Are you wondering how to best handle your HR responsibilities when your company hires remote workers? Is it possible to build a solid company culture when everyone is working so far away from one another?
Yes, it is possible and many companies do it successfully. Let’s discuss how you can do it, too.
Communicate Well With Employees
Communication is key with all relationships. It’s especially important when working inside a remote situation. Make sure your employees understand what is expected of them and what is expected of the management team. Your people want to know who to reach out to whenever they run into a challenge or need help solving a problem.
Some employers are resistant to remote workers at first because they fear that their team won’t work hard when given the responsibility of working outside an office environment. Sometimes, it’s actually the employers who don’t support their team enough when they fail to make themselves available in times of need. Don't make this mistake.
Use email, Slack and phone to keep all lines of communication open. It will ensure that your company runs smoothly.
Another area you must communicate well in is letting your employees know that their financial information (social security number, bank information, etc) is safe with you. Use a virtual data room to keep their financial and personal information secure and keep them informed of how much you value this security.
Allow Your People to Express Themselves
During remote team meetings, let your employees be themselves. If someone has a fun personality, allow for a few jokes or humorous remarks. Others may be more serious in nature and should be made to feel comfortable being their normal selves.
Allow for the sharing of jokes or funny gifs as people use apps like Slack to communicate. Of course, everything needs to stay above board. Never allow for anything slanderous or condescending to make its way into the work environment.
What you don’t want to do is make too many rules and create a situation where your remote employees feel restricted. If everyone is afraid to interact with one another because the rules are overly restrictive, then you’ll find that communication levels decrease.
Build a Positive Culture
Establishing a fun, yet productive culture will help keep communication moving along and allow for everyone to work at their best.
Creating a great culture is easier said than done. However, if you focus on building a culture where peer pressure from other employees becomes the norm, your team will help keep the entire organization accountable.
If someone gets out of line and the organization has a strong culture, then other team members will often step in to get things back on track. A direct reprimand to an employee who is breaking company culture from another employee is highly effective. It often has more positive results than management needing to step in.
Keep Customer Data Safe
Working with remote workers might mean that customer financial data is seen by several people living in different states or countries. This is another area where using a virtual data room comes in handy.
Using a virtual data room allows you to store and handle all types of sensitive data, such as customer credit card numbers, addresses and other contact information. Build a culture where your remote team knows of this importance and uses the secure system properly.
Keep Track of Employee Performance
Most people go into a remote work situation because they are naturally driven, motivated and focused. They take pride in being trusted to get the job done. If you manage them too much, it reveals that you lack trust and you run the risk of losing the best people available.
Give them latitude when it comes to when they work. Ask them when they are the most efficient and effective and work yourself around those schedules. They’ll respect you for it and you’ll get their best output for your company. At the same time, be willing to let anyone go who does take advantage of the situation.
You can optimize company time down to the second by time tracking projects for better organization, proof of work and budgeting.
Remote work situations are here to stay. It's vital that the HR department's role is one that effectively sets the culture, manages performance and helps the best people perform at their optimum levels.
