Principles of organization of work with remote employees
In this article we will talk about how to organize work with remote employees. Whether or not such employees are hired, the manager decides, but even office employees periodically become distant when the manager leaves for a vacation or a long trip.
Let's start with the problem statement. A remote employee must perform work on time with proper quality. The manager should not waste time and nerves on reminding the employee about the terms, requirements for work, etc. It is in the distance that many see the problem. However, the problem is in organizing work with remote employees.
If life has forced to hire remote workers, then somehow you need to work with them. And there are plenty of wonderful descriptions about how to do this. You can add to the piggy bank and this article. We will talk about personal, yes, personal approach to employees.
For some reason, it is assumed that if an employee is remote, then the generally accepted and time-tested patterns do not apply to him. Let's start with the recruitment. That's who said that you do not need to conduct an interview or psychological testing? Need to. And recommendations, if necessary, ask.
Or why the relationship with a remote employee does not legalize? At least in order to protect themselves from the "accidental disappearance" of the employee, along with the work that must be passed yesterday. It will be a design in accordance with the labor code, a civil contract or a contract is not important. The main thing is to clearly state how you will work and under what conditions.
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About adaptation and completely forgotten. And then conflicts, misunderstandings, etc. Let the person removed or temporarily employed, he is an employee of your company and all the rules and standards he needs to know.
The same goes for material and non-material incentives. These methods do not work in every company, but they must be applied and taken into account. For example, the same competitions, prizes in the nomination "The best employee of the month" work with remote personnel. Do not leave remote employees "overboard". Whatever individualists they are, they remain social individuals.
Take one of the most common schemes for working with remote personnel - the triangle of motivation (James R. Chapman). Everything is simple: we set an employee a task, we give tools and knowledge, we control it with the help of reports. Good working model. It is often used with the use of business management automation software by project managers and heads of IT companies. Good, but something is missing.
Not enough human factor. No matter how good the scheme or automation program is, a person does not always fit into it. At some point, even the best employee fails. The code is crookedly written or the design is passed half a day late. Why is that? Man is not a machine and deviations from the average model are the norm. In the office, you can always notice this, talk heart to heart or motivate an employee. With remote staff more difficult.
Only one way out - an individual approach. Remote workers more than office, need an individual approach. The approach to the employee must be periodically reviewed. At the initial stage, the main motive may be gaining experience in a large, serious project. Then you can offer to try yourself in something new.
In any case, the manager should be aware of the problems of the employee. For this, you need a focus on trust and a sincere desire to know his problems. They are much more than can be formulated in a report or plans for tomorrow.
These problems can be divided into the following groups:
Whatever individualist a person is, use social mechanisms:
The task setting function is simultaneously a function of work organization and control. An employee receives a task to which the project manager assigns parameters: time, budget, priority, additional requirements. The task can also be set for the team, the working group. In the same task, the staff conduct correspondence on the project with the possibility of adding work files. Here they are accountable for the work done and plan their plans for the next day (stage). The head can quickly adjust the work, commenting on reports, plans, files. Well, control the timing, budget, quality. To perform the task at different stages, you can connect other employees. After execution, the manager closes the task. It remains in the archive with all files, documents and comments.
When they wrote about this, they thought about our complex for managing small and medium businesses. We created “ Simple Business ” based on these considerations. This solution, on the one hand, provides a single workspace, and on the other hand, it corresponds to the specifics of working with remote employees.
Most organizations can not stay away from general trends, including the labor market. Among the new generation of specialists, more and more people are interested in the format of remote work. But a lot depends on how the work in the company is organized. Regardless of whether you use a management automation tool or not, traditional management tools (material and non-material incentives, employee adaptation in the organization, etc.) remain important.
Let's start with the problem statement. A remote employee must perform work on time with proper quality. The manager should not waste time and nerves on reminding the employee about the terms, requirements for work, etc. It is in the distance that many see the problem. However, the problem is in organizing work with remote employees.
If life has forced to hire remote workers, then somehow you need to work with them. And there are plenty of wonderful descriptions about how to do this. You can add to the piggy bank and this article. We will talk about personal, yes, personal approach to employees.
