Some business owners find that empowering remote employees is undesirable because they will lose control. However, this is not the case, rather, using empowerment to increase the productivity of the remote workforce. Furthermore, as additional benefits, they will be able to increase work hours and save on office rental and equipment for them.
In this article, we will explore what it means to empower remote workers in your companies, as well as how these remote work teams excel.
The Remote Work Landscape
The benefits of empowering remote employees are multiple since they learn to pave their path, and it also turns them into employees who will be able to make their own decisions instead of waiting to receive them. Additionally, these employees learn to trust their superiors to do their work creatively.
Moreover, they understand how this creativity in thinking will allow them to better distribute their time and priorities automatically.
On the other hand, remote workers usually work much more than an employee who works in an office. Likewise, if you have autonomy you will be able to take time to push a project to success. Also, giving autonomy to your remote workers can allow you as a manager to align work with the interests of the company.
At the same time, they will have a personal interest in ensuring that the project they work on in the company is successful.
Benefits of Empowering Remote Employees
For many employees, the power to decide where to work from may change their visa, although this concept may seem exaggerated. They also significantly reduce the time they spend in the workplace. Consequently, the person experiences freedom in their daily lives.
Benefits of Empowering Remote Employees for Companies
For many managers, it could be stressful to think about whether the remote worker is actually working or just watching movies. Likewise, it might be stressful when they get disconnected from the network and you cannot reach them. This will make you wonder how you will know if they are productive at work.
In reality, the truth is that remote work offers many advantages to companies and more when empowering remote employees. You will see below the sales of a remote worker for the company:
Employees do not abandon employment
Multiple factors could make a person look for a new job, such as long trips, and uncomfortable offices, among others. Thus, working remotely you will be able to solve all these problems easily. Also, allowing an employee to work at home does not mean that they will not leave the job. However, you will achieve loyalty to the company from your employees.
Likewise, by providing this option to your employees, you will not lose those quality workers if they move elsewhere. On the other hand, you could employ worker rotation, but consider that it could give you a lot of additional losses. Therefore, it is not only replacing the worker but the entire team will be affected and therefore its projects.
Hence, if you have an excellent team in your company and you want them to stay together, remote employment counts. Consequently, you will be able to save money, and time, and achieve an increase in your productivity.
Remote employment reduces overhead costs.
An office could generate heavy expenses, since you will have to pay for the Achilles, heating, cooling, and electricity, among others. Similarly, although it is basic, when you add up all these expenses, the resulting figure is high. Thus, if you have a remote work team, you will save all these expenses.
Additionally, if you manage to empowering remote employees, performance will be better. Likewise, remote employees will save you money concerning insurance payments and labor legislation in general. In the same way, before removing policies, consult with an attorney about the costs it will reduce.
On the other hand, another good idea is to offer monetary incentives so that your remote workers can have their office at home. For example, the company pays for the internet, and telephone services, among others. Also, although this may seem very expensive to you, remember that you are saving a lot of money on office rentals, electronic equipment, and other things.
With remote employment, you will have access to the best employees.
Hiring and empowering remote employees will give you access to an excellent workforce. Therefore, many times your brick-and-mortar business limits you to finding employees in a nearby area and as a result, you would lose top talent. Additionally, you will have access to a good worker who may live on another continent but wants to work remotely.
Remote employment is the priority for those people who are too young to find regular employment. In fact, according to some calculations, 85% of young people prefer to work 100% of their time. In addition, having a company that offers flexibility will be attractive to people looking for work.
Furthermore, keep in mind that having employees in different locations with different time zones could affect your business.
Remote employees are productive
We have already talked about how happy remote employees are because of the flexibility you get with long-distance work. However, this is not to say that because they are not in an office with the manager watching, they will neglect their jobs. On the contrary, empowering remote employees will make them more productive for your business since they could work longer.
Likewise, a remote employee has the power to adapt to their office environment and eliminate any distracting factors. Hence, you will improve your concentration, take efficient breaks, and continue with your work feeling refreshed.
