If you manage remote employees, it can be hard to keep them motivated and productive during times when you can’t be there with them. There are many tools and techniques that can help you manage your team effectively and ensure they always feel connected to the company, even though they’re not in the same physical location as you or each other.
Here are 9 of the most effective ways to do this.
1. Hire for Cultural Fit
One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is hire for cultural fit. This can be challenging if you’re hiring remotely, but it doesn’t have to be. You just need to take steps that ensure your remote employees feel connected to your company and culture, even when they aren’t working in an office with others every day.
2. Choose Responsible People
The best way to ensure your remote workers are productive is by choosing people who are responsible and like doing what they’re assigned. There is nothing you can do from a management perspective that will guarantee productivity. You need a solid team of motivated, skilled employees who want to do good work in order for your remote business model to succeed. If you fail at finding reliable, productive employees, no software or monitoring system will save you.
3. Create Culture Before you Need it
When it comes to managing a remote team, you need more than a monitoring software—you need your employees feeling invested in their jobs. If you don’t take some time up front, it’s likely that productivity will fall off as soon as things get hectic. Make sure your remote workers have all of your company values clearly laid out before they even set foot in an office. Then, make sure they understand what their roles are in achieving those goals.
4. Have a Clear Mission and Vision
Starting with a clear vision for your company is critical for success, both for you and for your employees. Giving people something to believe in can inspire them to work harder because they’re passionate about it—and it means that you’re aligned on what matters most. A mission or core values statement can be a great jumping-off point if you aren’t sure where to start.
5. Communicate Frequently, Clearly, and Effectively
With your team spread out across various locations, it’s important to always be on top of what everyone is working on. Tools like messaging software and GPS location tracker software can make all of that easier. At any given time, you can see where each team member is located—and if they aren’t in their desk or answering your messages, you know why. Additionally, online timesheet software allows managers to stay organized by giving them a clear view of where employees are at during every hour of every day. Time tracking also makes sure no one is slacking off and logging more hours than they actually worked. And who wouldn’t want an accurate picture of how productive his or her remote teams are?
6. Celebrate Employee Achievements
We all know that working in a remote environment can be isolating, but one way you can help alleviate that issue is by celebrating your employees’ achievements, whether they take place at home or at their respective offices. So, when they finish a major project or hit an important milestone, send out a company-wide email to give them kudos—that little boost of recognition goes a long way.
7. Use the Right Tools
In order for your employees to be able to reach their full potential, you’ll need to provide them with useful tools. If you don’t, it can be more difficult for them to stay on top of what they need in order to do their job. When it comes down to it, an online timesheet software will help make life easier on both you and your team. With a remote employee monitoring system, you’ll get a GPS location tracker tool that ensures your employees are working when they say they are—and give you a complete view of where their work is taking place. These two tools alone will allow you to spend less time dealing with problems, and more time growing your business as a whole.
8. Reward Remote Teamwork
When it comes to a remote team of employees, encouraging communication is key. You can use tracking software or GPS location tracker software (such as Workstatus) in conjunction with an online timesheet software (such as Workstatus) so that you have full transparency into each employee’s workload. This transparency will help your employees feel like they are connected, even when they are not physically present in an office setting.
9. Don’t Micromanage, but do Measure Results
While it’s tempting to want to make sure that your remote employees are staying on task 100% of their workday, you’ll get much better results if you let them set their own goals. If they’re given a lot of leeway in terms of how they accomplish their job, they’ll likely stay engaged and creative with their methods. In addition, monitoring productivity can be done easily by taking advantage of GPS location tracker software or online timesheet software for small businesses. A lack of employee engagement has been linked to turnover; by letting your workers go about things in their own way—while still keeping tabs on what tasks they’ve completed—you might find yourself with more loyal workers over time.
Conclusion
When you talk about your product, you need to focus on how it helps your customers. And remember, if you can help them achieve more, they’ll be able to do so much more themselves – which will also help your business grow! You can build your brand by using business blogging. Choose a topic that you are passionate about, learn as much as possible, then start sharing with others via your blogs. By becoming an expert in a specific niche, you open yourself up to many opportunities for being featured in other areas of social media because people want experts to share their knowledge with others.
SOURCE: Top 10 Ways to Turn Your Remote Teams Highly Productive and Efficient