Often-Overlooked Remote Worker Considerations

Are you hiring remote employees, converting employees to remote workers, or wanting to make sure your remote workers are set up properly? Today's Biz Tech Tips will cover some of the bigger technical concerns for those kinds of situations.

1) Provide all of the hardware (and software )

You might think it's an unnecessary expense and that they can just use their personal computers or phones, but that could be a costly mistake.

When workers inevitably have a technical issue in the future, your IT won't be able to decipher what the issue is as easily.

Also, you get to set the standards. This is the only way that you can be sure that they have proper security (which includes things like a VPN, antivirus, and spam filters) and encryption. You can track and control what is accessed (which is 100% necessary for many regulated industries).

For highly regulated industries with sensitive data, it would also be a good idea to provide a commercial-grade modem/router as well.

Furthermore, employees can straight up decline to use their own devices, and really put you in a bind. Or, they might simply not have the equipment that you need, which is no fault of their own.

2) Have all training recorded and remotely accessible

Many companies have in-person training programs, or even fly in their remote workers for training before they start.

That's all well and good, but remote workers are still going to be missing out on the random in-person interactions and questions they could have answered on the spot had they been in the office. Sending an instant message or posting on Slack or sending an email doesn't get the same problem solved as quickly.

It takes almost no extra work to record your next training and store it online.

And, if you have Office 365, you already have the capabilities of doing all of that easily.

If you don't, then getting software that can record your screen and getting a place that can store files online will be well worth the investment and will help accelerate your remote workers' learning curve.

It's time that training and HR manuals weren't just wasted and ignored pieces of papers, but actual searchable and useful documents or videos.

3) Test their Internet and phone connections

Although home Internet speeds are generally higher than business Internet speeds, home upload speeds aren't always the best. This is especially so for remote workers who just go for the most basic Internet package, or perhaps those who live in other countries.

If the remote worker is making phone calls or video calls or accessing files on your office server or anything else like that, the upload speed will matter.

If that is the case it might be worth paying them a little extra specifically for a better Internet package, and perhaps offering an upgraded cell phone plan, or getting them a solid VOIP phone provider.

VOIP phone options offer a lot more flexibility in terms of reaching a person or tracking things in software and things of that nature.

4) Use asynchronous communication when possible

Asynchronous communication means when two people are talking that it doesn't have to be at the same time.

For example, you can send an email or post on Slack and the other party can respond at any point in time. Although you do want to include your remote workers in calls whenever possible, also keep in mind that they're probably not keeping regular desk work hours.

Plus, they might have a huge time difference. This will vary depending on the person's role, but if immediate responses aren't required, then lean towards asynchronous communication and steer clear of always pushing for instant messaging or phone calls or things like that.

Zoom fatigue is a real thing, after all. Plus, you want to hold people accountable to their results and performance, and not force them to either do more with less time or to work overtime simply because someone wanted to run an extra meeting.

Am I missing anything else?

Let me know what you think in the comments.