Telecommuting Policy for Remote Employees

Empowering employees to excel is the key to successful Telecommuting Policy. Conversely, being over-controlling will yield under-performance and resentment. Remote managers are not supervisors – you can’t watch over someone you can’t see. You can’t know that everyone arrived by 8, or is sitting at their desk, by walking down the hall to check on them.

The key to managing remote employees is to be a leader, coach and motivator for your team, which requires generating a high level of respect and trust with them. To ensure developing successful telecommuting policy, provide:

• Clear visions and measurable expectations.


• Team micro-monitoring – an accountability tracking system so that employees can work with minimal supervision.


• A higher level of communication than with a single location team.


• A team community – encourage the team to work together – and lean on each other – which will help in times of crisis or difficult periods.


• Tools to expedite team member competence.


• Proactive rather than reactive coaching.

Stay on track in managing remote employees by consistently reviewing the following checklist of what employees want from a distance manager:

• Coordination rather than control.


• People won’t take responsibility when there is too much control.


• Accessibility. – Carry a cell, return calls ASAP, reply to emails within 24 hours, and let employees know when to expect responses.


• Information without overload. - Communicate completely without “over-meeting.”.


• Feedback instead of advice.


• Fairness over favoritism – don’t play favorites.


• Decisiveness but not intrusive supervision.


• Honesty – encourage trust and build an environment of openness which will drive better results from your employees.


• Concern for development – People want to know that their manager genuinely cares about their development and success.


• Community building – Spend time to create a community among team members so they get to know each other and are part of more than just the current task.


• Respect – respect can be demonstrated by soliciting ideas from your team, entrusting them with the responsibilities to do their jobs correctly and not belittling them.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved

Remote Employee Management: Unique Challenges

The further apart we get geographically, the closer we need to be in terms of communication and collaboration. But, these two critical conduits to successful management of remote employees will not magically appear. There are specific skills and protocols that need to be learned—because there are challenges and logistics inherent in the remote workplace model that don’t exist in the traditional centralized workplace.

There’s also a strong mindset, being fueled in large part by the exponential growth of online social networking, for groups of people to communicate regularly and collaborate naturally. Among other pursuits, this is showing up in training environments—where socially networked groups are learning together and sharing experiences. In essence, they’re creating self-directed training environments.

So, what are some of the ways remote environments differ from centralized workplaces?

1. Promoting a vision. It’s hard enough for leaders to promote their corporate vision when you have everyone in one place. Multiply the difficulty by a factor of two, three or more when you have remote worker teams. An article in the December issue of Training & Development Magazine (T+D) quotes Diane Valenti, president of Applied Performance Solutions. She points out, “It is already difficult for new leaders to drive their vision down the organization and when people are out in virtual teams, I think it is going to be even more imperative that communication happens so that everybody is working toward the same vision. I think it is going to be a lot harder to tie all of the pieces together.”
   
   Remote employee management excellence won’t happen in a vacuum. Training remote employees and managers to get on the same page, vision-wise, will require consistent dedication and diligence.


2. Tying together different age groups. When a 50-year-old and 25-year-old sit in the same room, you have a controlled environment in which to establish communication. When those two people are separated by miles, it is more challenging to find common links and bonds that can help the communication process.
   
   Notes Bonnie Hagemann, CEO of Executive Development Associates, in the T+D article, “The younger generation is really good at relating to their generation, but they may not be as good relating to other generations. What are they going to do when they have to relate across generations? That is the piece we are really going to have to teach them—the art of communication.” Once again, that won’t occur in a vacuum. Remote employee training can provide a path to bridge these natural gaps.


3. Finding a common language, literally. Hagemann points out, “There will be a greater focus on learning and development. Learning professionals are going to be so important to the future of the workplace. Executives are going to come to us and say, ‘We have a workforce spread across five countries and in three different languages, can you figure out how to teach this person [to] lead that global workforce?’”
   

