HR’s Role in the Age of Working Remotely

The number of companies with a partial or entire remote workforce has grown significantly over the past decade. As both management and employees navigate new remote capabilities, adjusting the way companies manage employees has become necessary. Within this new reality of a physically disconnected workforce, trust and communication become more important than ever before. Human resources teams must find a way to hire and manage trustworthy remote employees, and employees need a platform to build and earn that trust as well. If you’re considering implementing remote work into your business, integrate these tips into your company’s remote work policies.

Establish Expectations

One of the most important things for employees to know is who and how they should ask questions about payroll, their rights as employees, and where to find other employee information and resources. In order to keep track of both in-office and remote employees, implement tools that track hourly activity and calendar tools to dictate working hours. This serves as an informative notice of what hours they work and when they are available to answer questions. You should also make an effort to engage with remote employees regularly through routine check-ins to both stay on the same page professionally and chit-chat personally.

Integrate Quickly

It’s important to set remote employees up with the most efficient tools on day one so they familiarize themselves with your tools and processes quickly. This includes providing your remote employees with reliable technology that allows them to get right to work, meaning a computer fully equipped with the tools your in-office team uses every day. A few additional and important tools implement include those for communication, such as instant messaging and video conferencing so they can chat with team members throughout the day. Also consider utilizing voice over IP phone lines to avoid sending a phone company into your remote employees’ homes to set up their company phone number.

Improve Communication

When it comes to communicating with remote employees, being proactive and intentional is key. Employees away from the office need more attention from and structured forums to communicate with HR professionals to ensure they feel like part of the team. Spend ample time building relationships and personal connections with all employees to make distant coworkers feel included and on the same page with those in-office. One simple way to accomplish this is to create social media groups and chats for remote and in-person employees to discuss mutual interests aside from work.

Take Advantage of Technology

The onboarding process is often tricky to navigate when implementing remote employees. Acclimating new employees to your company’s culture is especially difficult when they aren’t in the same physical location as their new coworkers. To effectively get your new hire up to speed as quickly as possible, utilize a digital collaboration database that hosts all of your company policies, benefits plans, marketing materials, mission and vision statements, and goals of each department. Make this platform interactive so new hires can ask questions and save the documents they anticipate referencing the most.

As more companies adopt remote capabilities in some capacity, having these HR policies and practices in place will set your company apart from the rest. Not only will this give managers the knowledge they need to properly work with remote employees, but it will also make those remote employees feel like a valuable part of your team. This quarter, take a closer look at what policies your company has in place and make a pledge to update if necessary!