February 2017

Great Results, Anywhere: How to Make Working from Home a Success for Your Team

In our modern day work culture, embracing remote working for whatever reason – be it to take into account family commitments, to work with freelancers around the world, or simply to allow for some occasional relief from commuting – has become an essential trend among employers.

Of course, these workplace schemes only work if you can guarantee a high amount of success. Whether you’re considering introducing remote working, or you’re simply attempting to tighten the overall process, we’ve got some tried and tested advice to help you make remote working a success for your team.

Have a System in Place

If remote working is a perk up for grab (i.e. not just because someone has called in sick that day), then it’s a sensible idea to put a framework in place to support remote working. For example, making sure that employees understand that only two people from any team can work remotely during any one day. This ensures someone is in the office and prevents any break down in communication. It also shows that although you’re allowing work from home, it’s a privilege not a right.

Outline Expectations & Support

Once you’ve got a system in place, it’s time to brief your team on the process of remote working and what will be expected of them when they work away from the office. This sets important boundaries and gives them access to the structure they’d be missing by not being in the office. It’s not just about your expectations, however – you must outline to your team what they can expect from you and from working at home. Offering your support if they need assistance adjusting and providing them with useful advice (such as how to work around childcare) will help to strengthen the relationship between you and your team, ensuring a successful bout of remote working.

Keep Communication Open

Returning to the subject of communication breakdowns, remote working is feared by many traditional employers for that exact reason. Ensure that remote workers know they need to check in at certain points in the day and implement a bespoke CRM communication system to help keep the team on the same page – they don’t even have to be on the same continent for it to work!

Encourage Collaboration

Bespoke CRM tools aren’t just useful for keeping the lines open: they also allow for closer collaboration among team members. Collaboration is the aim of the game when getting remote working to a successful place, and it’s up to you to encourage the team to use the tools at their disposal and work closely with individuals who aren’t immediately present.

Trust Your Team

Obviously – and this applies not only to remote freelancers you may have partnered with – you must share some trust with your team to make remote working successful. Of course, if they’re not shown to be doing any work, then by all means pull the privilege. But taking that first step towards allowing remote working is so incredibly important, and could open the door to many more success, as well as a happier team.

Make remote working a success for your team with a bespoke CRM solution which will support collaboration, communication and productivity all in one place – no matter where your team are! Get in touch to request a free demo and find out more.