Creating a positive remote work experience: 4 ways to support virtual employees

Companies are rapidly shifting to remote work in response to the current pandemic. While remote work is new for many people, some employees have been working remotely for decades. The last time I commuted to an office was in 2007. Many of my coworkers work from home and almost every team I have led included people working remotely from multiple time zones. The following are four things I have found to have a critical impact on the work experience for remote employees.

1.      Embracing remote work requires changing leadership mindsets

Working out of the office can create a sense of anxiety among employees. How will leaders know I am doing a good job if they cannot see me working? Will I be forgotten? Will the company decide it no longer needs me? People do not do good work when they feel anxious about their job security. One of the first steps toward creating a positive remote work experience is making sure leaders do not form negative attitudes towards employees simply because they do not show up in an office. 

Communication and collaboration used to be the main barrier to remote work. In the past, people needed to be physically together to effectively share information and discuss concepts. The internet has eliminated the communication barriers that once forced employees to all work in the same building. Now, even when people work in the same space they often communicate primarily through technology instead of face-to-face conversation. The main barrier to remote work is not communication or collaboration. The main barrier is leadership. The reason many employees do not work remotely is because their leaders are not comfortable with remote work. Creating a positive remote work experience starts with confronting leaders with a simple question: do you pay people for what they accomplish, or do you pay them for where they sit? 

There are jobs where being present at a physical location is necessary. This includes health care jobs where care givers must physically touch patients or service and construction jobs where employees must physically move and manipulate objects. But this requirement does not apply to a lot of jobs. Remote work is possible for any job where employees do not have to be at a specific physical location to achieve their goals. The question leaders should ask is not “can work be done remotely?” but “why can’t work be done remotely?” The primary criteria for hiring job candidates should not be their ability to commute to an office.

2.      Supporting remote work requires changing leadership behaviors

Getting leaders to rethink the importance of being onsite is the first step to creating an effective remote workforce. The next is changing how leaders interact with employees. The foundation of remote work is effective virtual communication. Many leaders struggle with this. When you work alongside someone you can “pop in for a quick chat” whenever it seems convenient. In a remote work environment, these chats must be more proactively planned and scheduled. Leaders who manage remote workers must be very good at communicating what it is that they want people to do and why it matters. And then connect with employees on a regular basis to discuss how work is progressing. It is critical that this be done in a constructive and supportive manner, lest the leaders come across as micro-managing.

Leaders must also rethink how they evaluate employee performance. In an office environment, many leaders assume employees who arrive early and leave late are more committed and productive. You do not need to be measurement genius to understand why time spent in the office is a lousy metric for evaluating performance. Nevertheless, many leaders form impressions of employees based on where they are seen rather than what they actually do. A critical step to embracing remote work is to get leaders to define and communicate clear goals to employees. And then focus on these goals as the primary topic of discussion when evaluating whether someone is doing their job.

3.      Managing work experiences that disproportionately impact remote employees

Remote work is not that different from working in an office, but it does require employees to change certain behaviors to be successful. Some aspects of work experience are also much more important when you are a remote employee. Listed below are challenges remote workers often struggle with and ways companies can address them. These are divided into three categories that define the experience of work.

Task Experience – getting stuff done. Two things are incredibly important to remote employees’ ability to get work done. First and foremost, their technology has to work. Problems with your computer or phone is frustrating in an office, but it is completely debilitating when you work remotely. One of the first steps to supporting remote workers is ensuring they have exceptional technology support. 

Another challenge that disproportionately impacts remote employees is the responsiveness of others. In an office environment, you can physically walk over to someone to get their attention. It is hard to ignore a person standing at your desk. Remote workers do not have this option. E-mails, text messages, and phone calls are the only tools remote workers have to get someone’s attention. When these messages are not responded to, remote workers are stuck without the information they need. They may resent having to “electronically nag” their coworkers to get a response. Timely responses to e-mail and other forms of electronic communication is a critical cultural value for an effective remote workforce.

Social Experience – working with others. The nature of social interactions between employees is one of the biggest differences between working remotely and working in an office. When people work together, social interactions happen organically as a result of physically seeing someone and starting a conversation. One thing that makes this work is the ability to see if someone is busy before we interrupt them. In remote environments, social interactions have to be more carefully planned. 

Remote workers must be diligent in setting up meetings to ensure ongoing communication. At the same time, it is easy to overwhelm remote employees with too many meetings and quick chats. It takes little effort to instant message someone when you are sitting at a computer with a headset on. I have found that people with a lot of remote work experience tend to assume their colleagues are always busy. They schedule short meetings as a way to communicate quickly and limit interruptions caused by over-relying on spontaneous instant messages or phone calls. At the same time, they are acutely aware there is a time to leave the keyboard and pick up the phone and start talking.

Another difference I have observed among remote employees is they often share humorous stories or talk about non-work-related topics during work meetings. These are topics that on-site employees may limit to informal conversations over lunch or during coffee breaks. Remote employees do not have the same opportunities for informal conversations as on-site employees. Discussing non-work topics during a meeting may not be on the scheduled formal agenda, but it is an important way for remote employees to forge personal connections with their co-workers. 

Fulfilling Experience. Remote work can be incredibly fulfilling from a work-life balance point of view. Time no longer spent commuting can be redirected to engaging with family or pursuing non-work interests. On the other hand, working remotely can increase employee’s sense of concern that the work they are doing is not being noticed or appreciated. People working remotely lose the non-verbal feedback, smiles and informal thanks and appreciation that occur in a physical office setting. It is easy for remote workers to feel isolated and undervalued. Making an effort to recognize and celebrating the accomplishments of employees is always important. But it is arguably more important for remote employees than it is for employees who work together in the same office. 

4.      Fully appreciating the value and cost of in person meetings

A critical part of remote work is understanding when it makes sense to get together in person. Virtual communication does not provide the same level of engagement that can be achieved during an effective face-to-face meeting. Note the emphasis on effective. Just because people are in the same room does not mean they are fully present. We’ve all been in meetings where people are paying more attention to their computers or phones than to the other people in the room. When working remotely, it is important to identify when it makes sense to get in a car, train or plane and physically come together. But such meetings should be highly intentional and focused. You are not coming together just to sit in the same room. You are coming together to be fully present in the conversation. 

What people do matters far more than where they sit

Many companies are adopting remote work as an important step to protect ourselves from a significant threat to public health. Looking past the current crisis, hopefully more companies will realize that remote work does not just reduce public health risks. It improves access to talent, enables employees to have more productive and balanced lives, and reduces the environmental impact caused by unnecessary commuting.  The main thing that prevents most companies from embracing remote work is not the willingness or ability to employees to work remotely, but the willingness of leaders to embrace the concept that effectively working together does not require physically being together.