Are you a remote employer? If yes, you probably relate to the increasing pressure of challenges of managing remote employees that your peer managers face.
Stats show us that…
If you are about to enter this world of remote employment or are already in it, there are some tricky sides to it that you should be aware of.
Let’s move to the key remote team management challenges that most companies face. We also suggest the working solutions for each of them.
A personal story moment from the writer. When I got my first full-time office job, I got to know my four desk neighbors during the first 1-2 months of working. Beyond pure work-related communication, we had a lot of fun moments and shared conversations during the 8-hour shifts. So, by the end of the second month of my employment, I knew when and how to approach each of my colleagues. As a result, we worked quickly, and everyone had their personal comfort.
This phenomenon – developing workplace camaraderie, is happening mostly thanks to the regular physical presence in the office. For that, you need to see your teammates daily and watch their reactions to your decisions and vice versa.
And guess what? This authentic relationship between team members greatly affects employee productivity at work.
Can you already predict the first of the remote team challenges here? Without seeing and even knowing each other, how can remote workers establish this bond that drives work motivation? With zero physical contact, your team is mostly comprised of individuals.
But a team, personal connection, and a sense of common goals have a multiplier effect on productivity.
1 . Thanks to having a physical presence both in the countries we hire from (the Caucasus region) and the countries we hire for (Europe), we highly encourage remote employers to organize summer and winter trips for the whole team – remote and onsite employees. The effects are seen in the entire team’s productivity and engagement within a few weeks after these trips. Most of them start feeling higher motivation and connection to the team. Many develop personal bonds in the distance and communicate more freely with the onsite employees. We watch this transformation with a wide smile on our faces.
2 . If there is no budget or time for such trips, we organize knowledge-sharing events when remote workers teach and learn from each other. This helps to create a sense of belonging and community in the remote team and an effective transfer of skills between employees. The end goal of this process is to make remote workers feel equally respected and appreciated as their onsite colleagues. The result is the same. People stop feeling disconnected from the rest of the team and start feeling more involved.
Around 59% of workers have been micromanaged at some point. Not surprisingly, 68% reported decreased morale. Additionally, 55% claimed this approach affected their productivity at work (read more on managing remote employees).
Meantime, employers do not micromanage to stress their employees out. Most company owners we have talked with are concerned about whether remote workers will dedicate the needed time and effort to reach the company goals or will take advantage of the flexible remote working conditions and slack off.
To avoid letting things get out of control, many employers start micromanaging their remote employees from the start. By doing this, they try to establish ongoing control over their remote team’s work and performance. By doing this, they try to avoid unexpected backlogs appearing in the end.
Harvard Business Review reveals the two key reasons employers refer to this tactic of team management.
1 . A need to feel a stronger connection with lower-level workers
2 . A higher feeling of comfort and security that newly hired beginners do their job right (or how current managers previously did it when being in the same position)
Whatever the reason, micromanagement is one of the real challenges of leading a remote team. It’s not likely to bring the desired results (at least not in the long run).
Meanwhile, stopping micromanagement does not mean you should let your employees go wild with no sense of direction or oversight.
There is a delicate art of balancing clear expectations with trust and freedom. Here’s how we have done it for around two years in Collab Fabrik with our 15+ remote teams.
It’s crucial to clarify expectations from each employee.
Managers sometimes hire professionals whose job is not familiar to them. Other times, the company’s strategy is rapidly changing and the team’s tasks and goals get unclear.
And when both sides struggle to understand each other, the relationship with employees can get unstrained and suspicious.
Long story short, if your remote employees know beforehand what they are expected to do and when they should deliver it, there is no need to follow their every step. Instead, you have a clear timetable with checkboxes that let you know when and if the job is done.
And don’t worry. Your remote workers’ motivation and progress will get revealed in the process. One month will be enough to see if the expected deliverables are coming. If not – you can always ask for clarifications.
Here’s how you can implement this change into your workflow.
1 . Before a new specialist enters your crew, discuss with appropriate team members and department managers what to expect from the new employee.
2 . Create a monthly work schedule for your remote team member and let them see the progress and goals regularly. This will allow them to be more responsible for their tasks and connect with the team even when working from a distance.
3 . Set up immediate feedback sessions for their work so they know their performance is assessed and whatever they deliver is checked and appreciated.
4 . If needed, set up intermediary checkups to ensure the progress runs smoothly, but be cautious to avoid having a too-tight grip on the process.
Collab Fabrik’s experienced team of remote managers is ready to discuss the challenges of managing remote employees.
Book a free consultation on managing remote employees
Diversity hiring and ensuring people get hired regardless of age, gender, and background is undoubtedly one of the wins of modern, more open to change and dedicated to human rights workplaces.
Meanwhile, ensuring that all team members are treated equally and their unique cultural background does not result in overlooking individuals is quite a challenge.
Particularly, diversity hiring can bring certain challenges in managing remote employees if it’s not approached with care. Among many benefits workers feel in diverse teams, difficulties of integrating into multicultural teams and understanding working etiquette for people from different cultures can arise.
