Few Challenges With Solutions for Managing Remote Employees

Now that you have remote employees, you’re up against several issues that you don’t normally face when everyone works in the same place. How you conduct things in the office doesn’t always transition well to your remote team.

That is why learning about 5 Challenges With Solutions for Managing Remote Employees can help you in this situation.

What are the most typical challenges that remote workers face?

• Limited connection with management and coworkers, no regular working hours (no 8-to-5), and
• Technological difficulties (no company computer or email)
• A lack of organizational culture resulting in low involvement

So you can see that the issues you face are drastically different when you have remote employees. Still, you can boost engagement, productivity, and team cohesiveness by being more aware of a few specific ideas and methods.

We’ll go through the most pressing issues you’re dealing with (some of which you may not be aware) and the solutions that will help you manage, engage, and retain your remote workers. Here, in the article, you will learn about 5 Challenges With Solutions for Managing Remote Employees.

Top Challenges When Managing Remote Employees

Internal Communication Problems

Communication is a big challenge when managing remote staff, and we could write a whole 2,000+ word blog on it alone. Your employees must be aware of the company for which they work and the organization’s objective.

They require all the information to do their jobs well, stay compliant, and deliver excellent service. In addition, they need to know who or where they may go for help, express their opinions, and provide feedback. Therefore, managing internal communication is one of the prime challenges for managing remote employees.

According to Gallup, 71% of remote employees are not actively involved with their company. And according to 85 percent of employees, the communication they receive on the job is insufficient. With internal communication problems employees, engagement in the remote workload can be difficult.

As a manager, you understand the need for good and efficient communication, especially when managing remote personnel.

Scheduling Issues

Most organizations claim increased productivity when working with remote employees, although scheduling issues might arise.

Coordination of chat times can be difficult if your staff is located in different time zones. Furthermore, notifying them of significant changes or upgrades may be too late.

Additionally, remote employees do not operate on a defined schedule — they are not checked in at 8 a.m. and out at 5 p.m.

Language & Cultural Differences

When you have a worldwide workforce, you face several problems, such as cultural and linguistic differences. The languages and cultural differences of having a diverse remote workforce can challenge managing remote employees.

Employee differences will impact how they engage with one another, prioritize tasks, what they consider a success and more. As a result, as a manager, you must navigate these disparities effectively to gain the benefits of having a globally diversified workforce.

Additionally, managers may favor one employee over another because they have similar work habits and processes, making it easier to assign duties to them. This, however, will result in resentment and low productivity.

Furthermore, partiality may prevent you from hiring employees from different cultures, limiting the benefits of having a varied remote team.

Tracking & Measuring Performance

You must ensure that remote employees do all responsibilities on schedule and efficiently and follow the company’s requirements when managing them. Although some remote employees may believe that completing a task on time is sufficient, you may not feel the same way.

Perhaps you have a remote employee who believes that working for a set number of hours each day is adequate. Unfortunately, both ideals make measuring and tracking their success extremely difficult.

In either case, when it comes to measuring performance, managing remote employees presents two major challenges: ensuring that all work is completed and that your remote employees are using their time wisely and productively.

Due to differences in time zones, there can be timing issues in remote work. That is why proper communication channels are required to make employees feel at ease, conduct timely team meetings, and build trust among the workers.

Lack of Trust

When you have an everyday conversation and face-to-face contact, you instantly build trust and can bond better. However, when you have remote employees, you don’t have that advantage, which leads to difficulties of trust and cohesion between you and your employees, which can only lead to employee cohesion.

As a result, remote employees assume the following:

• Trust exercises and team-building games and activities are extremely vital to adopt.
• Managers should be confident in their ability to trust and delegate authority to remote workers.
• When managing distant staff, there may be less oversight.

If you’re a micromanager, you’ll never be completely comfortable giving your remote employees space and freedom to do projects at their own pace and according to their working habits.

Lack of a Company Culture

A basic problem is not being addressed when your remote employees feel like they’re in a “us vs. them” position. You are splitting teams and developing a toxic working relationship when you use derogatory or passive language about remote employees with staff who work with you every day.