Valenti adds, “The workforce is going to be much more global. I worked on a project earlier this year and on my team we had a Russian, an Italian, and a Greek. There were no individuals who were born in the U.S.—all immigrants. This is the future. We are going to be reaching out into the world for talent—especially if the economy tanks. We are going to be looking for business opportunities in other parts of the world. We are going to be working with a much more diverse workforce. Trainers are going to need to be much more aware of cultural norms in other countries. We can’t assume that everybody does business the way we do business.”

Remote employee management training teaches workforces how to be up close and personal—no matter where they’re located.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved

When Managing Remote Employees - Use Discretion

Managers with remote workforces often puzzle over how to best manage this largely unseen group of employees. There’s the centralized “spider” approach, wherein a manager attempts to keep rigid, strict control over employee activity. Of course, we all know what happens when a spider’s head is removed from its body.

Then, there’s the decentralized “starfish” style, where managers relinquish all centralized control and trust that their people will do their jobs diligently. While a starfish can survive loss of a limb, it makes it decidedly less efficient in performing its daily routine.

Clearly, the “sweet spot” of managing employees remotely is to strike a balance between attempted authoritarian control and a total hands-off policy.

On the microsoft.com/smallbusiness website, author Joanna Krotz details some salient ways to manage without micro-managing, support without smothering remote workforces. Among her suggestions are:

1. Get everyone reading off the same script. Without guidance, employees will set their own priorities. It’s important that everyone work off the corporate “business goals” page together. So, make sure remote workers know what’s expected of them, when and why. This can be made easier by using technology tools that enable easy sharing and collaboration online.


2. Look for accomplishments, not activity. If a remote worker needs to complete a defined set of tasks within a certain timeframe, and fulfilling them doesn’t require keeping a regular workday schedule, the manager shouldn’t worry about how they get there. Some people might want to work the graveyard shift to do their jobs. And, if they can accomplish their objectives in less than the “typical timeframe,” so what? Look for satisfactory performance, not punching of a clock. It is critical in a remote environment, however, to be very clear about what’s expected, and when, and what they need to do to achieve performance benchmarks—in turn leading to advancement.


3. Work on communication skills that can replace consistent face-to-face contact. When on-site, employees can get a state-of-the-company snapshot by looking at a supervisor’s face. For remote workers, email and texting alone won’t do it. Institute a system that includes real-time phone conversations, and bring in remote workers for periodic updates and to maintain personal contact with other staff members. This can help defuse problems stemming from feeling isolated—such as remote employees getting involved in counterproductive side activities and losing focus on their primary job. Monitor corporate networks and remote workstations for signs of unauthorized activity, and establish regular checkpoints that help prevent employees from veering off course.


4. Make sure all the “wandering devices” and technology are kept up-to-date, and are appropriately integrated with one another. Finding ways to integrate personal mobile technology, such as cellphones and home WLANs, with company firewalls is essential to ensuring secure and reliable communication. Just as employees need regular and productive contact, so do tech tools that facilitate meeting of responsibilities.

Managing remote workforces is a whole new animal. While spiders and starfish are intriguing creatures, neither is an appropriate model for how best to manage off-site employees.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved

How to Retain Remote Employees

Some remote workers consider their position a perk in and of itself. For example, not having to drive to the office on a stormy day can be a big plus. For many in the mobile workforce, though, a more independent work environment can feel like punishment—a disconnection from social interaction and work-related collaboration.

Given this dichotomy, it’s critical that managers of remote workforces learn to identify the differences and deal with them before the employee begins searching for a career elsewhere.

Yes, even in this problematic economy, retaining talent is a critical challenge. While some will be more grateful just to have a job than they would be in a booming economy, others will work that much harder to find something rewarding elsewhere—and they may try to search while on your clock.

