12 tips for managing an expanding team of remote employees

Give your best tip for managers who are struggling to manage an expanding team of remote employees?

To help you best manage your teams of remote employees, we asked HR managers and business leaders this question for their best insights. From gauging employee morale through feedback surveys to setting up ways to document productivity, there are several tips that may help you devise creative approaches in managing your expanding team of remote employees.

Here are 12 tips for managing an expanding team of remote employees:

Gauge Employee Morale Through Feedback Surveys
Move from Hours-Based to Task-Completion Work Model
Build An Environment of Trust
Set Clear Remote Work Productivity Standards
Reward Your Team for Their Efforts
Provide a Handbook That Addresses Pertinent Issues
Automate Your Processes and Delegate Some Tasks
Use a Data Visualization Tool
Standardize Your Onboarding Process
Set Aside Time for Regular One-on-One Conversations
Create a Collaborative Environment To Build Trust
Set Up Ways to Document Productivity

Gauge Employee Morale Through Feedback Surveys

One difficulty with managing remote teams is the inability to gauge employee morale. Furthermore, as remote teams expand, it can become more challenging for managers to schedule monthly one-on-one check-ins with each remote employee. A quicker and more efficient way to understand your employees’ sentiments in their roles is to provide employee feedback surveys. This way, you will not have to take notes during Zoom meetings with them because they will have already written down their thoughts for you to analyze and refer to whenever needed.

Miles Beckett, Flossy

Move from Hours-Based to Task-Completion Work Model

As we move away from traditional work models we are also changing our definition of accountability from an hours-based model to project completion one and is why you should emphasize outcomes. Employees see the freedom of working in the remote model as one of its main perks, and maintaining that provides a sense of empowerment.

By emphasizing task completion, providing the tools that allow workers to contribute to projects at their own pace, and focusing on completion dates rather than hours assigned to tasks, you will be able to effectively support the main benefit of remote work. In focusing on the overall goal, you can maintain motivation and empower your employees, without putting an extra burden on management to regulate their hours.

Adelle Archer, Eterneva

Build an Environment of Trust

My best tip for managing an expanding team of remote employees is to build an environment of trust. Trust is key to employee development, retention, and communication in general. Be as clear as possible about your expectations and requirements and then make sure you have an open door to respond to any employee questions and inquiries about them. In remote work especially, openness and trust is crucial to keeping productivity high.

Kevin Callahan, Flatline Van Co.

Set Clear Remote Work Productivity Standards

When it comes to setting standards for productivity in a remote work environment, clarity is key. If your team members are unsure of what is expected of them, it will be difficult to hold them accountable and ensure that they are meeting your expectations. Be sure to communicate your standards clearly from the outset and provide any necessary training or resources that will help your team members meet those standards.

Additionally, don’t be afraid to check in regularly and provide feedback so that everyone is on the same page. By taking the time to set clear standards and staying consistent with your communication, you can create a productive remote work environment where everyone knows what is expected of them.

Brian Meiggs, My Millennial Guide

Reward Your Team for Their Efforts

The best tip for managers to manage a remote team is to reward their team for their efforts. When you are rewarded for accomplishing something well, it feels amazing.
Employee morale may rise due to rewards, which may inspire them to work even harder the following time. Although there are many ways to thank people, tiny monetary prizes and non-monetary praise are always the best. It raises their spirits and enables them to see how their contributions are affecting the project. Nothing could be better than having a motivated team of workers.

Madhurima Halder, Recruit CRM

Provide a Handbook That Addresses Pertinent Issues

Half of the employees face difficulty in the work process due to the incomplete instructions given to them. This makes the managers answer every question they have, which takes half of their time. And with an expanding team, it only grows. They have nowhere to go other than asking the managers or assuming themselves.

When you give them the handbook, consisting of all the processes and answers to different issues and problems they might face, it gives them a guide on what to do next. Very few companies address these issues, which is the reason why managers face problems in managing the whole team. The best part about the handbook is that managers only face the real issues that they need answers to as the common questions are easily answered. This helps to create a healthy environment and productivity as well.

Anthony King, Transport Executive

Automate Your Processes and Delegate Some Tasks

Automation is the key to reducing workload and a manager can always deploy the right automation tools to make handling an expanding team an easier proposition. Another solution that helps cut down one’s workload is to delegate certain tasks to the more experienced employees in the team. This way, managers can use the time to help new employees settle down while also giving older employees the opportunity to showcase their abilities in taking on more responsible roles.

Konstantin Kuligin, K5 Mortgage

Use a Data Visualization Tool

Distributed teams face communication and collaboration issues. In-office employees meet face to face, whereas remote employees and managers only communicate via speakerphone. Data presentation becomes difficult that can be resolved using data visualization software that can provide graphical data representation through maps, charts, and graphs. A data visualization tool can help remote employees input data accurately and understand data patterns, trends, and outliers. Users can utilize built-in templates to manipulate them, generating basic visualizations visually.

Lorraine Daisy Resuello, Connection Copilot

Standardize Your Onboarding Process

Managing a remote team requires quite a mind shift from office work, and there is no one size fits all solution. How you work needs to be adapted to the industry you are in.
Start by standardizing your onboarding process so that all employees have the same introduction to the organization and are given the same information about work ethic, the kind of company culture you would like to nurture, and your expectations for productivity.

Creating a series of videos addressing each of these areas is a more personal way of onboarding and gives employees a sense of engagement. In your onboarding process, set out your work policy for working remotely. Have a centralized platform to make communication among team members easier; this also makes connecting with your employees individually easier – but set aside time once a week for team interaction on a video platform like Zoom where all team members can connect,

Deian Isac, SPP

Set Aside Time for Regular One-on-One Conversations

One-on-one meetings are crucial to effectively manage a team of remote employees. Remote employees often miss small updates that happen throughout the day, and may not be as up-to-date as in-office employees. Do your best to hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings to give your remote employees your undivided attention. Dedicate at least 20-30 minutes to give feedback, answer questions, and listen to their concerns or ideas.

Dan Gray, Kotn Supply

Create a Collaborative Environment To Build Trust

Encourage collaboration. Leaders in this modern working environment need to learn how to delegate responsibilities so they can put their trust and confidence in their team. Give employees autonomy to work on things that they enjoy and challenge them to continue to increase their craft. Creating a collaborative environment where people encourage each other can increase productivity and teamwork among employees who may not even be working in the same room together. Show your team trust while giving them creative freedom.

Zachary Hamed, Clay

Set Up Ways to Document Productivity

Set up ways to document productivity. One of the biggest challenges for managers new to remote work is the inability to measure productivity through desk time. Since you can’t as easily monitor when your employees are working, it’s helpful to create a documentation standard to ensure work is getting done. This could mean having workers keep a record of the amount of calls they make or by digitally tracking how many deadlines are met. Whatever metrics you choose to measure by, having a written record of what work is being completed can streamline the remote management process.

Rachel Reid, Subtl Beauty

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