Remote work, defined in a lay man’s terms, would mean working in a location other than a traditional office. So whether you are in your pyjamas in your sofa or in your shorts sunbathing on a beach, if you have a laptop, an internet connection and a telephone, you still can be a productive employee.
The recent years have seen a growing trend towards remote work. While employers have become lenient and shown trust in their employees by letting them work from anywhere, the employees too have valued the trust and provided great results. Hence, the idea that began as an experiment, grew as a practice.
Remote work is best suited to smaller firms or a few departments in big firms where the nature of work is such where high degree of client security is not required. A few industries which have adopted remote work on a large scale are customer support, online teaching, programming, designing, writing, tele-calling, online marketing and consulting jobs. Nevertheless, the inclination towards hiring remote work has increased and it has a way to go.
Though the myth says that remote workers are not serious about their work and they tend to procrastinate and are unable to deliver best results, the stereotypes have been busted by the fact that remote workers work harder, and with higher productivity to gain the trust and respect of their employer.
Adding to this, remote labor is also cheap compared to domestic labor. The cost of an office set up, transportation and a lot of other costs become minimal when you choose to hire remote workers.
It is also noteworthy that a few people can’t do much justice to remote working and are best suited to the conventional working methods. It can sometimes be a challenge to make such employees deliver what is expected. However, if you have the skills, you can manage remote workers phenomenally well. Here are a few keys to manage remote work well:
Monitoring Tools
While assessing the performance of an employee sitting at a different location can be a tough task, there are tools which make this simple for you. Hubstaff and TimeDoctor are two such tools which have really efficient ways of tracking an employee’s performance with screenshots and activity measure indicators. They also have apps to enable you track work on the go along with location detection techniques.
Communication Has A Big Role
One of the biggest assets of a manager is his efficient communication skills. The communication of a manager, especially to his remote workers should be such that the employees are morally bound to finish the work on time and deliver what is expected. Maintaining a firm as well as a polite tone of communication is the key to get things done and maintain a rapport with the workers.
Regular Feedback and Appreciation
It is a simple and instant work to extend feedback or applaud for work well done when the employer and the employees are in the same location. However, it is equally important to give timely feedback and appreciation to people working off location too. It provides room for improvement and also boosts their morale.
The Magic Of Incentives
The magic of incentives is such that the employees’ morale and the willingness to work automatically shoots up. Find ways to provide timely incentives, both monetary and non monetary. It will not only keep your employees high, but will also help them perform better for you.
Know Your Resources
One thing that every manager needs to excel at is knowing his resources. Once the employer knows his resources, getting things done becomes a cakewalk. Developing a bond, maintaining relations and being open for feedback from employees helps a manager know them better. Better relations make loyal workers.
The fact remains that managing employees is an art, as well as a science. It is a continuous journey and every employer has to master the art, no matter the location of the worker. A business grows well only if its people are managed well, and remote work is not an exclusion.
