The beauty of remote work has reared its head during COVID-19. There were so many companies that were hesitant to move their employees to remote roles. The truth is that a number of companies didn’t trust that employees could motivate themselves. 2020 has shown that there are some roles that are far more productive when taken on from home. The elimination of distractions of coworkers or meetings that could be handled by emails could be to blame. The truth is that people can do just as good of a job from home as long as they motivate themselves and have a degree of discipline. The following are tips to drive a remote workforce and their productivity in a positive manner.
Be Aware of the Adjustment Period
Taking an adjustment period into account is important. An employee might take a few weeks to start producing at high levels from home. Most of the time, this is about getting into a routine that they are comfortable with. Management styles also have to change so patience will be a virtue for management and employees alike. Not all employees will make the adjustment which means there are decisions to make. Some companies want their entire workforce to be remote as this helps save money on office rental costs. Others want a mix as they do not want to lose top employees that might have issues working from home. Outsourcing things like managed IT services can be important as it is another department you won’t have to manage.
Track The Time of Your Employees
The time of employees has to be managed appropriately. Project management software is important as it keeps all employees on track. The period of time when the workday is just starting can allow a person to be immediately productive. Being able to sit down and be immensely productive immediately allows an employee to boost productivity for the day. Time tracking software can give management the insight to assign only what employees can complete for the week. Using weeks of data to help create schedules for optimum performance is imperative. The time tracking software can also assist in training as top performers will also have time tracked.
Create Contests Among Employees
Creating contests among employees can help foster that competitive nature in employees. For those in sales, the competition among those in the department can help drive results. A team that works together competing against another team can help bring out the best in each other. The reward could be some form of bonus or an additional day of vacation for the entire team. Keeping the competitive spirit healthy among employees is important as gamification of productivity can drive incredible results.
The remote workforce is a far different animal than managing employees in-house. The tough aspect of this is that most managers are not used to this new environment. Managers will have to adjust as much or more than most employees that thrive during their remote roles. Take time to create the best remote work environment possible!
