Telework - Managing Workers

Managing a remote team can be challenging. Employees are not in the same location as their manager and words or meaning can be lost in virtual calls or long emails. Managers need to be able to stay in constant contact, promote frequent communication within their team and be ready to resolve conflict when necessary. To help you make the transition to leading teams while working from home, this page has some helpful links.

• Positions suitable for mobile workers
• Positions not suitable for remote workers
• Communication Guidelines
• Forbes: Top 15 Tips to Effectively Manage Remote Employees
• How to Handle Conflict on Remote Teams
• General Etiquette

Successfully manage remote workers

• Host a teleworking protocols meeting with your team.  Facilitate a conversation to identify your organizational norms and protocols for teleworking to reach consensus on what “teleworking as a team” looks like for your work environment.
• Build a trusting environment: Use telework as an opportunity to foster trust between employees and management. Rigid monitoring of employees’ daily activities hinders productivity and creates an environment of distrust, while established and agreed upon metrics for productivity ensure long-term team success while teleworking.
• Monitor performance: Hold employees accountable for their work fairly and promptly. Telework does not create inefficiencies, but rather exposes them. Host check-in opportunities for mobile and in-office team members.
• Stay connected: Ensure all team members know the best and expected vehicles for communication. Commit with each other to an acceptable response period. Be just as responsive to direct reports and colleagues as you expect them to be.
• Are transparent: Use shared calendars, instant messenger, email out-of-office messages, desk signage, and other transparent communication vehicles to inform your team members of your work status.
• A successful supervisor will set clear expectations and manage based on an employee’s performance.
• Manage by results, not by physical presence: Do not confuse worker activity with the results those activities produce. Establish a clear definition of objectives and performance indicators, and ensure close monitoring of those indicators along with ongoing training for teleworking employees.

The US General Services Administration has an excellent site of resources for managing teleworkers.

Training

To maintain continued, consistent operation of the department/unit, management training includes best practices for supervising remote workers to ensure their productivity.

Training resources are found on the following sites:

• US Office of Personnel Management 

General characteristics of employees best suited for remote work

• Do their work by phone or computer
• Most work involves electronic transmission of information where there is no risk of breaching client privacy/confidentiality  
• Can operate with minimal guidance
• Self-starter with a good degree of self-discipline
• Are results driven
• Are more likely to be engaged when teleworking because they are expected to provide the same productive output from a remote site as from on site
• Have solid written and verbal communication skills
• Home environment or remote workspace is supportive and free from distractions
• Able to establish work-life boundaries

Specific characteristics of successful teleworkers

• Performance:
* Successfully completed telework training
* Strong performance record and knowledge of their position
• Technology
* Able to use telework equipment effectively for communication and job duties (email, instant messaging, videoconferencing)
* Resourceful when facing technology issues

Common work functions well-suited for remote work

• Accounting
• Administrative
• Analysis
• Communications
• Creative
• Executive and Managerial
• Programming
• Sales

Work functions not suited for remote work

• Location-specific jobs where duties must be performed onsite, for example, a receptionist needs to be available to greet customers
• Staff who support office employees
• Trainee or intern positions where onsite materials and direct supervision are necessary

* Reference: Striking a Balance on Remote Work (SHRM, 2018)