The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of companies, schools, and other establishments to impose a remote work setting. While some businesses already have some experience in having employees who's in remote work , your entire company operating out of the office can be a big adjustment.Related: COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan for Online Stores
5 Tips on How to Manage Your Remote Teams
In remote work, new policies need to be established, your employees will encounter struggles, and other preparations need to be rushed. Luckily, there are ways to maintain business continuity and the productivity of your now newly remote work employees.
1. Communicate (a Lot)
The cliché, “communication is key” is now one of the essential elements that will keep your business alive. You always have to know the current capabilities of your workforce.Perform daily check-ins with your remote teams to see how they’re doing. Ask them about what might affect their productivity and respond accordingly.If the remote work employees have personal issues at home, empathize with them to show that you care. If it’s operational risks like information security or network latency, have them talk to your IT guys to guide them through it.
2. Don’t Forget to Give Credit or Feedback
Part of communication includes being communicative with both credit and feedback. As your business engage in remote work setup, your employees can’t see you, and therefore some of them will exert more time overthinking what you actually meant with your “okay” or when you don’t reply.Give credit to ease their feelings of isolation that come with working remotely. A little “good job” or “this looks great” can go a long way.On the other hand, if you don’t like what they did, give constructive criticism so that they know how to improve. This is best done on a call so they can gauge your emotions through your voice. Moreover, constructive criticism will boost their morale as you show you’re open to improvements.
3. Use Team Management Tools
Luckily, the technology to keep a purely remote work business going has been around for the longest time. Since you can’t have a physical meeting for brainstorming, collaboration, updates, or feedback, use other communication channels.Use Skype for short meetings and Google Hangouts, Zoom, or Discord for conferences that require screen sharing.For communication channels, you can always rely on Skype, but if you want a more secure platform, Slack is our client favorite.If you want your teams to be organized while giving you the capacity to track their progress, use project management tools like Trello, Asana, or Basecamp.
4. Set Expectations in Sprints
To maintain remote work productivity, you have to set expectations in sprints. Sprints could be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly tasks that you expect them to accomplish in that period.In the middle of these sprints, it can also be helpful to have a quick meeting to talk about their progress, action items for the days, or any impediments to work and if they need help with anything.This will build your trust with your remote work employees and give you peace of mind as you focus on production, not screen time. At the same time, your employees won’t feel like they’re being micromanaged, which can also affect their motivation to work.
5. Check up on Your Team Members Regularly
Finally, you have to check on your remote work employees regularly. And by that, we mean to check on them as a person and not as an employee.Ask how they’re handling the crisis and give advisories on what to do, like wash their hands or practice social distancing. Encourage them to communicate if they start exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms and whether their health insurance can cover it.Your employees need to know that you really have their back through this crisis. Employees that feel like their company cares about their wellbeing will work better. And when they work better, your business will grow further.
Your Business Can Still Thrive
At the end of the day, it will all come down to how much you care about your remote work employees. Because in times of crisis, that’s when they know if they can rely on you as well. If you effectively manage your now remote employees, don’t be surprised if your business still thrives even after COVID-19.
