Remote working has erased a stereotypical image of a boss. Studies have shown that remote workers feel less stressed and that they desire flexibility to work, which improves their productivity. Efficiency is one of the significant concerns among employers when it comes to handling a remote team. More than 80% of entrepreneurs do not trust their employees – they are obsessed with the thought that they will become lousy in their absence.
There is nothing wrong to be sceptical – after all, your boss is giving you remunerations. You will also feel the same fear when you start building a remote team for your start-up. Building teams in the same location can be challenging, and so is the remote team – but even then new enterprises are looking to pool talent together in remote areas.
Expenses need to be moderate unless you reach the breakeven point. In the beginning years, you may not afford to invest in spaces. Even though you have savings and a side source of income as a backup, you cannot throw caution to the wind. What if you need that money for the operations of your business? Although you can apply for loans for unemployed with bad credit whenever you need money, having some money set aside can help you during tough times of your business.
Another reason is you can get top talent. Start-ups need highly skilled and passionate candidates as they tend to have more at stake than existing companies. You can lose an opportunity to reach out to talented candidates if you limit your search to your geographical location. Here is how you can build a productive remote team.
Choose to video conference over phone calls
Communication is a great way to reach out to people living across borders. Videoconferencing allows you to communicate face-to-face with applicants and observe their body language. Further, this ensures that the interviewee is the same candidate who put in for the job. Skype is the most popular and convenient way to make a video call. This application supports desktop, laptops and cellphones.
Share vision and goals with employees
You have found qualified remote employees, what is next? You will have to provide them with onboard training. Make familiar them with the company, its goals and its vision. Determine your company’s needs and share them with each employee. Every communication you have with them should reflect the intent. They must know what they have to do and how they have to do.
Use the right tool to manage your team
There are various tools designed to assign projects, set deadlines and keep an eye on the performance of employees.
- Make an online portal for employees to log in and mark their attendance. It will create discipline. They will know about office timings.
- Use Asana like tools to assign projects, fix deadlines and mark them complete once the project is finished. There will be transparency between you and your employees. You can give remarks, visible to all involved in the project. Chat with them through the tool. This practice leaves no room for excuses.
- Use TeamViewer to check the activities of your employees. You can see what they are doing in desktops and laptops without leaving your room.
Give incentives to motivate them
You must retain talented employees. Of course, you cannot give them top dollar all the time, but you can set a performance-based incentive system. It is a great way to boost the performance of your employees. However, in the beginning years of the set-up, you may not be able to give a competitive salary, let alone incentives.
So, try to make the overall package competitive. For instance, a motivated salesperson will be looking to get higher incentives than a higher base salary. Commission-based package spurs on employees to work harder.
Understand the needs of your employees
Keep in mind that a remote set-up will not allow you to be with your employees. Maximum conversations will be around work, project completion, training new staff, and so on. While you will be busy with such rigorous chores, you may overlook the other side of the work environment – what problems your employees are facing?
Being out of the loop on the challenges your employees are facing might take a toll on your start-up. You should be open to communicate about other than work. If you resolve their grievances, it will show a positive impact on their work.
Live for TEAM
If you consider TEAM as an abbreviation, its full form will be:
- T – Together
- E – Everyone
- A – Achieves
- M – More
Once you understand this principle, your start-up will never suffer.
Building a remote team for your start-up is no picnic. Handling them without face-to-face communication is a herculean task, but with the right strategy, you can get it done. Be open and transparent, set clear goals, provide feedback, appraise employees, and resolve their problems. You can contact consulting firms for faster recruitment.
