Business in a Time of COVID (Part 2): Ten Ways to Help Your Remote Employees Thrive

This article is the second of a three-part series on how to reopen business safety during this pandemic.

As a human resources consultant, I have been working with clients to create strategies for getting their companies back on track and ensuring a safe, productive, and healthy workplace for all. As states begin to reopen and the workforce ramps up again, companies have an opportunity to adopt a growth mindset to create new strategies and shed out-of-date practices that have held them down. The following suggestions will help you create a remote work environment for your employees to thrive.

1. EMBRACE TELEWORKING 

Nearly three months ago, Robert’s software company ordered all its employees to work from home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Robert knew working remotely would make managing his team more difficult, but it was the right decision for everyone. To compound the challenges, Robert’s wife, Carol, also works from home, and their children’s elementary school closed. Now both parents also share homeschooling responsibilities. “It was really tough at first because everything about our lives changed overnight,” said Robert, “We had to establish new routines for the kids, get comfortable with the ambiguity of a pandemic, set up home workspaces, and figure out how to manage the kids and our jobs at the same time.”  

Robert’s company recognizes physical distance and vigilance are still necessary to keep their employees safe. As a result, they have decided to keep their workforce remote for the remainder of the year. At the same time, they have committed to helping their employees stay connected and shift to a new way of working. And several weeks into this new arrangement, Robert has found that not only is it getting easier, but he is also more productive working from home.

Some companies like Robert’s resisted teleworking before COVID-19 forced them to embrace it. Now many leaders have been surprised to learn how successful it has been for their organizations. 

This is not the time to force people to choose between their family’s health and their employment. If an employee cannot work remotely, can they transfer into another job of equal skill and pay? If their work can be performed from anywhere and they are productive, employees should be permitted to continue to work from home for the foreseeable future, even if most of their team chooses to return to the office.  

2. CREATE A REMOTE CULTURE OF FUN

If a remote workforce has you questioning how to keep your fabulous culture intact, the answer lies in your creativity. For example, if you would normally have a monthly team lunch, provide a Door Dash or Uber Eats service instead. This way employees can order what they want, have it delivered, and still lunch collectively. Ask employees to post fun photos of themselves working with their pets or children nearby. Add some levity and host a virtual dance party to let off a little physical steam. Have yoga breaks or mini-ice breakers on Zoom calls. Create a culture channel on Slack and let your imagination and creativity run wild with fun ways to connect with people beyond their work.  

3. UNDERSTAND EACH PERSON’S NEEDS AND CONCERNS 

Applying a one-size-fits-all approach to leading teams has never been a good leadership strategy. Remote employees might feel “out of sight, out of mind.” Leaders need to devote more time to prioritizing people so that the business can achieve what it needs to be successful…instead of the other way around.

In addition to regularly checking in with each of your employees, make sure they feel comfortable being their whole selves. Everyone is under stress during this pandemic, so be flexible about not requiring your employees to display their perfect professional personas. Be thoughtful and understanding if you hear a dog barking on a conference call or if a child runs in to ask for a snack. Nobody’s life is clean and perfect like a TV show, so set reasonable expectations and be supportive and understanding.

4. TRUST YOUR EMPLOYEES 

Amber works for a state agency previously unaccustomed to teleworking. Each time she or her teammates step away from their computers, their supervisor notices the “Away” on Skype and asks them where they have gone. This can instantly destroy morale, culture, and the employee-boss relationship! Avoid the temptation to track your employees working from home. Instead, trust that you have hired professionals who know how to do their jobs and meet deadlines. If individual performance declines, proactively manage this as you would normally.  

5. HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES MAINTAIN BALANCE

When people work from home, especially if they are also responsible for homeschooling children, the hours they perform work will vary. If teamwork and collaboration are key to your company, establish core hours for meetings and group interaction. Core hours will set the expectation that everyone should be available for important discussions, while also encouraging employees to take breaks and not work too much overtime. Core hours also help parents plan around their children’s schooling or daycare requirements.