While the landscape may have changed, the basics of retaining top talent remain the same—speak to each individual’s needs as much as possible. Following are some tips for optimizing one-on-one interaction with a remote workforce:

1. Encourage (and enforce) an open door communication policy—both when the employee assumes remote worker status and at regular intervals following. Find out upfront the worker’s concerns about the mobile workforce environment, and develop mutually agreeable ways to address them. Then, make sure the manager and employee conduct regular—at least quarterly—check-in sessions to update and address new or changing factors.


2. Offer as many mobile workforce communication and collaboration tools as possible—phone, videoconferencing, online collaboration centers, instant messaging, et al. Some people do best with email and other online tools; others crave voice and/or visual contact. While it’s important to offer a variety of choices, this doesn’t necessarily require a weighty budget. It’s now possible, for instance, to purchase a basic webcam for $35 or less, then subscribe free of charge to Skype or another Internet-enabled video service. For a small investment, a manager can turn phone conferencing into videoconferencing.


3. Be responsive, using individual preferred forms of communication wherever possible. Some employees will opt for email communication; others desire a phone call. Obviously, special circumstances and constraints may affect how you respond—but be sure to get back to an employee as quickly as possible. Perceived lack of responsiveness is a chief cause of employee dissatisfaction and reduced productivity.

By being flexible with how you interact with your mobile workforce, you will likely find that they are more flexible to meeting the needs of the organization.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved

Remote Employee Management - Fundamentals

Increasing competition, globalization, mergers and acquisitions and other kinds of pressures are rapidly changing the corporate environment. The result is a more distributed workforce, where employees work from home, on-site or report to managers in different states or even across the world.

Though a manager can no longer simply walk down the hall to talk to team members, the employee’s need for management is no less real. In fact, good management is even more important in remote environments than in traditional cubicles, conference rooms, and break rooms.

This creates new management challenges for those who lead remote teams. A distributed workforce requires different management techniques and skills to keep motivated, productive, on track, and trained.

Although many management techniques and skills parallel those used in managing a centrally based workforce, there are 6 key additional techniques a manager needs to be successful in the remote environment.

1. Better communication with Remote Employees - Often managers assume that they will have less communication with their employees when they are remote, but in fact, the reverse is true. Managers of a distributed workforce need more communication with their employees located off site.
   
   Employees who work off-site can feel isolated, and they can have trouble adopting company standards and procedures. They can have higher turn-over, and even develop into loan wolfs that are unwilling to work in teams.
   
   Increased communication counteracts this tendency, and helps each employee cohere with the rest of the company. Whether it comes by e-mail, text message, phone, fax, or a tin can and string, communication is essential. Remote managers need to make sure they are accessible to their employees by multiple avenues.


2. Establishing respect with Remote Employees
   
   Many remote managers make the mistake of trying to establish their credibility through demands and force— a type of “because I said so” approach. The managers fear their employees aren’t on the job, and this translates into overbearing micromanaging.
   
   But when a manager has the employees’ respect and respects his/her employees in return, everyone benefits and the forcefulness of tone can be lessened.
   
   Respect is created when managers give reasons and explanations for their actions, and the perspectives of the employees are valued. This doesn’t mean a manager needs to evoke consensus, but working to make sure everyone is on board or understands the reasoning behind a change will save time in the long run.


3. Building a team culture in a virtual office - Employees in a distributed workforce might not even have a desk in the main office, so it is no surprise that they may have trouble feeling like a part of a company or a team. Ironically, this feeling of inclusion is highly important to the success of company initiatives and overall motivation and morale.
   
   Remote managers need to focus consciously on building a team community and culture for their employees. Managers can do this by fostering intra-team communication, creating partnerships amongst remote employees for projects, and by forming virtual water coolers and opportunities for small talk, re-living past successes, humor and experiences.


4. Creating accountability through self-monitoring - The hardest conundrum for most remote managers is how to ensure that the job is getting done without micro-managing. Many managers can overcompensate for the inherent disconnect of the remote environment by trying to control every aspect of their employee’s day.
   
