To address the uncertainty that Covid-19 has created, many organizations and universities have requested workers to work from home. Now managing remote employees is quite difficult for managers.
While nearly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce already works from home for at least a portion or all of the day, new guidelines leave a lot of employees and their supervisors in the office but separated from their colleagues at first.
Fortunately, there are specific actions that managers can adopt about managing remote employees boost the productivity and engagement of home employees regardless of whether there is no time to plan.
How Managers Can Provide Work from Home Support to Remote employees
While remote work comes with difficulties, there are also affordable; cost-effective things managers can do to smooth the transition. The actions you can take right now to provide work from home support include:
Set up regular check-ins daily for managing remote employees
Many successful remote managers set up daily meetings with their remote workers. It can take the form of calls one-on-one when your employees are in a more solitary manner or a group call when your employees’ work is collaborative.
The most important thing is that the calls are routine and predictable, as well as that they serve as a place where employees know they can talk to you and they know that their concerns and concerns will be taken into consideration.
Offer a variety of communications options
Email alone is insufficient. Remote workers benefit from “richer” technology, such as video conferencing.
It offers participants the visual cues they would receive when meeting face-to-face. Video conferencing comes with many benefits, particularly for smaller groups.
Visual cues can help increase “mutual knowledge” about coworkers and reduce the sense of separation between groups. Video is particularly beneficial for sensitive or complex conversations because it is more intimate than audio-only or written communications.
Give remote workers opportunities for social interactions
One of the most important ways a manager could create a system that allows employees to engage in social interaction (that is, engage in informal discussions about topics that are not work-related) when working remotely.
That is the case for everyone who works remotely and more in the case of employees who have been abruptly moved from the office.
How can Managers do remote Team Management effectively?
- Concentrate the discussion on the issue that is important. What would you like to know?
- A task force consisting of eight or more trusted executives commissioned by the senior team can discover the truth through interviews with employees from across the business.
- Think, analyze, and create an action plan. What policies and procedures should be in place for a post-COVID world?
- You and your team members are accountable to the company and its staff. So share with them what you learned–the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell them the next steps you’ll take and get their feedback. There should be no secrets since it builds confidence.
- Perform changes; follow up with the process regularly. Review progress and discover unexpected and unintentional results and make corrections mid-course.
Final Thoughts
Homework is best for relatively unsupervised tasks in which knowledge is documented and is easily shared across an extended distance.
Managers should show compassion about managing remote employees by demonstrating kindness in various ways: listen attentively and check in with employees, provide guidance and support, connect employees to resources, acknowledge their efforts, and courteously thank them.
Be innovative and creative in spreading kindness.