8 Common Mistakes In Organizing Remote Work

With many more remote jobs popping up nowadays, along with the promises of increased productivity and more engaged employees, it’s important to have stable and efficient remote teams within companies. However, without the proper processes, they can only lead to issues with leadership, productivity and overall employee satisfaction and retention.

Want to make sure that your remote team is working effectively? Here are 8 common mistakes to avoid when organizing your remote teams:

1. Inconsistent Practices

“It’s important to have consistency with remote teams,” says Dylan Hilton, a leadership blogger at Writinity and Research Papers UK. “Inconsistency leads to inadequate communication, or having policy issues within the team. Therefore, make sure you’re aware of people’s time-zone requirements, and that communication fits everyone’s schedules. Finally, schedule plenty of one-on-one calls, and have clear communication policies in place.”

2. Not Communicating

Communication is extremely important when it comes to remote work, because you have to make sure that remote workers are doing their tasks and being on time with them.

Here are a few reasons that communication is important in remote teams:

• Just because remote workers aren’t in the office doesn’t mean that they’re not a part of the company. Therefore, check in with them on a regular basis.
• Send remote workers updates on a regular basis.
• Send remote staff their tasks, and let them know about upcoming deadlines and events.

In these ways, your remote team won’t feel like they’re working in isolation.

3. Not Using The Right Platforms

There are plenty of free communication tools available for remote teams to use, including:

• Skype
• WhatsApp
• Slack
• Kickidler
• Zoom, etc.

When choosing platforms, make sure that your remote staff has access to them. Then, train staff members on how to use them and when.

4. Not Understanding Technological Needs

Remote workers will need the following, in order to work effectively:

• Efficient Internet bandwidth
• Virtual private network (VPN)
• Security-related protocols from their employer
• Video tools

Therefore, ensure that everyone on your remote team has access to all their technological needs to get work done.

5. Assuming That Leaders Have Everything Under Control

Although you might have leaders on your remote team, sometimes they may come across issues that only management can handle. Plus, some leaders might not respond to you in a timely manner. 

So, be sure to take the time to give refreshers to your leaders as well, so that everyone is on the same page and working efficiently.

6. Not Clearly Explaining Tasks

“When working with a remote team, make sure that all tasks are clearly explained,” says Darlene Miller, an HR expert at Draft Beyond and Last Minute Writing. “Plus, be open to answering any questions that remote workers might have, like calls for clarification. If your tasks are explained vaguely, it’ll only waste time and result in bad productivity and missed deadlines.”

Therefore, it’s important to create an effective strategy and structure, so that your remote team can perform successful working processes.

7. Excessive Managing

Management is responsible for keeping tabs on your remote workers in the following ways:

• Asking for updates
• Having workers report (verbally and in writing) on their tasks
• Monitoring their work activities with authorized software – from time away from the keyboard to keystrokes per minute 

However, management can backfire, if managing turns into micromanaging, which is often seen as a negative. Plus, expecting too much from your remote team can come off as demanding and impatient.

Therefore, evaluate your staff based on experience and skillset, so that you see which workers need the most attention, while more-experienced workers earn less supervision.

Still need help managing your remote team? Kickidler Employee Monitoring Software offers the best monitoring services that accommodate to companies with remote teams. With online screen monitoring software, time tracking tools, etc., there’s no need to go above and beyond to ensure that your remote team is working efficiently and responsibly.

8. No Flexibility

As mentioned before, knowing people’s time zones are important for effective communication and work ethic. While not everyone will work on the same time zone, it’s still important to keep this in mind, and try to schedule certain times when everyone will be on the computer. But above all, be realistic about what’s expected from your workers, and be empathetic to them by developing practical solutions for them.

Conclusion

While these are just 8 of many mistakes that can be made when organizing a remote team, you can still rest assured that by reading this article that you’ll be better prepared as you work to educate, communicate, and accommodate to remote staff.

BIO: Ashley Halsey writes at Coursework writing services and Gumessays.com. As a professional writer, she has overseen many writing projects nationwide. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and reading with her two children.

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