Remote working has been on the increase since 2014 when the right to request flexible working was given to all employees who had 6 months service. This year has seen an unprecedented move to remote (usually home) working. But how do employers ensure value for remuneration when no-one arrives at 9 and leaves at 5?
Engender trust
That requires us to be trustworthy ourselves. To do that I submit that we need to show trust. Charlie Green and Andrea Howe in their Trusted Advisor Fieldbook devote a Chapter to building trust at a distance, including managing virtual teams.
Trust engagement and well-being initiatives
Motivate
This is crucial and it applies just as much when employees are in the office as when they are remote. Micro-management never works (in my view) and it certainly does not motivate. Seek to find out (by noting subtle cues) the optimal level of intervention between you and your team.
All the same motivational principles apply with remote working as they do with in-office working, those include: meaning, autonomy, recognition, fairness, etc.
Motivating employees during the covid-19 crisis
Focus on the outcomes
Traditionally we focus on the input i.e. hours. To manage remote working effectively we need to gain and idea of what we expect from employees. So:
Set goals and deadlines
Goals and objectives create meaning. But remember Parkinson’s law: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Engage employees with deadlines and agree them mutually between you (including re-negotiating them if circumstances change).
Keep in touch
For ten years I delivered training workshops all over the UK. I met my boss periodically, but we spoke on the phone practically every week. Some employees don’t speak to their boss that frequently even when in the workplace. Employees don’t need to be remote to be ignored.
Monitoring
“Blanket” monitoring of employees not only compromises trust but may contravene legislation (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000). You should only monitor employees (or investigate internet activity, for example) where you have other evidence of impropriety and only monitor/investigate employees to whom that evidence applies.
That doesn’t prevent you asking employees to keep time sheets or a record of activity on software such as Toggl track. But such data needs to be in line with business need and data protection regulations (by keeping it secure, for example). If you expect employees to track their time you should track your own too.
Bring the team together
It is invaluable to do this regularly. If it cannot be face-to-face then we are all becoming familiar with video-conferencing. During those conferences encourage some social conversation within the team. And you do not have be in every conference; if your team is working effectively they will be conferencing with each other.
With a little attention we can all motivate remote workers.
Malcolm Martin FCIPD
Author Human Resource Practice
Blogs are for general guidance and are not an authoritative statement of the law.