Making the adjustment to working remotely is not just a challenge for employees — it’s also difficult for human resources professionals. With these tips, you’ll be able to manage your team to see even better results than when everyone was working in the office together.
Set Clear Expectations
Make sure workers know exactly what you expect of them at all times. Encourage them to ask questions if they have any doubts, be clear about what kind of performance you expect to see from workers, and set guidelines about responding to messages, especially outside business hours.
Be Alert for Signs of Burnout
Employees who are unused to working from home may struggle to strike a work–life balance, particularly if they have other responsibilities, such as childcare. Some may feel as if they need to work extra hard to make up for any distractions and breaks — often forgetting it’s normal to stop working for short periods in an office environment as well. To help your team cope, you need to be familiar with signs of burnout and support employees to create a manageable workload.
Find New Ways to Communicate
It’s important that no one on your team feels isolated, but it’s easy to lose that sense of connection when you never have the chance to talk in person. Seek new ways to keep channels of communication open, both for collaborating on work tasks and for maintaining work relationships. This may include one-on-one check-ins, Zoom happy hours, and even the occasional virtual team-building event.
Encourage Time Off
Employees may feel that it’s not worthwhile taking time off because they’re already spending most of their time at home. They may even feel guilty about taking time off if your company is extra busy at the moment. It’s up to you to encourage workers to take some well-deserved rest, even if they end up using the time for a staycation. You’ll find this is worthwhile for everyone, as employees will return to work refreshed, more productive, and at a lower risk of burnout.
Allow Flexibility
Unless your employees need to be available at particular times, it’s best to offer them the chance to create a flexible schedule. This will allow them to fit work around everything else that’s going on in their lives and spend time working when they’re in the right mindset. The important thing is employees meet their deadlines and complete work to a high standard, not that they’re at their desks from 9 to 5.
Provide Access to Information
Make it easy for employees to find the information they need, such as forms, the employee handbook, and details on company policies. You may find it useful to set up an HR system for this purpose.
These tips are just the start — another thing you need to do is avoid making mistakes. Download our guide to learn about the five most common mistakes HR managers make and how you can take steps to avoid them.