Especially if you gather people from different countries and workstyles (onsite and remote), maintaining a comfortable space for each individual in the mixed bowl of cultures is challenging.
The remote teams we manage in the Caucasus mostly work for our European partners. And whenever we at Collab Fabrik approach the line of diversity hiring, we consider some tips.
The inclusive and respectful environment that diverse teams strive to maintain does not eliminate the risk of issues related to cultural differences.
Often, companies are too sensitive to problems between employees of different nationalities or cultures. As a result, many interpersonal issues that are not based on cultural differences but on individual behavior remain unsolved.
That’s because if an arisen issue has a risk of being perceived as an act against cultural integration, it is quickly silenced.
We encourage employees to understand if they speak out and raise issues related to cultural differences, this does not mean they act against the team. In short, we advise not making the culturally diverse team the only priority. The comfort and needs of each individual should be respected as well.
Diversity hiring implies everyone has equal opportunities to get a job. And the evaluation of the candidates should not be done through the lens of culture, gender or age. The goal is to get the most capable people in any role, regardless of their background.
Sounds nice, but companies interested in building multicultural teams may prioritize diverse candidates over those that objectively fit the vacancy. That’s because hiring managers are afraid to appear prejudiced.
As a result, reverse discrimination can occur, where people of certain cultural backgrounds are favoured over the objectively best candidates.
Our best advice here is to stick to objective criteria in the hiring process. You should trust your team that they will be able to unite collaboratively, regardless of culture.
When asked to describe the challenges of communicating with remote team members, many pinpoint the lack of “face-to-face” interaction as primary. Though video calls are designed to fill this gap and bring the team closer, the absence of direct contact is still felt. It’s specially hard for managers new to remote team management. The latter usually think of the classic office settings as the only effective way to communicate.
Another issue is time zone differences, where certain employees may be urgently needed when they are asleep or when they cannot be productive.
Lastly, remote employees (sometimes, even if they are located in the same country) have a more flexible lifestyle and rhythm of the day. Because of this, there may arise responsiveness issues. It’s usually accepted to wait 24 hours before sending a follow-up email as the receiver may need time to respond.
But what if the issue is urgent? Here’s our recommended approach.
As with almost everything in the hiring world, the frequency of arising issues is inversely proportional to the clarity of rules and expectations and how consistent managers are in enforcing them.
At Collab Fabrik, we advise employers to ensure remote team members are clear with the expectations on communication from the first day of hire.
A response time is the range of working hours when an employee should to respond to a work query. If you discuss this aspect carefully with an employee beforehand, there will be no surprises. You know, whenever you expect a response. Your employee knows what hours they should work.
Of course, it’s crucial to ensure the response time fits both employers and the employee’s needs.
How should you act if an urgent thing pops up heavily depending on the employee who is not available?
You should discuss this beforehand, too, to understand when and how to reach out for help in case of an emergency.
As one option, you can have colleagues sharing the same work scope from different shifts or teams who can help instead of each other if needed.
Moreover, you can also agree on direct calls in case of emergency. This means you can follow up with your remote employee even before the pre-agreed response time has expired.
These tips helped us overcome many challenges of managing remote employees. Contact us for a more personalized consultation to know how you can best approach your remote team management.
Though highly individual, it’s considered that the home office – a dedicated place in your house that has all the necessary tools to work, is essential for remote team members. That’s because many remote employers get distracted if they work in their living rooms, kitchens, or any other era that is not designated for working.
Besides, many need office desk stuff like lamps, comfortable chairs, and a good internet connection. All of these are not always available at home.
Here’s what we recommend to employers who face such remote team challenges.
Also known as work from home stipend, a home office stipend is a sum you pay separately from salary to an employee who does not have the necessary equipment and resources to work from home. It is usually additional to other monetary compensation or as a bonus.
Home office stipend covers different costs depending on the agreement of the employer and employee.
It can cover major expenses for equipping the whole room or partially contribute to the overall costs, e.g., buying a chair, hardware upgrades, etc.
In some cases, it can include just a fee for working in co-working spaces where your employees prefer to work from.
Consult with your finance department to decide which option suits you best.
You can resolve all those challenges of managing remote employees with the professional assistance of remote hiring agencies.
Collab Fabrik – a distinguished remote workforce provider, offers a full range of services in finding, onboarding, and managing remote employees.
You can refer to it as EOR, PEO, or mixed services – depending on the level of engagement your business needs. Our key goal is to ensure:
Well, remote working comes with a great range of advantages and benefits for both employers and employees.
Employers have a higher choice of the best talent.
Employees have better job opportunities and work-life balance.
But there are always two sides to every coin.
Managing remote teams poses various challenges that can be complex and time-consuming. There’s a lot to consider, from communication issues to a lack of proper home office arrangements.
If you’re at the stage when you need additional assistance to cope with the challenges of managing remote employees, or you’re just about to enter that stage, contact us to get a personalized consultation on managing remote employees.
With a specialized approach to remote hiring, where we test every piece of advice and tip on our own remote teams, Collab Fabrik is your best partner to ensure you enjoy distant hiring benefits with no comparative issues.
