The weakest link. It can cause an entire endeavor to fail. This premise is true in an actual chain, on a sports team, and in the workplace.
In the past few years, remote and hybrid work has skyrocketed. There’s been new issues and obstacles coming from this trend. How can management support employees who may only be in the office one day a week or may do all their work in another state or country?
How can management nurture those employees to be strong, contributing team members?
While a single employee can damage your organization, leaders have options for supporting remote and hybrid employees to ensure they’re high performers.
On the surface, it might seem like one employee’s behavior wouldn’t cause much of a ripple in the organization’s workflow. Dig deeper, and you can see how just one person’s actions impact the workplace and the bottom line.
If one employee isn’t meeting deadlines and turning in sub-par work, it can hold up the entire team and make everyone less productive.
Lazy, unmotivated, and rude team members can cause altercations with others. These issues may mean management has to get involved, which is time-consuming and inefficient.
Low performers or employees who are struggling with their work can trigger other employees into feeling like they’re carrying more of the load. This situation can erode the high performer’s engagement and job satisfaction.
One of the biggest ways struggling employees affects the workplace is by causing employee burnout and retention problems. If their team members stay frustrated by the employee’s performance, it may create a rift that can’t be bridged. When this happens, the productive employee may leave the company and remove themselves from the toxic situation.
Managing employees that don’t report to the office daily poses unique challenges. However, leaders can implement actionable insights into shaping these employees into productive, valued team members. Here are seven tips managers can use to support remote and hybrid employees as well as they do the on-site staff.
Every employee, regardless of their location, should know and understand their responsibilities and the tasks they’re accountable for. It’s up to the manager to lay out specific, measurable goals for their team. Vague, open-to-interpretation expectations will most likely get looked over or ignored.
Employees who aren’t in the office can’t be watched to ensure they’re doing their jobs. (Not that you would want to micromanage like this anyway). This scenario makes it even more crucial for their manager to clearly define their expectations and a timeframe for completing them. The team member should always be aware of what success, and failure, look like.
An “us vs. them” approach to your team’s remote and hybrid team members will only create isolated, unhappy employees. Hold frequent video meetings, so everyone can participate and set up regular team-building exercises. These efforts will encourage teams to think as a cohesive unit, no matter where the individuals are located.
Remote employees don’t have the luxury of popping into their team members’ offices or bumping into them in the lunchroom. Embrace technological solutions to maximize organizational communication and effectiveness. Add a video conferencing platform available to everyone, or a Slack channel where team members can interact and share ideas, or both of these and more. You can even set up brainstorming sessions for team collaboration or “work on video” days that simulate being in the office together. Give team members a way to collaborate and interact so everyone feels valued and included.
Strong work relationships are sturdy building blocks for productive performance and job satisfaction. Find ways for team members to interact with each other. Add a few minutes of personal sharing before every meeting, set up regular video happy hours, and pay for a weekly virtual lunch meeting. Advocating for ways team members can get to know each other helps unify the team and increase collaboration.
Keeping all employees in the loop and abreast of company happenings is a helpful way to make them feel like they’re part of the team. Take “oh, you hadn’t heard about that?” out of your vocabulary by passing on every piece of company information to your team members. New products, benefit changes, end-of-year profit, sales figures, and leadership changes are a few examples of news you should ensure every team member knows about. A steady stream of announcements helps employees build company loyalty and understand how the organization functions.
According to many employees, flexibility is one of the most important parts of a job. Remote and hybrid staff already enjoy a certain amount of freedom. Please don’t get into the habit of thinking they don’t need any other allowances. For example, if you’re letting the on-site staff go early on Friday, you should let the off-site people go, too. By giving your team the freedom to manage their schedule and work hours, you build company loyalty and set them up for greater productivity.
If you want to know whether an employee is thriving or struggling, ask them. An open conversation about their stress levels, workload, inter-team dynamics, and even their personal lives will give you priceless insight. Periodically meet with each employee and ask open-ended questions about their job, feelings, and work/life balance. By addressing issues at work and offering support for employee mental health issues, you keep all of your team members strong and functioning seamlessly. Plus, feedback helps you pinpoint burgeoning issues before they become full-throttle problems.
One employee that isn’t focused, committed, and keeping up with their workload can decrease everyone’s level of success. It’s easier for remote and hybrid team members to get off track and become unmotivated because of not feeling included and part of the team. Fortunately, leaders can take a firm, proactive stance to combat these issues. With proper planning and follow-through, leaders can facilitate communication, set expectations, encourage team building, and identify potential problems before they turn into big ones. Strong leaders can keep every team member steadfast and united so everyone contributes positively to the company’s success.
If you need help supporting remote teams, Bridgio provides ways to create meaningful connections via hosted events. Bridgio guides participants through quality interactions and engagement. Click here to learn more about how Bridgio can help you develop the relationships within your organization.
