Age of the Digital Workforce: 6 Tips for Managing Remote Employees

Written by Zac Johnson

In today’s rapidly growing gig-economy, it’s not unusual for a business to have a handful of employees on the payroll who never set foot into the office.

While remote employees are becoming a fixed part of the norm, managing these workers still presents a challenge.

After all, how are you supposed to keep track of someone you never actually see?

Managing remote employees may seem challenging, but it can be as easy as keeping track of your in-office team.

Are you trying to find the best way to manage your remote employees? We can help!

Here are six of the best tricks you can use to help your remote employees succeed.

1. Communicate Often

As with every aspect of a successful business, communication is essential.

Remote employees don’t have the luxury of working under the same roof as your other staff, which puts them out of the loop by default.

If you have remote employees, make sure you keep open lines of communication with them at all times.

2. Connect Your Team

Part of the success of a company comes from good relationships between its employees.

While remote workers don’t get to take part in day-to-day office pleasantries, that doesn’t mean they have to be completely isolated.

Set up a chat or forum as a way to allow them to interact with each other. After all, employees who know each other and get along work better together.

3. Make Time for Team Meetings

When it comes to remote employees, your goal at all time should be to make sure they feel like part of the company.

One of the easiest ways to make sure your employees feel included is by holding regularly scheduled video conferences.

Video conferences allow your remote employees to get a little much-needed face time with you and their co-workers.

The trick with these meetings is to stay consistent. Do you best to avoid canceling or having to reschedule them.

4. Don’t Micromanage

It can be difficult to trust someone you don’t get to check in on physically. But building up a certain level of trust with your remote employees is the best way to ensure they complete their tasks to the best of their ability.

While it may be tempting to check their progress frequently, micromanaging is the quickest way to annoy your employees.

Let their results speak for themselves, and only step in when you can confirm there is an issue.

5. Be Clear about Compensation

One of the most significant downsides to the gig economy is the potential for inconsistency with paychecks.

It can be challenging to trust someone with your livelihood from a distance. Take every precaution to make sure you always pay your remote employees in full and on time.

You should also make sure you take the necessary steps to treat them like every other employee. Create a W2 form for them at tax time and provide them with pay stubs upon request.

6. Outline Your Expectations

Finally, one of the most significant aspects of managing remote employees is making sure they understand what you expect of them.

Maintain a clear set of guidelines detailing what their position entails to avoid any potential confusion.

One of the best ways to accomplish this, is to use a tool like Trello, or to actively engage with your virtual team through Skype on online messenger tools.

Remote employees don’t always get the option to come in for an extensive face-to-face training session. That’s why they should have all the guidelines they need to be able to complete their projects in full.