   This is, of course, counterproductive because it trains employees to be dependent on ever present management, when a remote employee actually needs the exact opposite skill. Remote employees need to be able to work independently, and managers need to train them along this end.
   
   The key to growing an employee to work effectively in a remote environment is to help them be self motivated by providing clearly outlined goals, making them responsible for results, and generating individual accountability plans with a self-monitoring system.


5. Training Remote Employees - The speed at which a remote employee develops is more important than the speed of a traditional employee because cost of development is so much higher. Underperforming employees and miss hires can slip under the radar much more easily, and this can be very expensive.
   
   On-boarding needs to be thorough and tuned to the employee’s position. Initial training should be conducted with face-to-face mentoring either by the manager or team peers to ensure the employee can work independently as soon as possible.
   
   For all remote employees, on-going mentoring and training is critical to keep them connected to the company, goals and team. It also creates an opportunity to identify performance issues before they have escalated too far. Managers of field teams should think of each employee’s development as a continuous process, and use training as an opportunity for building relationships and evaluating performance.


6. Disciplining and conflicts - Resolving conflict between remote team members can be more difficult and take longer because there is less opportunity to build relationships and find common ground. The avoidance of good, productive conflict is also very tempting for remote teams who don’t have to interact daily.
   
   Managers need to address conflicts as soon as possible, so the problems cannot grow and cause dissention among the team. It is important to address performance issues with individual employees as soon as possible.
   
   Some remote managers try to ignore these issues until a more convenient time (out of sight, out of mind), but this can be devastating to a team’s morale.
   
   Either someone is doing the extra work, or no one is doing it. Both possibilities are unacceptable.

The remote employee management environment doesn’t need to spell painful transitions for employees and corporations. By appreciating the difference in managing remote employees and implementing these unique skills, companies can be successful despite the challenges.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved

Building a Team of Remote Employees

Building a Team of Virtual Employees

Distributed workforce employees often struggle to feel included in the company and team. Many remote employees feel left out when they hear of their office or others having such company events as: ditch days, breakfast or lunch brought in, costume contests, birthday celebrations, happy hours, or bring your pet or child to work day.

These social engagements help build community within an office, but there are steps a remote manager can, and must—take to build that culture and community for their team, as well.

Some managers create virtual water coolers to help the team cohere. All that time-consuming small talk that happens at the “water cooler” in office environments has an important purpose that is missed in distributed teams: It builds team camaraderie and culture. A remote manager can find ways to create virtual environment to foster this “small talk.”

Plan a small amount of “open time” at the beginning or end of team conference calls for small talk. Use ice breakers, openers, and getting-to-know-you exercises and games during team gatherings, calls, interactions, et al. This also can include a virtual bulletin board to post “getting to know you” related info about team members. One company sent Starbucks gift cards for their next team call so everyone could have “breakfast together” on the call.

These are some other ideas for bringing your team together.

1. Create and encourage inter-team communication – Communication among a distributed employee base helps build camaraderie. This strengthens the team by fostering an environment of reliance on each other for help, support and ideas. This helps build trust within the team and promotes internal team partnerships to make it stronger and more productive.
   
2. Partner remote employees for projects – Find reasons to partner team employees on projects, especially those that do not always work together. This can include mentoring, developing best practices, or preparing topics to present to the rest of the team on a conference call.
   
3. Re-live the past – Find opportunities to re-live shining moments from the team’s past. This brings back positive memories of the group and will help to renew and reinforce that feeling. This can be highlighting team-wide or single-employee accomplishments or experiences—even funny things that happened when they were last together.
   

A common team-building mistake made by new managers is to pit the team against another in comments and remarks, such as “our team is better than theirs,” or “this is the best team in the company.” This alienates other co-workers and the company. Although competition can be a strong motivator, this approach within the company can have potential future negative effects. What if a member of another team now becomes a member of yours, or vice versa? It will be that much harder to assimilate. Managers should compliment their team without denigrating anyone else.

Jenny Douras © All rights reserved