How do you retain remote talent?

Leaders need to understand that micromanaging or daily team meetings will not work to retain remote talent.Trusting is key, and letting people complete their tasks at their own pace is important. When they are subjected to unnecessary pressure, it can make them feel uncomfortable and create an environment where they feel that the company does not place their trust in them. A weekly meeting can be scheduled and a quick connect call can be scheduled to understand challenges. Team members must have a common platform where productive discussions can take place, peer recognition can be done, and managers can acknowledge the efforts of their teammates. We need to create a positive work environment in order to increase retention.

Implement a robust system of performance metrics tailored for remote work scenarios. Define key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with both individual and organizational objectives.

Setting clear expectations really starts with the leader. Being able to regularly share the quality and outcomes expected helps team align their effort on the lines of what is expected by the organization. This helps talent feel empowered to shape work within the framework of expectations and also be able to tweak or add a bit of creativity to outcomes.

Major challenges that organisations face for employees who are working remotely is alienation from other team members and disconnect from organisation goals and objectives. Connecting one on one with employees at a regular frequency and seeking their concerns and challenges is necessary, they have to be clearly communicated about their contribution to the organisation goals. Sending news letters and communiques about key happenings in the organisation would keep them connected and informed, not having information will lead to speculation and anxiety. Also rotation of remote team members if they are willing,may also be considered to give them different perspectives in the organisation .

As most of us evolve from fully remote work to hybrid work, a set routine is also helpful to retain talent. For example, many offices are implementing a TTH policy or Tues - Thurs in-office. For fully remote worker like sales or IT departments, routines can still be set via zoom or conference calls with the same above principles of setting clear goals and communicating frequently.

Offer personalized growth paths as a form of recognition for high-performing remote employees. Identify areas of interest, skills to develop, or career trajectories that align with both organizational needs and individual aspirations.

Small and frequent incentives are simple, cost effective ways to ensure employees are energized, motivated and follow thru with their initiatives and goals.

With large distributed teams, oftentimes employees do not know of the good work done by their peers. Frequently sharing these achievements not only increase employee engagement but also contribute to knowledge sharing.

While competitive salaries are essential, they should not be the sole focus. Remote employees also value factors such as career development, work-life balance, and a positive company culture. A holistic approach that considers various aspects of remote work, including professional growth and well-being, is crucial for retaining remote talent effectively.

Keeping employee morale high is essential not just for remote colleagues but also onsite colleagues, too. It's absolutely essential in fact. I tend to always celebrate small wins, successes and every week me and my team discuss the highlights to remember why we're awesome! I'm a sucker to gift giving after colleagues pass probation, make their first placements, do something extraordinary basically. I like to not just incentivise but also do fun team buildings with my team to show them that our hard work pays off.

Establish a routine of regular check-ins that goes beyond project updates. Conduct one-on-one meetings to discuss individual goals, challenges, and professional development!

Having trust and building rapport with your team is vital ! Many organisations state that you cannot trust remote workers or you can’t ‘be a manager if your remote’ and therefore they go and move into offices, but that’s not true . If you’re a good manager / leader you can manage from anywhere . You set expectations and goals and you monitor this loosely . If you don’t have trust in a team regardless of where you are, you’re not going to achieve much . Rapport is also important because people spend a lot of time at work and they need to be included . Remote working does not call for micro management, it calls for you to be supportive , to get on the same level as your team and work together.

This is THE most critical and probably the most skipped over step to retain talent. Managers try to execute prior to having the employees trust. Trust is essential if an employee - professional or hourly - is likely to stay.

Today, more than ever, Leaders need to adopt an Inclusive Leadership style that allows them to manage, support, and elevate their remote and hybrid teams. An easy thing Inclusive Leaders can do right away is set clear, transparent, and open expectations with their teams. For example: - Make sure you communicate what behaviors aren't tolerated in the workplace. - Interrupt micro-aggressions as you witness them. - Schedule meetings based on your team's needs, preferences, and cultural and religious observances. - Make yourself available for your team. In short, put your team's wellbeing first.

It's one of the more challenging aspects about remote working for sure. You have to lead by example - be trusting and open yourself. Your team looks up to you. Make sure you let colleagues know right off the bat that you have an 'open door policy' and no question is a stupid question. Be candid and honest with your colleagues during dialogs and show them you're also human.