When there is a lack of company culture, there is no fellowship, no platform for anyone’s criticism to be heard, no recognition for a job well done, and more.

Now that we’ve discussed the most pressing concerns with managing remote personnel, we can move on to the solutions.

Top Solutions When Managing Remote Employees

Streamline Internal Communication

You can address the communication issues you experience when managing remote personnel in a variety of ways:

Create Clear Communication Channels & Guidelines

Employees must be aware of how and when these channels will be utilized. Examples are one-on-one conversations, team meetings, or open platforms for comments and ideas.

Make it a habit to “check in” frequently so that remote employees know you’re available and care about their well-being. You don’t want them to think they’re “out of sight, out of mind.”
Make it clear whether you require your remote employees to be available at specific times or if they must use one channel over another. Please don’t assume they understand what you want; make it clear!

Keep Availability Transparent

Always keep your calendar up to date, post status updates to your social media accounts, and mark days on your calendar when you’ll be out of the office or in the employee’s area.

You can even set aside a specific time and day each week or month to have a virtual ‘open door’ event, during which your employees are aware that you are present at all times and that they can approach you at any moment.

Make sure your remote workers treat you the same way. For example, if there are times when they cannot be disturbed (e.g., doctor’s appointments, parent-teacher conferences), make sure they mark it on their calendar or let you know.

Encourage Feedback

Communication must be two-way. You should be able to reach out to your employees the same way they need to reach out to you. However, don’t limit your interactions to only when there’s a crisis or something has to be clarified.

Encourage your staff to provide you with comments, ideas, and perspectives. Recognize when your employees contact you with words to know they’re being heard and valued.

Use One Communication App

On the market, there are a plethora of chat and collaboration apps. But, on the other hand, you and your team aren’t communicating effectively if you’re using a range of tools. Email, Slack, Whatsapp, SMS, and who knows what else could be used to communicate. If that’s the case, there’s nothing but chaos.

To ensure that you and your employees are on the same page, use a single mode of communication, such as Connecteam’s communication app. Ensure that everyone on your team has downloaded the app and understands how to use it (Connecteam is incredibly user-friendly, whether you’re tech-savvy.)

With its powerful communication capabilities designed specifically for your remote workforce, Connecteam helps you streamline communication, limit unnecessary phone calls, and boost employee productivity:

• WhatsApp surveys, Suggestion Boxes, and Live Polls: Use a suggestion box to get feedback from employees so that their voices are heard and better decisions are made based on the results of corporate surveys and live polls.
• Use features such as pre-scheduled updates, social interaction support for likes and comments, share GIFs, videos, memes, and automated follow-up options to send rich and fascinating material to one individual, a group, or the entire company in an announcement, newsletter, or update.
• Employee Recognition and Appreciation: acknowledge top performers, offer employee highlights, and allow team members to nominate peers for rewards. Celebrate and share birthday wishes, anniversaries, personal milestones, and corporate achievements to increase engagement.

If you’re ready to get started with Connecteam’s free plan, or if you’d like to learn more, schedule a demo with a professional.

Make Scheduling a Breeze

Pick a time that works for everyone’s schedule, whether a phone call or a conference call. For some, this may occur in the morning, while it may occur in the afternoon or evening for others.

You’ll have to get creative if finding a time that works for everyone’s schedules proves a Mount Everest-like problem. For example, consider videotaping the meeting so that those who could not attend can still watch and listen in.

After a meeting, ask for feedback so that everyone may share their opinions and discuss how the meeting went. If you discover a pattern or a significant issue that several employees raise, address it quickly as feasible.

Create shifts for all of your employees using a scheduling software like Connecteam, and get notifications if they haven’t clocked in or forgotten to clock out.

Your staff can “check-in,” “finish,” or “reject” a shift with updates, so you always know where everyone is. Connecteam even includes a built-in chat app, allowing you and your employees to discuss a change in real-time.

Connect With Remote Employees

Ask your remote employees to contribute ideas about their culture and location when conducting team-building exercises. This will assist in reducing cultural misunderstandings and foster camaraderie.

Maintain team-building exercises for remote workers, even if they’re all virtual, to foster nurturing bonds — it’ll only help you retain top personnel, increase productivity, and increase overall pleasure.

If you’re the same gender, come from the same background, have the same beliefs, etc., keep an eye out for when you relate to particular employees more than others. Make a conscious effort to connect with the employees you are having trouble with; if your efforts are genuine, they will be noticed and appreciated.

Focus On Performance

When you’re in charge of remote workers, it might not be easy to understand how they’re doing their jobs. So if a customer contacts you to complain about a remote employee failing to fulfill deadlines or expectations, you must be prepared to respond swiftly and effectively.

One way to prevent this is to be completely transparent about your expectations. Your staff must understand what is expected of them, such as how many hours they will work or the final output. Make ground rules with your partner to be constantly on the same page.

Create a strategy for evaluating your remote employee’s performance to determine why you’re displeased with a finished assignment. This will help the employee understand what is expected of them and help them get up to speed on what they are supposed to perform much faster.

Using applications like Todoist or Rescue Time to help your staff focus on tasks and remain on track can help them be more productive and reduce distractions. For example, remote workers may not realize how much time they’re wasting reading through social media or how far behind they’re behind on projects; adopting productivity applications might help them see where they can improve.

Trust Them

When efficiently managing remote personnel, you must provide feedback so that problems may be addressed before they become out of hand. To be a high performer, you want your employees to be productive, engaged, and motivated.

By providing frequent feedback, you may solve concerns or challenges that your employees face. In turn, you can create trust and offer flexibility to make your remote teamwork. Hold video calls to add confidence since receiving bad news “face-to-face” rather than by email or phone can sometimes assist.

If you’re dealing with a troublesome employee, take action quickly. Instead of coping with absolute pandemonium, the goal is to nip negativity in the bud.

Ensure that trust and the ability to truly be present for your employees, no matter where they are, are important aspects of your corporate culture. Ensure that your staff are respected, heard, and trusted.

Focus On Company Culture

Creating a great company culture takes effort in any business. It requires a few key ingredients: recruiting the appropriate people, cultivating healthy communication, and communicating that culture throughout the organization.

You must make a proactive effort to transmit the corporate culture you want to establish to your remote employees, depending on the company culture you want to instill.
Otherwise, your remote employees will feel disconnected from the company culture unless you have a plan that you stick to.

Consider this: something isn’t quite right if you believe in open communication but are never available to speak with your remote staff. Instead, it would help if you implemented a virtual “open door” strategy that allows your remote employees to speak with anyone they need.

Make sure your corporate culture engages your remote employees!

Give Recognition

Unfortunately, if some of your remote employees are feeling left out, it’s because they are. The personnel you encounter in the office are a lot easier to recognize than your remote colleagues, or so you think.

Namely mention anything a remote employee did that week or month during meetings or in company-wide updates and announcements. On special occasions, consider presenting deserving employees with blue awards for their hard work and outstanding performance. You are not only increasing productivity, but you are also demonstrating to your remote employees that you value and appreciate their efforts. A small amount of something can go a long way.

Conclusion

This article aims to help you anticipate and overcome some of the most typical issues with managing remote personnel. You have learned 5 Challenges With Solutions for Managing Remote Employees. Your remote team will realize its potential if you implement the solutions we’ve provided.

As a manager, you must be aware of the particular issues that remote employees and businesses confront and how to address them effectively.

Managers who oversee distant teams (whether it’s their permanent status or something they’ve been pushed into abruptly during a worldwide pandemic) have some added challenges.

You’re under a lot of pressure to be a good leader and set a positive example for your team. However, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little terrified by the numerous hurdles you’ll encounter.

Don’t worry; you’ve got this! You’ll have a lot of techniques in your back pocket if you refer back to the virtual team’s difficulties and solutions we’ve listed here to help you keep your team focused, productive, and positive—regardless of what’s going on in the world.