5 Remote Work Strategies to Help Your Company Succeed

Regardless of whether it’s remote or not, a company’s overall success is dependent on its workers. And while you might think that having a remote work policy would ensure that your workers are happy, that might not always be enough to help bring it to the next level. You may need to utilize some other remote work strategies as well. 

Want your company to succeed? Here are five remote work strategies to help you get there.

1. Your company’s remote work policy is available for all.

Even if your company is remote, you might still have some workers coming into the office every once in a while (if your business still has a brick-and-mortar presence, that is).

But if some employees are allowed to work remotely full-time, while others still have to trek into an office two to three times a week, that can create discord among your workers—and negatively impact your company’s productivity. That’s why your organization should have a clearly defined remote work policy that applies to everyone, not just managers or certain favored employees.

By having an open flexible work policy, you’ll not only be able to attract new top-tier talent, but you’ll also be able to retain the good workers you already have.

2. There are frequent check-ins.

When you can’t just walk down the hallway to pop in on an employee, it can be tricky to assess how he’s really doing. Is he engaged with his work or has he plateaued? That’s where check-ins come in.

Beyond your normal weekly or biweekly team meetings and annual performance reviews, try to schedule more personalized one-on-one’s at least every six months or sooner, depending on how you feel your workers are doing. Your once friendly, now quiet colleague might be going through some personal issues, or may not be happy working with a new hire.

By making the effort to have more open discussions, it can not only help your employee but also strengthen your team, too.

3. Managers have opted in on flex.

Sure, your company offers flex, but if managers are raising their eyebrows when someone wants to use it, then it defeats the purpose. After all, there’s no point in having a flexible work policy if your employees are afraid to use it.

Managers lead by example, so encourage your managers to buy in on your company’s flexible work policy. Explain to them the many benefits of remote work, such as increased productivity, more employee loyalty, and higher retention rates.

Once they experience the benefits first-hand, they might be more amenable to encouraging workers to use their flex—and use it themselves.

4. Your company offers various communication tools.

It makes sense that companies, eager to keep up with current trends as well as their competitors, will want to stay on top of today’s changing technology. One way to achieve this is by offering a wide variety of communication tools by which remote workers can stay connected.

Beyond phones and faxes, telecommuters often will use instant messages, emails, and other tools, such as Skype, Slack, and Sococo, just to name a few.

Remember, not everyone communicates the same way, so by having various options, you’ll be able to tap into what works best for all of your remote workers and help keep them connected.

5. Your company is constantly assessing what’s working—and what’s not.

Although the history of remote work can be traced back to the early 1970s, the idea of telecommuting is still a fairly new concept when it comes to the world of work. And companies that are fully or even partially remote know that in order to keep improving, they have to keep assessing what is working—and what isn’t.

In order to help your company succeed, it’s vital to keep a keen eye on what’s going on with your organization, soup to nuts. Figure out what practices and policies are working best, what need some tweaking, and what need to be ditched.

One of the best ways to assess this is by speaking with your employees, who truly have their fingers on the pulse of what works for them and what doesn’t. They can be a rich source of information and ideas that can help you plan the next quarter accordingly, and become a more successful remote company in the process.

These five remote work strategies can help your company succeed, whether it’s brick-based or remote-based. Knowing how to make your employees happy, motivated, and feel valued, though, are some of the most critical steps to success!

Readers, what does your company do to ensure success with its remote team? Let us know in the comments below!

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By Jennifer Parris | Categories: Remote Management

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1 Comment

Darcy on December 16, 2016 at 12:22 pm

Great topic and well written, Jennifer. Remote work is efficient and cost effective for companies and employees, and businesses can choose from a much larger hiring pool if they allow employees to work remotely.

I’ve been a remote content editor and proofreader for Fortune 500 corporations, and it has worked well. An employee and employer can set office hours when the employee will be available by phone, Skype or email, and the employee can then do the same work they would do if they were in the office. As an editor and proofreader, I’ve received content that needs editing by email or through a company’s secure VPN server. I’ve then emailed back my edits, and the changes could be seen with Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature or through the editing and note features in PDF software (Adobe Acrobat Pro) and PowerPoint presentations.