How to Implement a Remote Working Strategy the Right Way
Remote work is the word on everybody’s lips right now, and it will probably become a necessity for many teams in the future. Remote working can benefit your team in many ways. It can help boost morale and even boost productivity. One study found that remote employees work about 1.4 days more at the end of the month than office-based workers. Studies are also showing that Millennials and Gen Z’ers are starting to not only favor it, but expect it. Remote working comes with many issues, however, and if you want to ensure the integrity of your team, business, and its information, here are a few tips you should follow.
Start Looking for an IT Team
The very first thing you should do when thinking of running a remote team is beef up your IT department. We wouldn’t suggest that you hire a full team, however. Not only will it be overkill, but they might still not have the full set of expertise that you need. Working with an outsourced managed IT specialist team would be a much better idea unless you have tons of resources and aren’t worried about paying your IT professionals to sit around for half the day. If you work with a competent IT team, they’ll have all the expertise needed to safeguard your systems and come up with complete solutions that will reduce the chances of incidents. They will also be able to ensure that your business stays up and running if there are any critical issues.
Identify Who Can Work Remotely
When drafting a remote work policy, you’ll have to consider which roles can and cannot be moved. If you have employees that have to provide direct support to clients on-site, these don’t need to be included in your policy. However, it could work perfectly for your dispatching or customer support team. As a matter of fact, there is little reason to house any support team. After all, some companies have their support department on a whole other continent, so you don’t need to have them under your watch 24/7.
Use the Right Tools
You have to research the tools you’ll be using as well. You will need to get familiar with things like Microsoft teams, VPNs, and various video conferencing tools. You will also need to start looking at a few agile project management tools to keep tabs on what your employees are doing while automating task assignments.
Establish Clear Rules
Remote working is not something that works for everybody, and some of your employees may end up slacking. This is where establishing clear rules will be very important. You have to set clear guidelines on how and how often you should communicate, along with expected working hours.
Prevent Isolation
You should also make time for socialization. You should have an open lounge where you can keep tabs on each other and talk. You should also have one-on-ones with your employees whenever you have the chance to check on their mental state.
These are all things you’ll have to do if you want to take your team remote. The most important thing is to do it safely, and don’t hesitate to ask for outside help if you feel overwhelmed.
