Navigating Remote Work: 6 Best Work-From-Home Practices for Managers in 2023.

Remote work is one of the permanent workplace changes Covid-19 created. But how many remote workers have adapted well to it? 

According to research by SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, 7 out of 10 remote workers struggle to acclimatize to remote work. 

The Problems of Remote Work

According to a report by Builtin, the top struggle remote workers identified was not being able to unplug, which 27 percent of respondents selected. 

Collaboration and communication are always near the top of the list of remote work struggles. Loneliness and productivity have also been observed to be major challenges. 

We are social animals. It can therefore only be expected that, in a remote work setup, we would always feel disconnected from our job. 

That said, are there possible moderations that can be applied to remedy these situations? For the most part, the solution lies with the workplace supervisors. 

Leaders need to understand the peculiarities of a work-from-home scenario on how it differs greatly with on-site work, and leverage on that understanding to provide the right support their remote workforce needs for optimum performance. 

We have shared in the next section, 6 best practices for managers can apply to improve productivity and engagement with their dispersed team. 

10 Crucial Practices for Remote Work Management 

1. Redesign the Onboarding Process

This applies especially to businesses that are in the processes of recruiting new phases to their already off-site workforce

The onboarding stage will be the first time remote workers make contact with your team. The rest of their time working with your company can become unnecessarily exhaustive if they don’t receive proper guidance at this phase. 

As you prepare to welcome new staff, prepare useful guidebooks with all the how-tos and guides they’d need to bed in fast. You can also make arrangements for a buddy system where older employees are assigned to help one or more freshers to integrate into the team more quickly. 

You also want to make sure they are provided with all the tools and resources they need to work effectively irrespective of work location. 

2. Set Clear Expectations

Rules, expectations, procedures and boundaries must be clearly defined before the commencement of work. That way, you’d avoid scenarios where workers become stranded or act under pressure to make risky presumptions that are often costly. 

As the manager, you should work closely with your team to identify communication standards, set workflows and timelines, and define the KPI for each individual. Don’t assume they know these things. Eliminate the guesswork and make each days’ work more predictable. 

Below is a bucket list of things to check:

• Daily and weekly check-ins and status reports
• Outcomes, results, and performance
• Working hours and availability, both yours and those of your team
• Strategies for dealing with urgent situations

3. Regularly Engage Team Members

One of the key benefits of on-site work is the conducive environment it provides that makes it easy for workers to bond. But in this Internet age, distance cannot be a barrier. 

Your remote employees do not have to feel lonely while working from home. The tech market today affords a lot of tools that managers can use to initiate regular text-to-text communications for quick questions and information sharing. 

There are also video conferencing tools which are vital for problem solving and relationship building. As a leader, it is not out of place to schedule regular meetings that are not about work briefing. 

You can offer coaching, seek team input, inquire about their health and make it a priority to know each staff personally. 

Other things you can do to spice-up engagement and build rapport amongst colleagues: 

• Setup virtual spaces for different conversations 
• Use advanced technology like the metaverse to hold celebrations recognizing notable accomplishments or team members birthdays - just like you would in a traditional environment. 

4. Invest in Your Team

For a sizable percentage of the global workforce, remote work still sounds like a novel idea. Many who have made the shifts are still learning the ins and outs of the new model. 

Chances are that, there will be some in your team who are completely new to the work approach. 

To get them up to speed, you may need to commit a part of your budget to sign them up for leadership development courses, remote workspace management programs and sensitization exercises on the self-care dos and don'ts that apply to a remote worker. 

This will keep them disciplined, healthy and focused on their deliverables. 

5. Trust Your Team

Trust is a two-way street. The remuneration signed in the job offer contract together with the stated payment schedule is both psychological and legal. 

Defaulting on that promise does not pose the risk of a legal action by your staff, it can also erode the bond of trust you have built with them. 

Of course, there will be times when it becomes inevitable to default. In such cases, you can avoid further escalation of the matter by giving satisfactory explanation. 

In like manner, prompt announcements should be made when expectations are to be modified. Your workers shouldn’t learn about these changes as a sudden surprise. 

Micromanagement is another unwholesome practice that can negatively affect trust. Always trust your team to do their job. When in doubt of a worker’s competency to deliver, reach out to the individual and have a conversation about the condition.

6. Performance Audit

What you don’t measure, you can’t manage. However, unlike in-office work, this is a lot harder to achieve in a remote setup. 

Thus, it is always advised to focus on outcomes and results achieved (quantitative) by remote workers and results instead of solely monitoring the number of hours worked. 

Assess the quality and timeliness of their work rather than just the amount of time spent on tasks.

Other best practices for remote work performance management are:

• Provide constructive feedback: highlighting areas of strength and areas for improvement. Be specific, objective, and supportive in your feedback while doing so. 
• Foster a culture of accountability: Encourage remote workers to take ownership and be accountable for their performance. Clearly communicate the consequences of not meeting expectations while also recognizing and rewarding achievements.
• Continuous learning and development: Offer opportunities for remote workers to enhance their skills and knowledge through training, webinars, workshops, or online courses. 
• Periodic performance reviews: Conduct periodic performance reviews to evaluate remote workers' overall performance, discuss career development opportunities, and align goals for the future. The reviews should be fair, consistent, and growth-focused.

Conclusion:

Remote work will no doubt become a permanent fixture in many workplaces. 

In anticipation of this inevitability, workplace managers, business owners and HRs are encouraged to equip themselves with required tools and familiarize themselves with the best practices that will enable them to get the best out of their subordinates. 

We have covered in this article six crucial aspects which we consider very vital to overcoming the challenge.