More and more business owners are choosing to have remote teams for their companies. There are many reasons why this might be a good idea, including cost-saving and a better work-life balance for the employees. However, it’s not always easy to get this set-up right, and there can be problems.
These problems can be highly detrimental for your workers. They might even cause them to decide to look for work elsewhere. That would be costly for you and time-consuming too. Therefore, it’s a good idea to understand what the biggest remote working challenges are for your employees, so you can do something about them promptly. Read on to find out more.
Accessibility
One of the biggest issues that many remote workers have is accessibility. This means that they don’t have the tools and equipment needed to do their work from home. Perhaps they don’t have a laptop or other device, or their broadband is not fast enough to allow them access whenever they want it. This can be frustrating for everyone involved, and it certainly causes problems with productivity.
To combat this problem, speak to your employees and see what it is they need to do their jobs well. If possible, you can then provide it for them. This might be a computer, it might be optical transceivers and high speed cablin for faster broadband, it might be training on how to use the various programs you have installed for them to use. Listen to their needs and provide what you can, and you’ll make the entire system work better.
Communication
In a shared office there will be a variety of people to speak to, ask questions of, run things by, and get advice from. At home, working alone, this is not the case. This can mean that workers get confused, do the wrong thing, or generally just feel unmotivated because they are on their own.
To solve this issue, put systems in place regarding communication. Make sure you check in with everyone once a day (or more if need be) and use collaboration programs that include a facility for people to chat to one another, just like they would at work. It’s also a good idea to arrange for face to face get-togethers on a regular basis, so everyone feels like they are part of the same team.
Employee Development
Employees should be seen as one of the most important parts of any business, if not the most important part. With this in mind, a business owner will want to give their employees as many chances to learn and grow as possible, and the employees will want the same thing. That means getting training, being offered the chance at promotion, and having the chance to talk and give feedback.
This is much harder to do when employees work from home, and many of them may feel like they are being left behind and can’t move forward because they aren’t seen. No matter where your staff works, make it a priority to keep giving them as many training and growth opportunities as possible.
