Tips to Managing Your New Remote Workers

In response to Covid-19, many companies asked their employees to work remotely. Although it is always preferable to establish clear remote-work policies and training in advance. In times of crisis or other rapidly changing circumstances, this level of preparation may not be feasible.With support, employees are more likely to take up the challenge with a sense of purpose and focus.

To start, managers need to understand factors that can make remote work especially demanding. Challenges in remote work include:

1. Lack of face-to-face supervision: Managers and their employees often express concerns about the lack of face-to-face interaction. Many employees, on the other hand, struggle with reduced access to managerial support and communication.
2. Lack of access to information: Remote workers are often surprised by the added time and effort needed to locate information from co-workers. Even getting answers to what seem like simple questions can feel like a large obstacle to a worker based at home.
3. Social isolation: Loneliness is one of the most common complaints about remote work, with employees missing the informal social interaction of an office setting. If we face a long period of time of isolation can  cause any employee to feel less "belonging" to their organization, and can even result in increased intention to leave the company.
4. Distractions at home: We need to encourage employers to ensure that their remote workers have both dedicated work-space and adequate childcare before allowing them to work remotely. Managers should expect distractions to be greater during this unplanned work-from-home transition.

How Managers Can Support Remote Employees?

Managers need to build actions that you can include:

1. Establish structured daily check-ins: Many successful remote managers establish a daily call with their remote employees. This could take the form of a series of one-on-one calls, if your employees work more independently from each other, or a team call, if their work is highly collaborative. The important feature is that the calls are regular and predictable, and that they are a forum in which employees know that they can consult with you, and that their concerns and questions will be heard.
2. Provide several different communication technology options: Email alone is insufficient. Remote workers benefit from having a “richer” technology, such as video conferencing that they would have if they were face-to-face. Video conferencing has many advantages, especially for smaller groups: among teams. If your company doesn’t have technology tools already in place, there are inexpensive ways to obtain simple versions of these tools for your team, as a short-term fix. Consult with your organization’s IT department to ensure there is an appropriate level of data security before using any of these tools.
3. Establish “rules of engagement”: Remote work becomes more efficient and satisfying when managers set expectations for the frequency, means, and ideal timing of communication for their teams. We recommend that managers establish “rules of engagement” with employees as soon as possible, ideally during the first online check-in meeting.
4. Provide opportunities for remote social interaction: One of the most essential steps a manager can take is to structure ways for employees to interact socially (that is, have informal conversations about non-work topics) while working remotely. This is true for all remote workers, but particularly so for workers who have been abruptly transitioned out of the office. Include virtual pizza parties (in which pizza is delivered to all team members at the time of a video-conference). While these types of events may sound artificial or forced, experienced managers of remote workers (and the workers themselves) report that virtual events help reduce feelings of isolation, promoting a sense of belonging.
5. Offer encouragement and emotional support: Especially in the context of an abrupt shift to remote work, it is important for managers to acknowledge stress, listen to employees anxieties and concerns, and empathize with their struggles. If a newly remote employee is clearly struggling but not communicating stress or anxiety, ask them how they’re doing. Let the employee’s stress or concerns (rather than your own) be the focus of this conversation.