Communication is necessary for every remote work. This article lists the effective strategies which you can use to improve communication with remote employees.
Remote work has become popular among different organizations in the world. Many people prefer it over the in-house job and state that they are more productive and active in remote work. The only things employers and employees find challenging in remote work are communication and engagement.
How do you engage with your remote employees?
Well, the answer is by communication. A strong communication platform with remote employees can build stronger company-employee relationships and help in individual and company growth. However, many remote job companies still face a lack of communication with their remote workers and are always looking for ways to improve it.
Communication is a big challenge in remote work, but you can improve it to a greater extent using some effective strategies. This article mentions some of the measures you can take to improve your communication with your remote workers.
Check Out: Advantages Of Hiring Remote Workers
Have Frequent Video Meetings
It is easy to get ignored by your employer if you are working from home. You will start to isolate yourself not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. This can create distances between you and your company that might also impact your work performance negatively.
Conducting meetings online is one of the ways to improve communication with your employees and employer. Companies that have shifted their operations to remote work should conduct frequent video meetings sessions for the daily tasks or other important issues. This can act as an ice breaker for the two parties, and they will get to know each other better.
Use The Right Software
Your remote team should be kept in the loop with the help of a project management platform that keeps them updated regarding the team tasks, schedules, and meetings all at once. This would create a collaborative online environment where everyone can share their tasks, comment on each other’s, and create a perfect working atmosphere. Establish a clear communication channel to conduct meetings anytime you want. Slack or Google Meet is a good example of software for online meetings.
Greet Every Morning
Lack of human interaction and the lack of structure is one of the drawbacks of remote work. However, you can always take steps to have an engaging environment, even for a few minutes only. It can be a bit of a dull way to start your workday without greeting your work colleagues. So, why not greet everyone in the mutual group by saying ‘good morning, have a good day, or messages similar to that. Everyone likes to be wished well, and by doing so, they will feel better and kick start their day with a positive mood. You will also notice wonderful differences as everyone would reply to your greeting, and you will feel connected.
Be Available, Always
If you are a team lead or manager for your team, you must respond immediately to any concern your employees or team might be facing. A late reply can be a sign of bad communication, and your employees won’t feel heard. Always use the same channel of communication for communicating, so they know where to contact you. The best way is to use messaging tools that allow people to communicate with each other for small daily issues.
Don’t Micromanage
It might be difficult for you to manage your team remotely and see their progress for the day. However, if you call them multiple times a day just to see what they are up to and whether they have completed the tasks or not, it would deter them. Your employees are adults, and with this micromanaging, they would feel stressed all the time. Therefore, don’t bombard them with calls and let them do their work by trusting them.
Play Virtual Activities
Team building is necessary to make the work possible and achieve a productive culture in the company. Remote work can make this even more challenging. However, you can set some slots to play online games and other activities with the employees to build personal and social bonds between team members. You can either play multiplayer games, riddles or pick a topic and discuss that with them.
Celebrate Birthdays
It is much harder to celebrate the birthdays of your remote employees. So, instead of just wishing them over a text message and then continuing on with your work, your company can send them a gift or cake with a birthday wish. This would make them feel valued, and they would remember this gesture for a lifetime.
Final Thoughts
Every team and company’s setup is unique, and the managers there have to decide their terms of communication with the employees. However, after hiring remote employees you need strong communication as it plays a significant role in making the employees feel connected, so they know they are considered a part of the company for which they are working.
