5 Important Tips to Build A Remote Workforce

The year 2020 has proven that ‘Remote Workforce’ is not just a jargon but an effective & efficient way of working. With the entire world under lockdown and major restrictions on travel, businesses have swiftly moved to working remotely. Digital Technology enabled the companies to upgrade their brick & mortar businesses to Online Remote offices. More and more organisations are now looking at making remote workforce a permanent way of working.

So, what brought about this change in the outlook? There are many benefits for an organisation to operate a remote workforce. First & foremost, this reduces the cost of renting & maintaining huge office spaces. This is the major cost component for any business and it would amount to great cost reductions.

Secondly, remote working opens up the best global talent pool to you. The companies now have access to skilled & ready to be on boarded candidates from across the country or even globe.

Even for the employees remote working is advantageous in many ways. They have access to companies & their dream jobs irrespective of the location. They save time spent in travelling and get more time with family. Data shows that over 80% of workers feel more productive & efficient while working remotely. So, this is a win-win situation for both the employee & the employers.

“People today really value workplace flexibility and remote work because it allows them to focus their energies on work and life as opposed to commuting or other complications due to geography.” — Ken Matos, Vice President of Research, Life Meets Work

Let look at some important tips to build your own Remote Workforce.

Selecting the right candidates for Remote Workforce:

Now that you have decided to build a remote team, it is important that you hire the right people for the team. You have access to a huge talent pool. But selecting the ideal candidates from it will be easier if your expectations from the team members is clear. The team members should be willing to work remotely and have access to the infrastructure needed to work remotely. Some important qualities that one should look for is sincerity & honesty to work unsupervised. Along with these, the candidates have to be goal-oriented and self-motivated. There are many websites & portals that help you in building your remote teams. For eg; Flexiport’s (theflexiport.com) “Talent As A Service” platform allows you to hire highly skilled & experienced specialists.

Providing the right infrastructure to work remotely:

The success of a remote team totally depends on the infrastructure provided to them. It includes a good & secure business communication platform that offers video conferencing, chatting & file storage. There are many good platforms available like Microsoft Teams, Slack to name a few. A good project management software also helps in keeping the team members in loop regarding the tasks assigned to each team member along with the due date. They can map their deliverables vis a vis the group objectives and also check the progress made on a day to day basis.

Setting Clear Objectives and Goals:

One of the biggest challenges of working remotely is having the team members stay on track with the others and achieve the goals set out for them. Since there is no one monitoring them personally, it is very important that they know very clearly what is expected of them. There should not be any scope for ambiguity in the expectations. Tasks should be spelt out clearly with deliverables and timelines. This not only helps the employees to be more productive but also helps the projects stay on track and thus the team motivated.

Helping the team members stay connected:

Another challenge with Remote working is the lack of physical interactions. With an entirely new team, this becomes even more challenging. To overcome this challenge, start with a creative virtual on-boarding programme, where you can spell out the company mission vision & values very clearly. Getting the team aware of what are the ethos and what the company stands for in the initial days helps them understand the company culture better. Creating fun virtual events like get to know your team members, talent shows and other team building events will play a very important role in creating a feeling of belongingness to the company & team. You can also plan a monthly or quarterly get togethers or lunches which will provide the much-needed physical interaction. Organise one on one calls or team calls where you discuss things other than work.

Communicating Effectively:

Communication is the most important part of remote working. Lay down the rules of communication like :

1. 1. Providing enough notice before meetings so that team members are available & prepared.
   2. Joining meetings on time.
   3. Keeping video on during meetings
   4. Keeping Audio on mute in case there is any form of disturbance around you.
   5. Inform about your leaves and vacation plans in advance to the team to help them plan their tasks better.

It is equally important to provide the team members secure access to data relevant to them. Security of the company data and information plays a very important role and all team members should be sensitized about the importance of keeping their communication safe & secure.

“Technology now allows people to connect anytime, anywhere, to anyone in the world, from almost any device. This is dramatically changing the way people work, facilitating 24/7 collaboration with colleagues who are dispersed across time zones, countries, and continents.” — Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell