4 Principles of Managing Remote Employees

Working remotely provides employees with countless benefits: increased autonomy, no nasty commute, wearing whatever you want, etc. However, MANAGING remote staff has many opportunities for failure, creates potential barriers to maximum efficiency, and can get in the way of employee’s overall work satisfaction.

For six months, I was selected to serve as Head of Supervision as part of the Org’s rotating leadership positions.  I had the opportunity co-manage a team of 25+ mental health professionals, and I did this 100% remotely.

While there are potential pitfalls, the good news is that combating them can be as simple as being organized and caring.

Here are 4 principles for nurturing a happy and healthy remote workforce:

1. Stay Consistent.

Balancing different time zones can easily lead to a scheduling nightmare and inefficient usage of time. With this key principal, communication is limited and is dependent upon technology.

While generating constant structure is paramount, always remember that humans are not robots, and humans require… inconsistency.

Possible Solves:

• Have a weekly meeting that doesn’t change
• Within that meeting, keep the same structure each week
• Schedule unstructured time during your meeting     

Adding consistency to time, day-of-week, and framework of your weekly face-to-face enhances predictability for remote employees, which helps one feel confident and secure in their position.

However, there is something to be said for the ‘one-off’ conversation between meetings, or grabbing lunch with a co-worker that is often missed when working remotely. While unscheduled conversations can be productive and somewhat random, this opportunity is lost when managing employees remotely.

Within your weekly meeting, plan for inconsistency.  Summation: respect the balance of consistency v. inconsistency.

2. Learn their personalities

Research produced by Gallup, a market research firm, states that nearly half of employees leave positions “to get away from their manager.” To be a likable and effective manager, it is important to develop rapport and more importantly, trust.  If your managee finds it difficult to confide in you, the relationship may be stunted -- Combine that with the barriers of working remotely, and you’ve got a cracked foundation.

Possible solves:

• Have  your employees take personality tests.  Find out if your staff responds better to ‘words of affirmation,’ or ‘acts of service’ (i.e., praising employee’s work in staff- meeting, or finishing their least favorite report once per quarter).  This will assist with relationship building, as it will allow for the manager to understand how to better communicate and show appreciation.
• Ask about them!  Simple, yes, but very effective. During your “open talk” in your weekly meeting find out about their interests. The more you learn, the more likely you’ll be able to play to their strengths, which eventually leads to employee success.  

3. Keep work steady, yet manageable.

It is the job of a leader to empower their employees while giving them the tools to excel in their position. In a typical office setting, it is easier to praise someone for nailing a presentation or congratulate them on a brief. However, It is also the goal of the leader to ensure everyone is working to maximum capacity.

It is easy to spot weak team members if they are consistently late for work or early to leave. In virtual-land, this can be lost.  

Possible solves:

• Have more projects in the pipeline than one can complete. This allows for employees to have steady productivity, and curbs a manager's need for micro-managing.
• Assign clear expectations and attach dates.  By adding specific deadlines, the employee has increased ownership of their productivity and work-flow, which grants more autonomy--one of the major benefits of being a remote employee!   

Recognize wins and celebrate work. Emphasize their accomplishments so your employees feel accomplished!  Each week, employees should feel as if their workload was sufficient and successful.

4. Be empathetic and available.

There is intrinsic value in employees venting with co-workers, which is often harder to do as a remote employee. As a result, work “instances,” employee grievances, or just a tough meeting,  can quickly escalate into an employee feeling disheartened and unsupported by both manager and organization.  

For example, imagine a coworker is critical towards a remote employee’s work during a board meeting. After the meeting, staff employees check out a local happy hour to process the intensity of the meeting… Remote employee’s miss this opportunity to discuss.  

Possible solves:

• Be as empathetic and understanding to every employee-related issue, which includes (people or policy), even if it is a relatively insignificant complaint. Hear them!
• Encourage remote employees to talk with other remote employees. This creates a sense of comradery and helps normalize common ‘remote issues,’ while creating a sense of community and support.

Putting it all together.

Being a good manager is typically measured by production, morale, and staff retention. Being a remote manager is no different. You can utilize this framework for your cross-country team, while still having the ability for customization. At the end of the day, your fundamentals for success are: invest in employees’ emotional needs, staying consistent, and being completely available!