If you’ve made or are planning to make a move to include remote workers on your staff, this may be the blog article that can give you a good insight into software that can be useful in the whole process. Success is as much about management behavior as it is about the tools you employ. The main ingredient for productive and happy teams is flexibility, with the focus shifting to what’s produced rather than how it happens
Managers become facilitators rather than overseers. Some solutions can make this much more manageable. Before we select tools, we should first examine what’s needed to manage remote workers.
We’ve then suggested some options to help address the challenges of working with remote workers. No single tool is likely to handle all your requirements, although some will come close. You’ll likely need to investigate further and perhaps experiment with some free trials.
Communication
Image Source- Pexels
Communication has to be the single biggest challenge once you have remote workers. You can no longer have those 5-minute chats at the coffee point at the drop of a hat. Instead, it would help if you had a solution to schedule regular conversations and disseminate news quickly when needed.
There is a range of communication platforms available out there. Each of these will have some unique selling point that makes them different, so it’s probably a good idea to look at a few personally. That way, you can get a feel for how your team will work
Some are just open platforms for discussion, while others will provide various levels of permissions and access to certain areas, and so forth. Picking the option that works best should be a relatively easy one in most cases
Collaboration
Collaboration is really just another type of communication, but the requirements are often different, so we treat it separately. Ideally, a good solution should address both needs. Where communication platforms allow messages to pass, collaboration may require more
Depending on the type of business involved, you may need specialized software. For example, those who work in the graphic design industry will definitely need a platform that allows large files to move to and fro.
Timekeeping vs. Monitoring
Although some solutions will monitor every keystroke, take screenshots, and automate timesheets for billing, we caution against this as it can create bad feelings in the wrong environment
If you’re setting up a remote team, there needs to be a level of trust between you and your remote employees. Nevertheless, there is a range of timekeeping and monitoring packages out there, with all kinds of approaches to the problem
For many, abandoning monitoring for a more outcomes-based take on things has proven to be a successful strategy overall. It removes the feeling of being watched, which tends to improve relations somewhat.
Image Source- Pexels
HR
Your HR requirements will vary as much on the type and size of your company as on whether your staff is permanent employees or contract workers. There’s really no overarching panacea that will work for all businesses
Nevertheless, HR is a giant aspect of modern business. You simply can’t be without some form of mechanism to help you out here, and there are companies out there who specialize in this very thing. You just send them your HR requirements, and they sort it all out for you
Certainly, for smaller businesses, it may not make sense to outsource the issue. In these cases, you may still need someone on your staff to act as a dedicated HR person, at least until things are more stable and settled.
Recruitment
For example, an EOR service like Remote can allow managers to legally hire employees from overseas by tackling associated admin like payroll, HR, taxes and compliance. They’ll manage the hiring process through a legal business umbrella in the country of employment, ensuring everything remains perfect legal and above-board. Why limit a recruitment drive to the small radius surrounding your company’s HQ? Remote work removes geographical limitations by offering the opportunity to source talent from
much farther afield — just make sure you’ve got the HR resources to manage such an undertaking should you head down this road.
Last Word
The options are all out there, and they’re growing by the day, too. There might not presently be a single software package that covers every one of your specific needs, but there’s likely to be short. Once you have your framework, the rest is up to you!
