Last year can be considered one of the most challenging times for every business leaders. The problems that come due to the global pandemic have put everyone in difficult situation. There have been many shifts happened including remote work. It is not actually something new and the global pandemic certainly not the sole cause of it. It has happened for at least a decade. However, it is probably the first time ever for full-timer to work remotely and it happens almost globally.
How business leaders optimize remote workforce
In the past, remote work was mostly applied for freelancers and contractors. Today, remote work is still considered necessary to help reduce the case of the covid-19. Remote workforce needs to be optimized to help business grow steadily. And here are things business leaders can do to make it true:
Giving financial support to your remote workers. During remote work, your company may have lower its expenses. However, it is different with the situation your employees face during remote work. Their electricity bills go up significantly and all. Hence, it is important to provide financial support especially when you are in developing countries.
Transition your business into remote work environment comes with its own challenges. One of the biggest challenges is to maintain well-established connection for communication. To do this, you need to leverage good communication tools that are reliable for everyone. There are many helpful programs and services you can use to make the transition goes smoothly.
To ensure the flow of your business operation, it is important to improve your documentation. You need to document your work processes because during remote work, you work with your employees with different time zones in different places. Through good documentation, your business operation will still running smoothly even if there is change of members.
It may be the best idea to appoint different managers to manage different teams if you have more than 20 or more full-time employees who work remotely. Managing many employees during remote work by yourself can be very overwhelming. However, it will not be a problem if you have more than one manager. This way, you can keep your team feeling cohesive while working and function like a genuine team.
Goals and expectations should be communicated clearly. Working from different locations can cause huge misunderstanding and miscommunication. You can start with a definite plan to make sure everyone knows what their roles and responsibilities are. Good communication should be maintained consistently. You can do it through regular video calls since it is the closest approach to how things done when meeting in-person like when you were still in the office.
To boost your remote workforce, you need to make sure that everyone is doing okay both with their work and personal life. Working from home may bring different challenges for different people. Hence always check in on your remote employees. Also, provide healthy work hours which allow your employees to work productively while still have plenty of time to spend with their families.