Semana Blog

6 Essential Tips for Developing Effective Remote Working Policies

A woman working from home in her bathrobe

Being an old-school thinker isn’t good for your company, and it’s the right moment to think out of the box trying new things — And one of those is developing a set of clear remote working policies to work well with virtual teams.

Due to uncertain conditions, work from home is the need of time. It increases mobility in business only when you do it right. Recruitment, communication, and tasks assignment — Everything is crucial when your company relies on remote workers.

Having a remote workforce decreases the commute time, makes conferencing easy, and maintains work-life-balance. Remote jobs are happier and result in better job satisfaction.

Here we will light-up some best practices for remote working policies to help you design a solid work from home structure for your company.

How to Recruit Remote Workers for Your Company?

Recruiting a remote worker is slightly different from an in-house employee. You need to focus more on soft skills along with the hard ones.

For example, you wouldn’t want to keep waiting for your remote worker’s response for a day or two when all of your subsequent tasks are hanging in between because of him. Distractions can kill remote force productivity when they are operating remotely from home or workplace.

Work-from-home is an automated process ideally. Also, the worker must be able to make decisions himself when needed. Spoon feeding small tasks will kill your time.

The following are some qualities to notice in your remote worker in the hiring process.

  • Time management
  • Creativity
  • Flexibility
  • Problem-solving
  • Effective Communication Skills
  • Quick Learning
  • Adaptability
  • Researching
  • Self-Motivation
  • Great Focus

Training Your Remote Workers to Fit in Your Company’s Environment

Every company has its own work policies and ethics, and that is what you need to teach the employees even when they are working from home all the time. There must be complete remote training for every worker, and the remote work policies should be made clear to them.

Sometimes, employees aren’t savvy with the remote working environment. In the orientation session, make your worker comfortable and introduce him to your company objective. Tell what you’re expecting from him/her as a remote working employee and assure that he or she will be enjoying the work life.

Discussing Flexibility in Your Remote Working Policies

Flexibility is the ultimate benefit for both the company and worker, but the extent of flexibility is always decided mutually. To make perfect remote policies that work, you must add this point of discussion when sharing your thoughts about both sides’ deliverables.

  • Communicate how many hours of the remote worker you need per week or per day.
  • Ask his availability about working over-time
  • Confirm his availability hours and make sure that it matches with your time-zone
  • Design a load for work schedule before assigning the tasks formally

How to Stay Connected with Your Remote Workers?

A virtual connection is necessary and an integral part of a business relying on excessive remote work. WFH policies and procedures help you make communication smoother and reliable. Clear and effective communication will save time and run tasks more professionally.

Here are some useful tools to connect with your workers when remotely managing the tasks.

  • Use online-meeting platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, etc.
  • Use time tracking software to keep track of the progress
  • Use Instant messaging services for quick responses like Google Hangouts
  • Keep a reliable screen-share software when it’s needed
  • Have a Webcam and Microphone when you’re making an audio or video call to a worker
  • Team-working tools like Trello, Google Suite, Zapier, and Dropbox to increase employee productivity
  • Reliable cloud storage to keep your data safe and secured
  • Multiple monitor screens can help you increase productivity by up to 42%

Final Words

Implementing a remote work policy best practices isn’t a process that can be done overnight. It takes time to build an eco-system that yields maximum productivity and efficiency while working remotely

Only the best tools, strategies, and leadership will lead to an efficient remote workforce.

For more remote work articles, check our resources and make your work-environment stronger and better.

Happy remote working!