Optimizing Your Remote Workforce in Times of Crisis

FULL ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON DISCINSIGHTS BY PEOPLEKEYS

On a typical day at the office, managing a workforce in-person is challenging. As more and more businesses are evolving toward a virtual workplace, the need for leaders to optimize their remote teams is more critical than ever. While typical office communication problems have no discretion for the type of workforce they will go on to plague, remote work teams can be most vulnerable.

Not only does communication become a concern, but how we actually communicate as leaders with our remote workforce becomes a concern.

According to FlexJobs, within the last 10 years, 91% of businesses have drastically been making the shift towards a more remote-based infrastructure. With more flexibility, a remote workforce presents many opportunities to businesses, including:

• Lower cost of operation
• Higher rates of retention; lower rates of turnover
• A happier, more productive workforce
• Accessibility of markets, customers, vendors and additional resources
• A broader pool of qualified talent
• A 90% higher rate of job acceptance

While we experience the same types of conflict and communication issues in a brick-and-mortar environment, in the virtual team scenario you can almost always expect disruptions to occur – especially where globalization is concerned. Whether we are experiencing challenges related to time zones and language, or barriers associated with differences in culture, we will find communication is king and the greatest difference comes from understanding the various personalities and behavioral styles that make up our team. And, with a greater number of remote employees and different personalities to manage, collectively brings the need for business leaders to learn how to overcome the top challenges of teams working remotely.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE ON DISCINSIGHTS BY PEOPLE KEYS