Implementing a remote work policy is becoming a more and more popular trend for businesses of all types across the world. In fact, a recent study showed that about 70% of professionals globally are allowed to work remotely at least once a week. In America, almost 50% of workers say they spend at least some time working from home. So if you’re a business leader, it’s in your best interest to come up with ways to keep your remote employees productive.
Luckily, in this day and age, businesses have the means to create a robust remote work strategy. There are many tips, strategies, and technologies that help businesses keep their workforce productive. Here are 8 ways you can boost productivity in remote workers:
1. Increase Communication
Without face-to-face interaction, it’s important that business leaders communicate even more with their remote workforce. Working remotely can come along with many distractions. So the best way to keep remote employees productive is to communicate as often as possible.
Luckily, there is technology you can utilize to boost your communication capabilities. For instance, unified communication systems allow you to communicate with your employees easily and in many different ways. They streamline all your go-to forms of engagement in one convenient platform. All you have to do is go to your dashboard and access voice calling, instant messaging, screen sharing, video conferencing, and more.
If you and your employees have a quick and convenient way to chat throughout the day, you will boost productivity and keep everyone on the same page.
2. Set Goals
Effective goal setting is crucial to keep remote employees focused. Creating and reviewing goals with employees can assure that they are working towards a common mission, both in the short-term and long-term.
To implement this as part of your remote work strategy, have employees write down weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goals. Review them over the phone and make sure the employee’s goals align with the goals of the company. Then, set up meetings to look back and see whether or not the goals were achieved. This can help you and your employees better themselves consistently as they work remotely.
3. Integrate a CRM
A Customer Relationship Management system is an essential tool for a variety of industries today. In fact, many sales and marketing teams simply can’t function without it! A CRM is the #1 way to make sure your team is in-the-know of crucial company data at all times, from anywhere in the world. It helps automate your team’s day-to-day tasks, improve data accessibility across the entire company, and boost productivity by 34%. If your employees are consistent about logging data in the CRM, your remote employees should be kept in the loop at all times.
4. Utilize Cloud-Based Technology
Another asset that helps remote workers stay productive is cloud-based technology. No longer do employees have to be physically in the office to be connected to your company’s communication system, have their own phone extension, and more. Cloud-based VoIP systems allow employees to simply download an app to their personal device. Then, they can work as if they are right there in the office with the rest of the team – from essentially anywhere in the world!
5. Use Video Calls for Meetings
Video calls are becoming a pivotal communication asset for businesses worldwide, whether they have remote workers or not. Compared to voice calling, video conferencing adds a face-to-face experience to meetings.
When communicating with your remote employees, using video conferencing for your meetings can allow you to pick up on body language, improve the quality of your conversations, and much more. Most hosted VoIP systems include a video conferencing feature. Many also can be easily integrated with popular video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom and Skype.
6. Schedule cross-department check-ins
Inter-department collaboration is essential for any business to be successful. For instance, businesses whose sales and marketing teams collaborate regularly see year-over-year growth by over 30%. Even if they are consistently communicating with their team, it can be easy for remote workers to forget about connecting with employees in other departments.
As a business leader, implement a strategy for remote employees to collaborate with team members in other departments across the company. This can be very important to making sure your remote employees stay in the loop of company operations, and understand the organization as a whole. It can also improve your team’s processes and success rates across the board.
7. Conduct Time Management Training
Efficient time management is crucial to stay successful while working remotely. There are several ways you can facilitate better time management in your remote team. Make sure you set clear expectations with your remote employees as staying organized and prompt. For instance, designate clear deadlines, clarify task management needs, and use calendars for scheduling.
You can also implement department-wide training sessions to streamline tasks. For instance, many great sales teams use “selling systems” across their team to make sure they are selling consistently and manage leads efficiently. Many teams also conduct regular time management training to help employees stay focused and productive.
8. Offer perks
Even though you have remote employees, there are still many ways you can create a positive work culture and show your employees appreciation. More and more companies are extending their company perks and benefits to remote employees!
Some perks you can offer to remote employees are health benefits, 401k programs, and coffee delivery services. Yes, even your remote employees will appreciate a fresh cup of coffee on the company to kick start their day! Providing coffee helps keep employees focused, productive, and proud to work for your company. To provide these benefits to remote workers, you can set up coffee delivery to their home or give them gift cards to local coffee shops.
Ready to start taking action to keep your remote employees productive? We can help you start looking for essentials like VoIP communication systems and coffee services.
We also offer best practices training to our new suppliers as well as CRM integration options. Get in touch with us to get started!