Remote employees
For some reason, it is assumed that if an employee is remote, then the generally accepted and time-tested patterns do not apply to him. Let's start with the recruitment. That's who said that you do not need to conduct an interview or psychological testing? Need to. And recommendations, if necessary, ask.
Or why the relationship with a remote employee does not legalize? At least in order to protect themselves from the "accidental disappearance" of the employee, along with the work that must be passed yesterday. It will be a design in accordance with the labor code, a civil contract or a contract is not important. The main thing is to clearly state how you will work and under what conditions.
')
About adaptation and completely forgotten. And then conflicts, misunderstandings, etc. Let the person removed or temporarily employed, he is an employee of your company and all the rules and standards he needs to know.
The same goes for material and non-material incentives. These methods do not work in every company, but they must be applied and taken into account. For example, the same competitions, prizes in the nomination "The best employee of the month" work with remote personnel. Do not leave remote employees "overboard". Whatever individualists they are, they remain social individuals.
People are not robots
Take one of the most common schemes for working with remote personnel - the triangle of motivation (James R. Chapman). Everything is simple: we set an employee a task, we give tools and knowledge, we control it with the help of reports. Good working model. It is often used with the use of business management automation software by project managers and heads of IT companies. Good, but something is missing.
Not enough human factor. No matter how good the scheme or automation program is, a person does not always fit into it. At some point, even the best employee fails. The code is crookedly written or the design is passed half a day late. Why is that? Man is not a machine and deviations from the average model are the norm. In the office, you can always notice this, talk heart to heart or motivate an employee. With remote staff more difficult.
Only one way out - an individual approach. Remote workers more than office, need an individual approach. The approach to the employee must be periodically reviewed. At the initial stage, the main motive may be gaining experience in a large, serious project. Then you can offer to try yourself in something new.
In any case, the manager should be aware of the problems of the employee. For this, you need a focus on trust and a sincere desire to know his problems. They are much more than can be formulated in a report or plans for tomorrow.
These problems can be divided into the following groups:
- personal plan, outside the plane of working relationships (family, children, housing, etc.). A manager can be involved, help with advice;
- work relationship. Try to hear the opinion of the employee about the problems he faces in his work. Maybe you set very tight deadlines without adequate compensation, or another employee delays deadlines, inadequately responds to the comments of colleagues. There can be many reasons, so it is better to control these moments by periodical “heart-to-heart” conversations and to see the correspondence between employees;
- lack of knowledge, experience, tools. Few people admit to the boss that for something he has no knowledge or experience. Consequently, it is necessary either to get rid of an incompetent employee, or to develop a system of training, personal development for employees.
Social people
Whatever individualist a person is, use social mechanisms:
- Developed system of communication between employees, the head.
- Integration within the framework of a virtual space on the principle of a social network, but with a broad working functionality (communications, work programs and modules).
- Involvement, that is, the maximum involvement of an employee to discuss problems, plans, projects, tasks.
- Access for employees to the necessary documents, files within their competence.
- Transparency relationship.
- Correct setting of tasks.
The task setting function is simultaneously a function of work organization and control. An employee receives a task to which the project manager assigns parameters: time, budget, priority, additional requirements. The task can also be set for the team, the working group. In the same task, the staff conduct correspondence on the project with the possibility of adding work files. Here they are accountable for the work done and plan their plans for the next day (stage). The head can quickly adjust the work, commenting on reports, plans, files. Well, control the timing, budget, quality. To perform the task at different stages, you can connect other employees. After execution, the manager closes the task. It remains in the archive with all files, documents and comments.
When they wrote about this, they thought about our complex for managing small and medium businesses. We created “ Simple Business ” based on these considerations. This solution, on the one hand, provides a single workspace, and on the other hand, it corresponds to the specifics of working with remote employees.
And further…
Most organizations can not stay away from general trends, including the labor market. Among the new generation of specialists, more and more people are interested in the format of remote work. But a lot depends on how the work in the company is organized. Regardless of whether you use a management automation tool or not, traditional management tools (material and non-material incentives, employee adaptation in the organization, etc.) remain important.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/108405/
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