Before the pandemic, remote work environments were reserved for those fortunate enough to work and live in Silicon Valley. But let’s face it, remote work is here to stay. And successfully managing a remote workforce begins with creating an intentional long-term remote work strategy. Do you have a long-term remote work strategy?
Whether you are a business owner or HR professional, it is important to have a strong company culture and clear organizational goals. These will influence the ability to create a simple and effective long-term remote work strategy plan that moves you towards supporting and managing a remote workforce.
Tips for Creating a Long-Term Remote Work Strategy
Revisit Your Policies
First and foremost, companies should establish a Remote Work Policy. As companies take advantage of a wider talent pool, it’s important to remember that each state and country has different employment laws. For example, workers in California have vastly different employment laws than those in Pennsylvania. Not having parameters about where employees can work can lead to consequences that could put the company at risk.
Cybersecurity policies should also be considered since employees can work from public places and their homes where others have access to the network. This means providing training on cybersecurity best practices, consistently communicating cybersecurity policies, and investing in a framework to protect company data and information from attacks, breaches or threats.
Reimagine Your Company Culture
Companies have quickly learned that what works in the office doesn’t always translate to the remote work world. Instead of leadership assuming the responsibility of rebuilding the entire culture, they should involve their employees. They can do this by seeking employee feedback which will lead to gaining their buy-in. When employees are hands-on they’re more engaged and committed to the company’s success.
Employers should also consider what their mental health initiatives look like. Companies should cultivate a culture where employees feel empowered to take time off when they need to rather than feel as if they need to push through their struggles.
Rethink Your Communication Practices
It’s crucial that employers have established communication tools where employees can interact with others. Good communication is the crux of your remote workforce team’s success.
There are a number of tools available to assist in managing your remote workforce to keep them motivated and your company united.
- Collaborative Documents, such as Google Docs, streamlines communication between team members when collaborating on a project, presentation, etc.
- Project Management Platforms (Asana, Basecamp, etc.) allows management and remote workers to stay on top of multiple task assignments for each client.
- Slack is an excellent communication platform that can replace email, text messaging, and instant messaging for your remote workforce; keeping all those communication styles together in one app.
- Videoconferencing Platforms, such as BlueJeans, are not only a great way to meet with clients but can be utilized for remote workforce team meetings.
Redesign Your Perks and Benefits
Today’s employees want flexibility, core working hours, better benefits and a work-life balance. Creating a long-term remote work strategy means understanding what it is that employees want and redesigning the company’s perks and benefits to meet their needs.
Some perks and benefits to consider are:
- Subsidizing their home internet bills to ensure they have enough bandwidth to do their job
- Having a coffee and/or lunch stipend
- Providing pet and child care benefits
- Providing their home office setups such as a desk, chair, supplies and equipment
- Hosting monthly virtual happy hours
- Prioritizing appreciation and recognition
- Having a plan in place for workplace burnout and promoting mental health and wellness initiatives
Revamp Your Training
To get the most out of training, companies need to commit to repeating the learnings and using snippets to communicate through various mediums. The reality is, not all employees learn or digest information the same way. For this reason, it’s important to deliver information in a variety of ways such as sharing bits through Slack, email, townhall events, trivia questions, and gamifying the learning process, to name a few.
Benefits to a Long-Term Remote Work Strategy
While a long-term remote work strategy will assist in managing a remote workforce, it will also provide some benefits to your organization.
Saves Money
- Lower Office Costs – Less office space is needed when you have a remote workforce. In addition, your overall expenses for desks, chairs, mugs, cups, coffee, office supplies, etc. will be reduced.
- Lower Employee-Related Costs – A remote workforce has shown an ability to reduce employee absenteeism and lower turnover.
Increases Productivity
- Employee Productivity Can Increase – Some studies have shown that remote work is aligned with an increase in productivity.
Improves Employee Benefits
- Broader Hiring Pool – You can more easily hire employees from out of state, around the country, or around the globe when the pressure to be in the office no longer exists.
- Employees Save Money – Employee savings per month can be as much as $5,000 as they save money on everything from eating lunch out to gas, dry cleaning, daycare and more.
Make HR management and managing a remote workforce one less thing to worry about. Whether you are a startup or a growing company with 50+ employees, HRO has the tools you need so you can focus on guiding your team to success.