{"id":103545,"date":"2021-08-26T00:31:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T07:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=103545"},"modified":"2021-08-30T08:33:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T15:33:59","slug":"6-ways-to-empower-your-remote-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2021\/08\/26\/6-ways-to-empower-your-remote-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"6 ways to empower your remote employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Businesses need to adapt to the changing needs of remote work to survive these testing times. With workers requesting to stay remote even after the pandemic and <\/span>70% of the working population<\/span><\/a> wanting to be completely remote by 2025, it\u2019s safe to say that this period isn\u2019t going to end anytime soon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This leaves leadership teams responsible for helping employees transition into these working conditions while bolstering productivity and ensuring business continuity. The task is big, but businesses can achieve this in just a few tactical steps. This blog covers those steps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your work culture stays – remote or not.<\/b><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t the miles between your employees that decide your culture, ethics, and values but rather the employees themselves. So nail it over everyone\u2019s heads that culture isn\u2019t dependent on location and that everyone can play an active role in ensuring it sustains.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few things to remember while reinforcing culture:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Never single out employees and always maintain a sense of collective belonging to feel like they\u2019re part of the bigger picture.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. HRs could initiate <\/span>new team-building or bonding rituals<\/span><\/a> that bring all employees into shared spaces for collective experiences. For example, have a virtual get-together every Friday, or gather virtually for some beer!\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Always <\/span>prioritize employee mental well-being<\/span><\/a> and ensure that no employee is on the verge of burnout.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Invest, train, and engage your employees.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Learning to turn your video camera on and off aren\u2019t all the skills your employees need for remote work. In their research paper \u201c<\/span>Remote work: Equipping Business Students for the Working Reality<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Roberta and Nathan Sawatzky elaborated on the importance of multiple soft skills ranging from presentation, communication, and adaptability, among many others, which were crucial in ensuring constant success in a remote workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ways businesses can enable employees to take on remote work.<\/b><\/p>\n

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    1. Develop new ways to onboard and train employees, like using <\/span>webinar software<\/span><\/a> to host training sessions, making them feel they\u2019ve been given adequate freedom to self-manage.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Encourage employees to learn and develop their core competencies and necessary soft skills.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Ensure employees know how to maintain a healthy work-life balance and things they\u2019d need to do if they feel like they\u2019re approaching a potential burnout.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Enable employees to feel confident to discuss their problems on open channels or privately with their managers or mentors to make necessary changes to empower them.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Let the employees know that their voice is heard. This will increase their trust and loyalty in the company and increase retention rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Reevaluate what has changed after going remote.<\/b><\/p>\n

      The best way for businesses to understand what has changed is to ask the employees for their honest input and feedback. Ensure gathering feedback concerning both operational and non-operational challenges. A culture of open communication should lead to some good conversations and process improvements.<\/span><\/p>\n

      For non-operational changes, talk to your leadership teams and understand how you can help your employees. This could mean setting a designated log-in and log-off time. This could also mean providing your employees a sum of money to buy desks, chairs, and other stuff to set up a home office. Again, a little nudge from the leadership teams can go miles to enable and motivate your employees to navigate through such times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      For operational changes, understand how these challenges impact your overall goals and employees. Then, based on the frequency or intensity of feedback, map a priority list with timelines to help fix these challenges with managers and other leaders. Process improvements here will help streamline business processes and tasks. This would directly also have a positive impact on growth for your employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

      How to reevaluate your business processes:<\/b><\/p>\n

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      1. Evaluate the impact of going remote on your team\u2019s rapport, employee communication, new technology needs, and expenditure changes.<\/span><\/li>\n
      2. Identify the changes that would be needed and discuss implementation methods with your employees.<\/span><\/li>\n
      3. Make a list of all potential problems you deduce – from ineffective communication, inaccurate documentation\/expense reports to fraudulent activities.<\/span><\/li>\n
      4. Make a list of potential solutions to these challenges. This could be process and workflow changes or even the adoption of technology.<\/span><\/li>\n
      5. Test run multiple softwares for a particular problem area before deciding what solves your exact remote work challenges and needs.<\/span><\/li>\n
      6. Take employee feedback and convert them into actionable insights on improving processes, broken workflows, policies, and more.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Automate expense management for seamless remote expense reporting\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

        Businesses gain accuracy and compliance in the expense reporting process by <\/span>automating expense management<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        With automated expense reporting and tracking employees can:<\/span><\/p>\n