There is no question about it: the world has changed. And while vaccines and better public health practices have caused the COVID-19 pandemic to become less all-encompassing than it once was, some of the work adaptations that it caused so many of us to take could well be here to stay. The biggest of which may be the rise of the remote office, as many of the workers who headed home during the height of the pandemic have found that they prefer logging on in their bathrobes while saving time on their commutes, and many businesses, now that they have seen that their employees are still productive when working from their kitchen tables, have realized the cost savings inherent to leasing smaller amounts of office space. 

However, just because remote work is becoming more common, that doesn’t mean executives, leadership teams, and business owners are familiar with how to manage a workforce with whom they are not sharing physical space. Digitally supervising employees is not something most managers are trained how to do, but it is something you can do, as long as you are willing to adapt your approach and utilize some of the tips and tricks for directing remote workers we have shared below.

5 Tips For Managing Remote Employees

1. Ensure Your Employees Have The Right Tools: Whether it is proper technological applications, software, equipment, or physical supplies, as a manager of a remote team, you are responsible for guaranteeing that your employees are provided with everything they need to get do their job as competently and efficiently as they could in the office.
2. Schedule Times For Employee Contact: One of the challenges of remote workers is how difficult it can make it to replicate the social interactions that naturally take place in an office. To remedy this, schedule time for you and your employees to touch base, both as a team and individually. Initially it may seem forced, but it can be important for each of your employees to know that they have time on their manager’s calendar, so they do not feel isolated by your lack of physical contact.
3. Set Clear Expectations: One of the benefits of remote work is that it allows employees to feel like they are not chained to their desks. However, it is important that you, as a manager, set clear expectations for your work force’s output, time management, availability and more. If your employees understand what is expected of them, it will be easier for them to transition to a remote working environment without feeling burdened by the lack of boundaries or distracted by other aspects of their lives.
4. But Be Flexible: While the setting of clear expectations are important for a remote working environment, it is also vital that managers use the flexibility now afforded their workers to their advantage. Employees now have more methods through which to get their job done than ever before. If they would like to log-on and off earlier in the day to get their work done in the morning and be done by the time their kids get home from school, that is OK, as long as they are still working without your expectations and producing at a satisfactory level.
5. Trust Your Team: Micromanaging your remote workers can be tempting, but unless you are the kind of leader who is constantly peeking over their employee’s shoulders at the office, you shouldn’t conduct yourself in such a way with your remote employees either. At the end of the day your goal is to hire professional, competent employees, who you can trust to be productive and efficient. That doesn’t change when workers leave the office. In a remote workplace, you may be able to see your employees less frequently, but if you hire the right people and set clear goals and expectations, that should have little impact on their performance.