Making A Team Of Remote Workers Function As Well As A Co-Located Team
If you are considering hiring remote workers for your company, it’s important to understand how to manage them effectively. The first step is ensuring that all team members have a solid understanding of their time zone and are able to establish achievable goals for each day. Scheduled meetings and times when everyone can connect via video chat or phone are also key factors in maintaining good communication across distance. Finally, it’s a good idea to encourage remote employees to work from one office location rather than multiple home offices in different cities or countries—this will help reduce any confusion around shared resources like files, equipment and other tools they need on hand while working remotely
Know your remote employees’ time zones.
You’ll want to know your remote working employees’ time zones. This is important because it will help you schedule meetings and other activities. For example, if someone in California is working on the east coast, they may be more productive during the day–but if they’re on the west coast and working late into the evening or early morning hours (Pacific Time), then it’s best for them not to have a meeting then because they’ll be tired and less productive than usual.
Some people work better at night; others prefer working during daylight hours. Some people are able to work straight through without taking breaks while others need regular breaks throughout their day in order to stay focused and energized enough for sustained periods of concentration on complex tasks like writing code or editing video footage from a shoot day earlier this week (or even this morning).
Establish scheduled meetings and times to connect via video chat or phone.
To ensure that your remote working people are staying connected, you should schedule regular meetings. The frequency and length of these meetings will depend on the nature of your organization. For example, if you’re running a software development team that works on new features for weeks at a time without much client interaction, then it might make sense for every member of the team to meet once per week for an hour-long video chat session where they discuss progress and deadlines.
On the other hand, if your company is more client-facing (such as if it provides marketing services), then it could be helpful for everyone involved with clients–from marketers themselves through account managers–to get together once per month over breakfast or lunch so everyone can share ideas about how best to serve those clients’ needs in person rather than over video conference calls or email chains alone.
Encourage remote employees to work from a single office location rather than home.
Remote workers are more productive when they are in an office, rather than at home. This is because of the social aspect of work: it’s easier to collaborate with others when you can see them face-to-face. If you’re working from home, you’ll need to make sure that everyone has access to the same equipment as their co-workers (and vice versa). In addition, remote employees should use the same software so that they can collaborate effectively with other team members.
Finally, it is important for remote worker’s morale and productivity if they have access to all of their colleagues’ expertise and experience; this cannot happen if everyone works remotely!
Consider using project management software.
Project management software is a type of software that helps you organize your work and plan your projects, especially when you have multiple people working on them. It can be used for managing remote employees or co-located teams, but it’s especially helpful with remote workers because it gives you tools for tracking progress in real time, assigning tasks and responsibilities, setting deadlines and milestones (and making sure those deadlines are met), scheduling meetings so everyone knows when they need to be online at the same time (if necessary), managing bugs and issues with the project as they come up–basically everything that goes into running an effective business operation smoothly.
Provide each team member with their own dedicated work space, preferably in the same office as other team members.
The best way to ensure that team members can communicate effectively with one another is by providing each remote worker with their own dedicated work space. Ideally, this should be located in the same office as other team members so that they have easy access to them.
If possible, it’s also helpful if you provide each remote worker with an office with a door that can be closed when they need privacy or want some quiet time away from distractions (or just don’t feel like talking). The ideal setup would include:
- A desk with plenty of room for both computer equipment and papers/books/projects related to their projects
- A chair that’s comfortable enough for long periods of sitting without feeling stiff or sore after using it all day long (and maybe even two chairs if there isn’t enough room). Make sure these items are ergonomically designed so as not cause any health problems later down the road due prolonged use over many years! If possible get ones made out of bamboo wood instead because those are eco friendly alternatives 🙂
Consider how you’re going to handle emergencies or crises that require collaboration across multiple time zones.
One of the biggest challenges of running a remote team is responding to emergencies and crises. If you’re not on the same physical location, it’s difficult to get everyone working together in the same room. This can make it very difficult to manage and resolve problems as they arise.
If you’re going to have remote workers, one thing that you should do is make sure that everyone knows how they should respond if there’s an emergency situation where collaboration across time zones is necessary. You should have this conversation with each person individually before hiring them–they need to understand exactly what kind of work environment they’ll be entering into and whether or not this will be something that works for them personally (or at least isn’t going cause too much stress).
Managing remote workers requires careful consideration of how best to support them
When you are managing remote working staff, it is important to consider how best to support them. This may mean building a culture that encourages collaboration and communication. It might also mean having regular meetings with your team or providing training opportunities for them so they can grow professionally.
Be sure that your remote working employee feel like they’re part of the team by including them in company events and making sure there is good communication between everyone on the team. Also be available when needed; if a remote employee has an issue he or she needs help solving, make sure he or she feels comfortable reaching out directly rather than just waiting until next week’s meeting when everyone else will hear about it too.
While managing remote workers is a challenge, it’s also an opportunity to improve your organization’s productivity and efficiency. By carefully considering how best to support your team members, you can help them work together more effectively and achieve more than they ever could alone.