Teleworking is the order of the day. No matter if it is full-time or part-time, merging remote with in office work is a formula that has successfully spread in recent years, even before the situation caused by the coronavirus.
Companies that are opting for telecommuting are fostering a change in mentality contrary to the old perception of how and where to perform our professional tasks. Besides, this has entailed major changes in the relation between workers and their workplace, especially in the past few months, when companies were not able to find an alternative.
Even though the number of remote workers has significantly increased in all countries, there is still a lot of work to catch up with countries such as the United States, situated on the top of the list.
This is because, despite it was almost compulsory for companies and its workers to make this change, not all industries and people were, and are, ready to make this new approach part of their everyday life.
By contrast, some American companies have, for some time now, completely eliminated their physical offices, solely relying on remote communication platforms to work with employees located all around the world. Their excellent results show that it is possible to make teleworking the new basis of corporate culture and the foundation of future success.
These are not isolated examples, they are only the tip of the iceberg of a tendency on the rise and which meets the desires of many workers, especially millennials, the generation who has gotten to the business landscape to change the traditional perspective we had until now.
For it, a lot of enterprises are looking for a way of motivating millennials at work, and teleworking is one of the best possible offers, as it is an option increasingly embraced by these young talents.
But they are not the only ones who see telecommuting as a key asset when directing their professional future to one or other company.
It was thus asserted by a recent report on remote working, “State Of Remote Work” (2019), which presents some interesting results regarding the perspective and aspirations of remote workers.
- In fact, the results are quite striking: 99% of remote workers plan to continue developing their professions for the rest of their working careers. The reasons attributed to this mindset are a flexible schedule (40%), the possibility of working from anywhere (30%), and having more time to spend with their family (14%).
How to maintain a good "digital relationship": Learn to properly manage remote teams
These and other figures highlight the rise of remote working, an option that will be chosen by even more people after the COVID-19 crisis. But which, despite opening a world of working possibilities, it also presents a number of new challenges.
Coordinating an employee team, involving and motivating them so that they feel as an active part of the organization, promoting the participation in virtual meetings and helping them to effectively manage their time are the main challenges companies have to face.
In a working environment like this, increasingly dynamic and open, it is essential to count on means that can not only help the communication and organization between “on-site” and “virtual” workers but also enhance productivity and reduce costs.
In this regard, collaborative tools are the key to ensuring that the intelligence and knowledge of remote workers are seized upon. In addition to the evolving landscape of remote work, the integration of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) is crucial for ensuring secure communication between remote workers and their corporate networks in the evolving landscape of remote work. This added security layer becomes increasingly vital as companies transition to telecommuting, enhancing overall efficiency and safeguarding sensitive information.”
So, what is the most efficient way to manage this kind of team?
To find the answer to these questions and help teleworking become a cornerstone for companies, it is essential to consider these 3 fundamental keys to running remote teams:
1. Promote teamwork
Being a remote worker doesn’t mean you have to feel alone. The philosophy of collaboration should be present in every process. Therefore, it is essential to create synergies between all the employees, and not just with them but also with the company as a whole, to build a strong team culture.
As neither the employees nor the employers are in the same physical environment, it is necessary to establish meeting areas. For this, new technologies will play a leading role, particularly those technologies related to virtual worlds, as they will procure close relationships, despite being afar.
The effectiveness of these applications comes from the use of VoIP technology, video, and chat, thanks to which it is possible to carry out virtual meetings and conferences for remote workers. These are events that allow direct interaction, as they use specific technological tools that attain immersive experiences in which it is possible for the participants to ask any doubts and for them to be solved in real-time.
2. Create learning and developmental opportunities
It’s essential that remote workers are trained continuously, despite not being able to partake in conventional in-person activities. It likely wouldn’t be coherent for the company to opt for the telework, and then, ask them to physically attend training courses.
Company executives should provide innovative training options to help employees strengthen their knowledge and build new skills. And, once more, virtual technology is one of the stand-out solutions. For example, virtual classrooms for businesses.
This is a system that presents a lot of benefits, such as time-saving and cost reduction, together with more flexibility and accessibility, among other things. Hence, these alternatives are considered essential tools when dealing with the training of remote teams, since either of its members doesn’t need to move, just to have a device with an internet connection.
These virtual events allow us to create personalized training sessions since they give us the chance to install specific plugins and design each of the elements that will make up the virtual classroom. Moreover, its operation is remarkably simple, thanks to intuitive interfaces that allow us to rapidly access not only the platform but each of the materials shared during the training, no matter the format.
3. Strengthen bonds between workers
In the work environment, no matter if it is presential or not, work is not everything. Interpersonal relations are essential, and they should always exist in order to share experiences and develop our human side together with our social and communicative skills.
To achieve this, virtual Team Building activities are the best option: Recreational proposals designed to encourage communication, integration, and fellowship, among others.
Nowadays, there is a large public offer in this field, but Virtway presents one of the most innovative ones. Our company has developed a way of providing, through advanced virtual 3D technology, immersive experiences inside of a virtual world with interactive avatars.
There are countless options available, all of them designed to provide workers, both remote ones and those who work in the physical company environment, with stimulating online experiences. Virtway opted to create 3D interactive avatars, which mimic each of the participants taking part in the activity. These can be used for different group activities oriented to virtual training, from group meetings to conferences or interactive games.
Even if it is indirectly, businesses greatly benefit from teleworking. They have more freedom of decision and organization, as well as for a real conciliation with the personal and familiar domain. All of this in the end leads to increased productivity. One only has to know how to use the means that technology provides us to efficiently manage a remote team.
