The professional world has gone remote especially since the pandemic. People have seen their job roles change and the convenience of being able to work from home. Managing has changed immensely during this period as hands-on management styles are not great for all remote workers. Most people would like to be left alone (and they should be) if they are producing quality work. The elimination of pointless meetings could be the reason a number of companies saw an uptick in productivity. The following are things that you need to know about managing a remote workforce.
Try To Make Personal Connections Even When Working Remotely
There are people that would rather do business or work with people face to face. This is not an option for some job roles as the workforce is going remote in some circumstances. Personal connections can still be forged especially if some of your team come into the office a few times per week. Make sure that there is a bit of banter on the messaging platform without it impacting productivity. Remembering birthdays and work anniversaries shouldn’t be too difficult. Virtual pizza parties are becoming more popular as most people live in an area where you can have food delivered.
Outsourcing Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult
Working with freelancers had previously been given a bad reputation. Working with freelancers can allow you to develop relationships with them like you do with your full-time remote employees. The number of project management platforms can help consolidate everyone’s work in one location. Permissions can make it so certain people can access certain projects or documents. The days of having to wrangle a number of freelancers in a Google Doc are over, although some still prefer this method.
Small business accounting services make it far easier to manage money coming in and out of the business. The ability to accurately forecast revenue can allow a business to understand the health of their cash flow. Cash flow is always important as employees have to get paid and bills need to be paid as well. Hiring an accountant in-house might not be the wisest decision as they could have a limited amount of work. You can pay accounting firms to handle taxes or even tax preparation.
Be Realistic About Workloads
Realistic weekly or monthly goals are important to keep employees motivated. Constantly failing to hit production numbers can lead to poor morale. Employees don’t want to be given a massive project only to find out that they cannot hit the deadline as it would require them working every waking hour. Project management platforms make it far easier to delegate and see where workers are at with a specific task. The ability to prioritize certain tasks as a manager will give an employee an accurate look at what they need to do that week.
The working world is so much different than it was just a few years ago due to companies embracing remote work. The ability to work from anywhere in the world has given people a level of freedom they previously didn’t think was possible.