This stems from trust. Companies should trust their employees to get their work done, whilst also benefiting from the opportunities remote work presents to enjoy hobbies etc whilst working remotely. Communicating effective boundaries, ensuring everyone knows a good work/life balance is healthy and that overworking is not is crucial to this. Most importantly of all however, I think it's leaders normalising it. That means taking holiday, picking kids up from school, not working weekends. The list goes on. Start from the top and the rest will follow.

Work-life balance is a blurred concept today; its now more of a personal-professional equilibrium. One of the keys aspects of achieving and respecting this equilibrium is making sure you send clear/consistent messages on how empowered or restricted the employee is to set their own boundaries for when/where they work. But, perhaps more importantly, attaining this equilibrium requires recognizing that all of us - our employees, our leaders, our selves - are all human. You need to graciously and empathetically allow for the inevitable intrusions that an employee's personal life will have on their professional life.

Work-life balance will mean something different for everyone; that's why it's important to openly and transparently communicate what that means for your company. Once that's done, a few things that can be done are: - Schedule meetings based on your team's needs, preferences, and cultural and religious observances. - Avoid scheduling meetings during lunch time or school drop-off and pick-up times. - Allow everyone on your team to choose whether they want to be on or off-camera for your meetings. - Make sure everyone on your team is taking time off regularly.

Promoting work-life balance from the top is crucial. As a recruiter, I take pride in showcasing how our C-level executives are not just business leaders, but also devoted parents, active board members, and community volunteers. Highlighting these human aspects of our leadership encourages the team to understand that maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a priority across our company.

When you don’t ask an employee what he or she thinks, they don’t feel valued and they typically leave. Start with questions to them and your feedback to them will be more tailored to their needs and wants, further cementing the trust and retention.

Providing remote teams with learning and development opportunities becomes a catalyst for growth, innovation, and sustained success. By investing in the ongoing education of our remote talent, we are not only enriching their professional lives but also these initiatives contribute significantly to the overall growth and success of both individuals and the organization as a whole. The team also doesn't feel that they are missing the offline training that is being set by LnD departments in most of the organizations in offline mode.

Two of the most important things you can do are: 1) Make sure remote employees have strong social connectedness to your organization. Encourage them to build and sustain a strong social network filled with both bonding and bridging connections. This is essential not just for retention, but also for resilience, wellbeing, innovation, creativity, and many other facets. 2) Clearly understand the success factors for the culture you want to cultivate. What values and behaviors are essential to that culture? What behaviors are anathema to that culture? Once you have clarity on this, you need to clearly communicate it to remote employees, model the behaviors, and step in when you see behaviors that undercut your desired culture.

Creating a sense of camaraderie among remote employees is an important factor in retention. Virtual team meetings are a great way to bring people together, identify goals, and celebrate achievements. It may require more structured planning, but successful collaboration is possible in a virtual environment. Building relationships is an essential part of making employees feel valued and connected to their co-workers and the company.

Typically (Not always)! Employees that work remotely are quite autonomous.. they have the mindset to be set a goal or a deliverable and just get on and deliver it Have regular (but short) check in's/comms not always about deliverables but just to make sure they don't feel totally isolated. And appreciate their working hours, they could be in other time zones (because they live there, or have chosen too move there), as long as the work is delivered on time.... it shouldn't really matter!

Working remotely is not a differentiator in today's world, it's simply another working option. What does make a significant difference though is how you include remote workers in various activities, projects, assignments, conference calls, etc. Some companies still have an in-office-focused culture, meaning they focus first on the employees in the office and forget about remote workers. To change that, ensure that remote employees are active in all calls and meetings (give them time to provide updates or status reports of what they're working on), that they receive assignments and projects just like in-office employees do, and are given the option to somehow participate in localized events and activities that take place in the office.

In many respects it should not really matter if the staff member works remotely, or in the office. That includes in the recognition of the staff members input, deliverables, etc., to the organisation. As has been seen of late the technology is now available that minimises the differences of working on-, or off- site. As having a degree of flexibility where a staff member works can help redress the impact of certain disabilities, for example. In my last contact I worked remotely, as I managed globally dispersed staff. Including other home workers who had disabilities that made office working problematic. We all still met work employer requirements, deliverables, etc., effectively and in a timely manner.