Tip of the Week: Improve Your Management of Remote Workers

For the past few months, a much larger percentage of people have been working from home. This remote workforce has proven to be much more effective than many would have thought, but some companies haven’t had the success getting the production out of their remote workers that others have. Today, we present three tips that will help you get the most out of your remote workforce.

1. Communication Is Extremely Important

When people who work together--and typically see one another--don’t for long periods of time, you may think that collaboration would stall and productivity would wane. This may not be the case for businesses that have the communication tools in place to make it work. To get a jump on this, taking the initiative and using the conferencing tools to have regular virtual meetings is a good way to give and get feedback, give direction, and ensure everyone is on the same page.

2. Provide the Tools Needed for Collaboration

This is basically an extension of the first point, but remote teams absolutely need software solutions that are integrated with the features that allow for solid collaboration. This includes:

• Communication tools - email, instant messaging, VoIP, conferencing
• Productivity software - multi-user word processor, spreadsheets, presentation software
• Collaboration software - project management, task management, customer support

By having the right tools to keep team members motivated and engaged, you will see more higher degrees of productivity and better product and service delivery.  

3. Engage Your Team

One of the biggest challenges for a company when they depend on remote workers is that their staff tends to get less engaged with the company than they otherwise would be. This is natural, but it doesn’t have to be so. Engaging with your remote teams in chat, in an email chain, in virtual meetings, and talking about human things like what people have been eating, what they are feeling, and how they do what they do can go a long way toward getting your business the remote staff that wants to get up and come to work each day.

Remote work is filled with potential pitfalls, but the benefits can be pretty fantastic if it is handled correctly. If you need to talk to someone about how to properly manage your remote workers, or if you need solutions for problems you have surrounding your remote team, call the IT consultants at Computerware today at (703) 821-8200.