6. PREVENT VIDEO CONFERENCING BURNOUT

Sure, technology has made working remotely easy, but spending all day on video or conference calls is mentally and emotionally exhausting. Many employees are starting to burn out from all this screen time, not to mention the eye strain. Consider setting “no-meeting zones” like “No Meeting Mondays” or “Administrative Afternoons,” so that people have a chance to do their work, ideate on innovative solutions, plan strategically for the future, or just get up and stretch their legs from time to time.

7. UP YOUR COMMUNICATIONS GAME

Trust, respect, stronger communications, and positive team-building skills should be a requirement of all leaders. Unfortunately, in many companies a “good leader” is defined by the new products and large profits they create. When teams are remote, excellent interpersonal and communication skills are critical to create an engaged and productive workforce. If your leaders do not fit those needs, you might want to reshuffle your team so employee engagement does not suffer.

Truly transparent communication is necessary to ensure everyone knows what is going on. Leaders should hold frequent firm-wide or office-wide meetings to keep employees informed of evolving company strategies, share metrics, provide context to decisions, and allow for questions and answers. Most of all, remember it is okay to not know the answer, especially in these uncertain times. Employees expect, deserve, and respect leaders who are honest and compassionate.

8. ESTABLISH TEAM NORMS AND SET EXPECTATIONS

Working remotely requires different skills and behaviors. Be sure to let your team know how you will be managing 1:1 meetings, how you want teams to collaborate, and how you expect employees to communicate with you. Some employees may require explicit assistance on how to prioritize their work if they are overwhelmed by distractions at home. Do not expect employees to figure it out on their own.  Help them.

9. STANDARDIZE OPERATIONAL PROCESSES TO HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES

A pandemic aside, companies could benefit from large operational savings by having a mostly virtual workforce. These processes are critical for that model to succeed: 

• Provide a monthly stipend to cover the cost of internet service, cell phone, and office supplies.  Considering all the operational costs of having employees work in an office, offering $100 per month, for example, to use personal space and equipment at home is a small price to pay employees. This stipend would also demonstrate that you support and appreciate this new way of conducting business.

• Fund IT equipment, education, and support. To the extent possible, provide laptops and monitors and access to files on personal and shared drives through a secure remote interface. Although it might be tempting to cut costs by shrinking the IT department during these difficult economic times, employees still need help with using videoconferencing tools, software update issues, or the dreaded “blue screen of death.” Companies should also make sure that employees are following rigorous cybersecurity processes. You should continue to provide the same level of technical support as if people were physically in the company’s office.

• Attend to office ergonomics. Create resources to teach employees how to set up their home offices properly to prevent ergonomic issues. Should an issue arise, provide ergonomic keyboards or a mouse, just as you would if employees were in the office. If you can, allow people to retrieve their chairs or monitors from the office. Just make sure you have an asset tracking process to know where company equipment is located and you can retrieve it when the employee quits or returns to the office full-time. 

• Update policies. Modify or create new HR policies to reflect flexible work schedules and working-from-home practices. In addition, do not forget to update the employee handbook and make it readily available to all employees.

10. STANDARDIZE OPERATIONAL PROCESSES TO HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES

While companies are figuring out the best way to proceed in this new type of world, it is the perfect opportunity to examine each process and determine where they can be more flexible. For example, you can continue your recruiting and hiring practices by videoconferencing. If you anticipate your workforce will remain mostly remote in the future, you will expand your company’s pool of candidates by removing limits to the geography in which employees can reside and work. If you offer teleworking in your job notices, you will find a much broader, more diverse slate of candidates. Employees love flexibility!

While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are felt in every part of our businesses, we have an opportunity to create stronger, more robust business models. In my final article, I will share additional ideas for redesigning the way we do business in 2020 and beyond.

About the Author: Julie Jensen is President of Moxie HR Strategies, a consulting firm that provides smart solutions to growing business.  Julie has two decades of executing HR strategies and transforming organizations in the public and private sectors.