The trend of having more headquarters-based employees working in branch offices and remote locations has been nothing short of tectonic. Companies have become supportive of work-from-home initiatives as part of efforts to help employees achieve work-life balance, reduce real estate costs, attract the best talent, and become more environmentally conscious.
However, many companies — both large and small — have yet to make the leap because of concerns about managing unseen, remote workers. Here are five best practices to follow when considering the shift to offsite work arrangements.
- Address management challenges – To help you distribute workloads, implement a real-time system that monitors the status of remote employees.
- Implement training – Keep personnel on the same page by making sure everyone has a solid understanding of your business processes. This helps ensure that remote employees are working when they are supposed to be working.
- Leverage real-time visibility – Real-time analytics go a long way in building the confidence and trust that remote workers are productive. Analytics may also help identify those who need extra help adjusting.
- Build trust – There has to be a level of trust with an employee working at home. Look for independent people who get results by working well on their own and with minimal direction.
- Understand the impacts – Many managers focus on the human resources and IT aspects of moving to a distributed work environment, but overlook the impact on operations. Do your homework to understand how it will impact your business processes.
Start reaping the benefits of a distributed work environment… Contact us today at: (800) 787-4848 or email jnolte@chesapeaketelephone.com.