Are you struggling with your remote working team? Are you considering to rent out office space to meet your monthly goals? But before you rent out an office space due to whatever reasons weigh in all the pros and cons of the place.
Office space can become a needless hassle if the nature of work does not require it. Especially if you are a startup or a small company, the monthly expenditures would be too much for you handle. This could create a permanent dent and even be the reason for your company to collapse.
In the era of digitization, a large number of companies are moving towards remote working teams. It makes sense for companies to hire remote employees and save on overhead expenses. Unfortunately, having a remote team can have its disadvantages as well. A communication gap is the root of most problems and it is the reason for a large number of failing projects.
So, let us discuss how you can build trust in your agency’s remote team and help eliminate issues.
Define Working Hours
Most employees assume that a remote job would mean flexible working hours. However, flexible working hours must have some sort of defined limitations. You can even set two slots to suit the needs of your workers and accommodate them for their respective time zone.
These time slots can be:
– 9 am – 6 pm
– 12 am – 9 pm
Setting the time slot is also entirely dependent on the nature of the work that your agency is doing. You may also define the core working hours for your agency. For example a standard of 5 hours during the day. The employees should be instructed to be available during this slot, they can choose the rest of their hours based on their own convenience. This creates a win-win situation for both, the employee and the employer. It also makes communication easier since you will always have one fixed time at which everyone can communicate regardless of the time zone.
Define SOPs for Communication
As mentioned earlier, communication is an important factor that dictates the failure or success of a project. It is important to define communication SOPs so that your employees can work in an uninterrupted and peaceful environment. However, some jobs require you to be available to your employer. In that case, the workers should be granted some sort of flexibility.
The response time of the employees can be decided according to the urgency of the matter. You may ask your employees to respond readily during a certain part of the day, for instance, allocate 2 hours during which everyone has to be responsive towards mails and messages immediately.
Communication Tools
You can also use a free, online tool to communicate with your team. Online tools nowadays are fully equipped with wonderful features that make communication a breeze. These tools allow you to share files, have video conferences or are extremely useful to simply share messages among the members. The greatest advantage of using these tools is the transparency they provide. All the data shared is recorded and saved for later use. Trello, Skype and Stride are some of the examples of the tools that you can use for your agency. You can also choose an online tool that will help your team members see what task is next in line and your general progress in a particular project.
Establish a Reporting Method
Even if you have a well-established communication channel, it is still important for you to have a defined reporting method. The frequency of reporting obviously depends on your project timeline. Some projects require daily reporting and others can be based on weekly or monthly reports. Not just that, the format of reports should also be defined. By the format of the report, we mean the template and the type of document that you are using. If your agency is more comfortable with PDF documents then you can convert your file from pdf to doc using an online converter. Small tools that are easily available online can help you get more organized and help create trust between the members of your team. Your agency can also use a tool that enables everyone to see the insights; this is a great way to develop trust in a team. Peers and supervisors should have access to the same documents so that everyone feels they are part of the company and onboard.
Build a Strong Team Spirit
This one goes for remote and in-house workers. However, in the case of remote workers where you don’t have direct contact with your employees, there is a fair chance that misunderstandings can take place. Your team needs to be regularly acknowledged for their efforts. More importantly, they should be aware of their valuable contribution to the agency or the company. Try to develop a relationship with your team off the record as well. Try to find mutual areas of interest and encourage employees to connect with each other as well. You can use either of the methods below to help build team spirit among your workers.
– Virtual Fitness Challenge: Create monthly goals and help each other fulfill their fitness goals.
– Online Quizzes: Revealing quizzes online can tell you a lot about your co-worker and his personality.
– Virtual Games: If you are a fan of online games then you would know that most of them are based on virtual team players. So, why not play with your own co-workers online!
– Gaming Competitions: You can even have gaming competitions within the office and have different prizes planned as well.
Conclusion
An important thing to understand for any CEO or manager is that only those companies are successful in which everyone feels respected. You should be understanding towards your employees and not overburden them unnecessarily. As a supervisor, one must be aware of how long a particular task is taking. Misjudgment can lead to problems and create trust issues among the team members and the supervisor.
According to studies it has been revealed that most offices will go remote in the next few years. This is a heads-up for all those who are either planning to go remote or are already functioning as remote companies. Start building a relationship of trust between your team members right now!
Author Bio:
Anne Taylor is a serial blogger with technical and business background. She loves writing about digital marketing, IT industry and workplace productivity. She is currently the content writer at Classic PDF Editor.
