How Do You Manage Employees Remotely?

More employees than ever are working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for some of them it might be a brand-new experience. As a leader at your company, it’s important to make sure your business is running well, and your staff is meeting all of their benchmarks.

Set a policy

Even though you’re probably months into working from home at this point, it is still important to make sure you have a work-from-home policy. The Society for Human Resource Management explains in its Workflex and Telework Guide that important pieces of your document should include who can work remotely, how they can apply for the privilege, expectations for them and consequences if anyone fails to adapt to remote work. While setting boundaries for who can work remotely and common consequences for poor performance – like returning to the office – might not be feasible during the pandemic, you can still make sure your team knows the rules.

You can’t sip your morning cup of coffee and watch your staff arrive for the day when they’re working remotely, so it’s harder to see who starts work on time. Even if they aren’t commuting to the office, make sure there are clear expectations around when they should be logged in for the day. If your workplace relies on email or other communication to get tasks done, it’s a good idea to set rules around response times. Besides making sure people get the answers they need as soon as possible, failure to respond could indicate that one of your employees isn’t really working.

Change your thought process

In your business, there are no doubt already several things that can alert you to performance issues, like dissatisfied clients, missed deadlines, and poor progress reports. When you get ready to address any issues with remote employees, Ron Carucci of the Harvard Business cautions that you not only think of the suffering work but also of the employee themselves. Considering all the hardships COVID-19 has brought to your employees, like lack of childcare and social isolation. This is an important key for current issues. Before you speak to them, explore what changes working from home have brought on your staff member, like a lack of supervision. Make sure you keep any of your own emotions in check and admit to yourself if there are things you did as a supervisor to contribute to underperformance. 

After you think through these issues, have an honest conversation with your employee to figure out a way to help them achieve their goals in the new normal. Carucci says, “Remember, your biggest contribution to those you lead is helping them be, and contribute, their best. When they fall short, your greatest show of compassion, especially right now, is to help them figure out whatever it takes to get back on track. In some cases, it may be more compassionate to loosen expectations, so long as you make that decision with people and not for them.”

Keep your team together

Even though meeting in person is a struggle during the pandemic, make sure your team members realize they are still accountable to each other. Help them utilize easy ways to communicate, like using text or Slack. Hold group meetings over tools like Zoom or Google Meet and encourage them to share a successful team collaboration with the group. If you notice a bottleneck of information, like other departments going through one supervisor to speak to a whole team, see if there’s a way to make information flow better so everyone can get what they need quickly.

Working remotely during a pandemic is certainly not something you likely anticipated when you set up your business. With a good team, solid communication and clear expectations, your company can keep going no matter where they’re sitting.