How To Ensure That Your Team Is Happy With Remote Work?

A month ago saying that running a company through the crisis caused by this pandemic has been hard would be an understatement. I’m sure this has been unchartered territory for most of us. I mean, most workplaces don’t even have work from home policies that they had to design from scratch.  But after following steps […]

A month ago saying that running a company through the crisis caused by this pandemic has been hard would be an understatement. I’m sure this has been unchartered territory for most of us. I mean, most workplaces don’t even have work from home policies that they had to design from scratch. 

But after following steps like gathering resources, assigning priorities, organizing tasks, setting priorities, figuring out communication channels, it is becoming easier to deal. And, now that work is finally back on track, we’re seeing a spike in productivity. I am a proud manager of a thriving remote team myself. 

However, the times are bleak, the morale is still lacking, and even though the employees are coming around to the idea of working from home, some are still resistant to the idea of this change. As leaders, it is our responsibility to lead our teams into happier times and help them become more accommodating of the current situation.

The Best Steps To Help Your Team Fall In Love With WFH

First of all, why do you need to help your team get accustomed to remote work with harmony? This is your team, and their comfort matters. It matters what their feelings are about this whole shift in work dynamic. 

Your team is what brings results, they’re the engine to your business’s machine. And that is why we want them on-board. I try to practice the following so that my remote team always stays happy with how we run things:

Enabling Transparency 

Uncertainty is the only constant in remote work. Is there anything you can do to change that? Well, yes. Transparency is something that inculcates transparency in the workforce. For instance, if I

• Let my employees access important files and documents,
• Notify them of updates,
• Let them know the final goals,
• Give them a view of the plans,
• Discuss agendas and strategies,

It is going to make my team more perceptive towards remote work and lead to a harmonious relationship. Sharing information is communicating with trust. This trust leads to team loyalty and collaboration.

Constructive Communication

By constructive communication, I mean quick and efficient ways of communicating. I believe conversations can be made much productive when your team knows what to talk about. After all effective communication is all about getting people on the same page. 

But to keep people happy with this arrangement of remote work, small talk needs to stay alive. Which is why I make sure the following happens:

• Set apart channels for professional and personal communication. 
• Set guidelines for communication for response time and whatnot. 
• Make tremendous and liberal use of the tools you have for communication. 
• Find communication solutions that help your team give reviews readily. 

Providing Weekly Goals 

A busy bee is a happy bee. Sometimes the best way to deal with adversity is to stay on target. The process of fulfilling goals, achieving milestones is a great source of motivation. A great leader always finds ways to inspire. Hence, I thought of a way to do the same, and this is how it works:

• My tip to a remote team manager is to break projects into tasks and tasks into sub-tasks. 
• If your calendar had 10 milestones, make them 20!
• Assign your team weakly goals or assignments and aid them in sharing the achievements with the whole team. 

Personalized Bulk Emails

Want to stay connected with your team, give them some WFH advice, and help them with personal care advice, emails are the way to go. As a leader, you get to touch numerous lives. Show your care and concern with bulk emails that are drafted only to be helpful. Here is everything you can write about:

• How to follow up with work when you have kids at home.
• How to create a result-driven approach to remote work. 
• How you can make small talk with your teammates. 
• Managing time better with the ongoing remote work regime. 
• How to create a working environment at home. 

Employee Engagement

The harsh reality of remote work is that it cannot give us physical contact. Quite frankly, people miss seeing each other, goofing around, and playing games during breaks. Scheduling a video call a day sometimes doesn’t seem to cut it. It is hard to find motivation when there is no friendly contact. 

I find the following to do the trick near to perfection:

• Organizing events regularly. 
• Making time for remote team building activities. 
• Extending video calls to include chit chat. 
• Making portals to announce the success of individuals or teams. 

Conclusion

To ensure success and an easy remote work journey, it is necessary to know if your employees are on-board. Making time for increasing morale and giving people a reason to trust you for managing remote work, will ensure that your team is happy with remote work. I hope my article could help you understand exactly how you can do the same.

— Published on May 25, 2020