Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, some businesses were already offering opportunities to work from home, particularly in big cities with long commutes. Fast forward to half a year into the pandemic, it was reported that 88% of the organizations, worldwide, made it mandatory or encouraged their employees to work from home after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Big businesses like Shopify and UpWork stated that even after the pandemic is over, they will continue to keep their teams working remotely.
In many ways, working remotely is beneficial to both the employees and the employer. These benefits may include increased productivity and happier, healthier workers in addition to large cost savings for employers. All that being said, how do you go about making remote teams work for your startup when you are not exactly used to a traditional office setup?
Hiring The Right Team
It is important to get started on the right foot by hiring well rounded individuals who are not only hard workers but who are also excellent communicators. When working remotely, an employer must ensure their employees are all able to complete tasks on time and are able to effectively communicate without being face to face. Having the right people for the job makes working from home and trusting your employees that much easier.
In terms of running your startup, it goes without saying that you would want business partners or an executive team that can effectively communicate with you to ensure deadlines are being met and that you are all on the same page with regards to the overall growth of your startup.
Take Your Communication to the Next Level
Once you have a team, it is highly advisable that your startup establishes or invests in an effective communication tool. This tool will easily become the backbone of your small business, as it allows for real-time collaboration, file-sharing, audio and video calls, project management, and so much more. Slack, Chatwork and Microsoft Teams are some popular apps among startups.
Seamless communication can sometimes be more difficult but can be improved with a tool that works well for all of the people involved.
Managing a Remote Team
Making remote teams work for your startup requires excellent management skills, as one must have the ability to lead a team that is not physically present. This can be done through scheduling frequent meetings and check-ins with your staff. These virtual meetings allow for the recognition and acknowledgement of what each member is working on and contributing to the team. Unfortunately, it can be easy to overlook those you don’t see or interact with daily, so having these check-ins will help ensure you are keeping track of things.
In addition to this, it is important to understand where your employees are at personally – whether or not they are feeling confident or focused in their role remotely, how productive they are and if their position is fulfilling their needs.
On that note, a start-up working remotely should consider having people assigned to specific tasks and projects with a clear line of contact. This way, it is clear to employees who to contact if they have any questions or are in need of something specific for work.
Remote work is on the rise, more so now than ever before. With freedom and flexibility becoming increasingly valuable to workers, remote employment opportunities are becoming more and more popular. This is why if you want to strengthen, develop and continue to see your small business grow, it is important for you to understand how to make remote teams work for your startup.
