How to Make WFH Work for Your Business

Many businesses are continuing to work remotely in 2021 as the pandemic continues and may even have plans to stick with WFH once the pandemic ends. This is because it can bring a range of benefits for both a business and employees, but it is also a new challenge for managers, which some have been struggling with. It can be difficult to manage teams and ensure that the operation does not suffer when people are working independently at home, so how can you make sure that WFH works for your business? Read on for a few tips which should allow you and your team to get the most out of remote work.

Outline Expectations & Avoid Micromanaging

One of the biggest challenges that managers are facing when it comes to managing a remote team is striking a balance between providing support and micromanaging. It is easy for employees to feel unsupported and unsure of what is expected of them, but equally, many managers make the mistake of micromanaging and constantly checking in. This is why you need to outline what is expected of your team and then trust they will get the job done – autonomy is important when it comes to remote work, so you should allow people to find their best way of working while making yourself available if they need support.

Learn People’s Preferences

Following on from this, it is also important to understand that everyone has a different approach to remote work and want to learn what people’s preferences are. While some will want to maintain communication throughout the day, there are likely to be others happy to check in by email and happily work independently.

Use an Advanced Collaboration Platform

Another major challenge when it comes to remote work is communication and collaboration. People need to be able to communicate, share documentation and stay on the same page, but this is challenging when people are not sharing a physical space. Fortunately, advanced collaboration platforms from experts like mattermost.com can help businesses to overcome this challenge. Open-source platforms such as this can make it easy for teams to chat, share documents, edit in real-time, share screens, and much more.

Find Ways to Support Staff

It is easy to list the perks of remote work for employees, but not many consider the challenges and difficulties that it can present (particularly during difficult times like these). This is why managers need to make a concerted effort to check in regularly and see if there are ways that they can help. As an example, an employee might need some equipment like a new office chair to help them work comfortably, or it could be a simple case of asking them how they are coping and if you can help at all. 

Hopefully, this post will help managers to make remote work effective for both the business and employees. Remote working can bring many benefits, but it also has unique challenges, so it is important to know how to overcome these.