Empower and Engage your Remote Workforce
Since we are all going through the corona virus outbreak, and most people are working from home. So the organization needs to effectively manage people's performance, but the principles are really quite the same as if you had people next to you or in your office to manage. Because in todays’ world you do not want to be a micromanager, people don’t want that. They are looking for a coach, they are looking for direction and they want to allow them to work in their own way. Obviously, people will need to meet deadlines, need to contribute, need to be productive and that’s where the challenges are for the people who are working remotely as compared to in the office.
Here are few tips for HR managers, how to oversee and empower your workforce remotely:
- Plan First, Action next : Before your team starts working remotely, you must plan what could be done to replicate the office experience and stay productive. You can create a document that is expected from each team member while working from home. Create a meme to track work progress and have a strategy for remote problem solving, but ensure that the policies don’t make your employees feel too restricted. Give them a few things to discover on their own.
- Keep your workforce informed : Working from home can make employees lose touch because they are no longer aware of what’s happening in their company. It might be a good idea to maintain a common announcement channel where you can regularly post updates on your business growth, hiring updates, updates on travel and leave policies, insurance policies and many more. This will ensure employees never feel left out and are constantly up to date what’s happening in your organization.
- Give your employees the right tools: Writers, designers, editors and developers can work from home without much adjustments. All they need is a computer and a good internet, and respective applications. The team that faces customers might need a few extra tools to make work from home successful. They might have to call or schedule online meetings for their clients, help them set up an ecosystem at their home with all the tools they need.
- Compensate in-person interactions: Remote work can be made more social by facilitating conversation. Being able to video or audio calls someone anytime during work hours is as good as popping into a peer's cubicle to get some help. This ensures employees to feel guidance from their peers and makes them feel as they are surrounded by people while they work.
- Encourage employees to switch off their work: While employees work from home, there is a possibility that they lose track of time. Since home is now both home and an office for your employees they might feel to continue working until late night. It is essential to maintain a fixed number of hours to work, so work life balance does not get disturbed. Encourage your employee to switch off their work email and chat after work hours. This way they will never feel exhausted when they start working the next day.