CORPORATE TRAINING FOR REMOTE WORKFORCE SUCCESS

TIPS FROM YOUR CORPORATE TRAINING COMPANY

Remote working is an increasingly popular way for companies to do business with 43% of U.S. employees working remotely in some capacity.²  

Advances in technology make remote work more efficient – this includes mobile devices that allow you to do more from anywhere, and cloud services such as video, document sharing software and collaboration tools that improve productivity. 

Plus, with the winter season soon approaching more employees will be requesting to work from home as the weather conditions make driving into the office a long and arduous task.

So, with all these reasons to allow for remote working for great efficiency from your teams why do leaders continue to fail when it comes to effectively managing.

For remote working to be successful it is important that employees and management both understand the benefits but also exercise best practices.

Here are three key practices to consider when thinking about the current state of your organization’s remote work policies and practices.

Clear Communication

For your employees to meet expectations they need to understand what they are.  Creating a training program that is supported even after the initial training event is key to helping employees to perform at their best when working remotely.  Before setting employees up to work remotely, have them meet with their direct manager to talk through the program as well as to make sure that they understand the processes and procedures involved.  Do they know how to use the technology, do they have access to systems and documents, do they understand privacy issues and how to maintain confidentiality where applicable when out of the office? 

On the flip side, make sure that they also know what key deliverables are.  Should they be available on chat, video or only by phone and email?  Are there team meetings that they’ll need to be on or conference calls that require their input?  Does working remotely mean that the same business hours will apply or are they able to start working earlier or later given their specific reasons for remote working or availability. 

Tips for Personal Success

Share tips that will help your employees excel when working from home.  The hardest thing to do when working remotely may be to change out of your pajamas or sweats and into something that makes you feel more professional.  Encourage employees to work out of an area of their home that is set up just for work purposes, meaning not on their bed or in front of the television.  Just like at work, stepping out of the house is also important for remote workers.  Remind them to take a break as well as consider taking a walk when they otherwise would have gone out for lunch or a coffee break while at the office.  Providing tips that they can access at any time is a good way to keep these fresh in their minds and help build positive remote working habits.

Don’t Alienate

Out of sight, out of mind.  Not in this case!  Having a remote workforce means working even harder to establish cohesion among the team and ensuring that those that are working from home still feel like they are part of the overall team and organization.   Having them participate in meetings via video conference allows everyone to see another face-to-face and makes the remote worker feel included.   If the remote working situation is longer in nature or more permanent, include little perks like an eGift Card for coffee or lunch if the internal team also enjoyed a team lunch on the company.

After thinking about your organization how important would you rate training that would increase productivity for 30% of employees, result in less stress for 82%, and save thousands of dollars in overhead costs per year?

Take a look at five key areas to consider when building your training program in this free download Remote Working: Setting Up Employees for Success.

There are also some interesting statistics around remote working that will help make the case for the importance for training around this popular work style.

If it's time for your organization to leverage the benefits of remote working or if you're looking for areas to cover off in your employee training for remote working success contact the global experts at TrainingFolks.