you invest in depends upon the industry that your company operates in, so it’s impossible for this post to give any specific software advice. You should follow these simple rules, though: make sure that you always read software manufacturers’ reviews before purchasing software, and always ask other business owners in your industry for their recommendations.
Messaging Software
It’s a very good idea to invest in high-quality messaging software for your company so that staff can easily communicate with each other (and you), without having to make constant phone calls. The beauty of remote work is that it is extremely easy to ensure constant communication, with the aid of messaging software. Most messaging software is very affordable and comes with additional features like video and audio calling.
Video Communication
You need to make sure that the software that you buy for your staff to message on has an additional video calling component. The reason for this is that video calls make remote work feel a lot more personal. When your staff aren’t video calling you or seeing you in person, then it’s easy for them to feel as though they aren’t actually working and don’t need to make an effort. When your staff doesn’t have to video call you, they are more likely to not get dressed, lie around, and not take their work seriously. Video calling them brings them to attention and ensures that they are prepared for the day ahead (mainly because they will constantly be preparing for a call).
Daily Updates
Even if you don’t video call your staff on a regular basis, you still need to make sure that they provide you with daily updates about what they have been doing and how far along they are with any tasks that you have given them. A good way of receiving daily updates is in short, recorded video messages. However, if this isn’t possible, then your staff can just send you emails or messages on your company’s messaging platform. Encouraging them to send video messages is a good way, as mentioned previously, to ensure that they are prepared, dressed, and ready for work.
Open Culture
A good way to monitor your employees outside of the use of monitoring software is to create an open culture in your company, where staff freely share information about one another. It’s very common in many companies for staff to keep information to themselves and guard it. The best way to create an open culture and to encourage staff to tell on one another when they are underperforming is to incentivize it. An open culture will make it easier for you to monitor your staff when they are working remotely.
Trusting Relationships
If you want to create an open culture in your company, then you need to develop trusting relationships with all of your staff members. The best way to do this is to be kind, professional, and straightforward with them. Staff members are more likely to lie to you or not be honest about things if they perceive you as unstable and unprofessional. If they know that you will deal with things in a manner that’s professional and polite, then they are more likely to trust you, and therefore, tell you important information.
Group Chats
Finally, many companies find that creating a group chat on their company’s messaging platform is a great way of creating an office atmosphere. You could even call this group chat “the office.” It should be open at all times. You should encourage staff to join this chat when they are performing administrative tasks. This also makes it easier for you to be sure that your staff really are working, as they are supposed to be. However, you should not make joining these chats compulsory. Being on camera makes some people feel very shy and could impact their performance negatively.
If you are responsible for managing remote workers, then you need to do so the right way. This post’s suggestions make clear what the “right way” is. If you do not manage staff properly, then they won’t perform well. Proper management is key to success.