When you apply the remote work dynamic to meetings, you will notice that it is the easiest way for you to collaborate. Plus, even if you are used to meeting in person, the remote option will be the way the team works together seamlessly.
A team of remote employees will be able to communicate with messaging; this will provide fluidity and allow for a better connection. Additionally, it will make them feel like a team even if they are in different geographical locations. Likewise, it will currently have a lot of technology to be used by remote employees.
For example, social networks, cloud storage, and video calls, among others. As a result, everything together, you will achieve the effective communication that your remote team will need wherever each member is.
Strategies for Empowerment
There are many benefits of empowering remote employees; therefore, below we will show you the strategies to achieve this:
Create clear expectations
Setting clear goals with time limits is the most important thing so that your remote employees understand what you need from them. It will also be important for them to have clear boundaries established between employment and their home.
In a recent survey, 66% of those who participated stated that remote work is actually more productive. Likewise, when the employee has the opportunity to be creative, they will manage their time and workload more efficiently. Thus, this employee will improve his productive performance far above when he works in a conventional office.
Equally, they can understand what they will have to accomplish and when to finish tasks so they will prioritize projects. Of course, you should apply what is most efficient for the team of remote workers. Therefore, you will create an environment of trust with a lot of communication that will empower your workers and achieve the desired productivity.
Delegate tasks
You must delegate tasks because there are employees who need to grow in the area where they work. In the same way, when you delegate, you involve your workers in making a decision and allow them to do things they never did. At the same time, you could balance the workload across the entire team.
Another way you could empower your workers is by delegating purchasing and budget management to them. Likewise, a survey of employees from different companies showed that employees with corporate credit cards thought they were empowered. Also, it is a good idea to delegate small projects to your remote employees that interest them.
Consequently, remember that taking on new tasks is addictive, and delegating work could be contagious among remote workers. Consequently, start working on delegating responsibilities and you will see those who want to advance and empower themselves.
Meet frequently and track projects
An important part of empowering remote employees will be to prevent them from feeling like they are working on the same thing. Also, 64% of remote employees thought that a coworker might have changed projects and they were not notified. Thus, the team must be synchronized with a regular means of communication so that everyone can work effectively on their own thing.
Additionally, it will achieve the responsibility of everyone in a project, because they will be able to collaborate, reviewing the work of each other and exchanging points of view and ideas. Otherwise, it would prevent any point of the work from being overlooked in any way.
On the other hand, do not have very long meetings, and make sure to communicate only what is really interesting so that you do not lose the essence. In addition, it is more effective than a regular meeting that could last between 30 and 60 minutes, and only between 2 and 4 workers would participate. Therefore, see that the meetings you do become productive and bridge them without redundancies.
Also, keep information about the project in a place where everyone on the remote teams can see it. This way, they will be aware of what they are doing and see the entire project as well as its completion.
Recognition of your workers
When you are empowering remote employees, recognize them for the contributions they make to your company. Besides, it is an essential point to consider because remote employees do not have face-to-face time like those who are in a conventional office.
You will have to find a way to recognize your remote employees since each employee likes to be recognized differently. Hence, consider this when showing your appreciation to the employee. Equally, a good idea is to set aside time for them to recognize each other through video conferences.
Role of technology and software in empowering remote employees
Technology plays an important role in empowering remote workers as you will see below:
Technological tools for remote work
There are currently many tools that your e-workers could use. For example, communication tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack improve messaging and collaboration between remote workers. Likewise, project software like Tello and Asana will help your team organize projects, and deadlines, and track them.
Additionally, there are online meeting tools such as Cisco Webex and Google Meet that allow face-to-face communication. Therefore, solidarity increases among remote employees, regardless of the geographical distance that separates them.
Strengthen Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity empowering remote employees is crucial and that is why you must assume only security measures. Therefore, that secret data is safeguarded and protected from threats, below, we will give you some strategies so that you can comply with Cybersecurity in your company:
The VPN
The Virtual Private Network or VPN will ensure data transmission and data transfers that are confidential. Likewise, the VPN can create a tunnel that will be encrypted between the corporate network and the device used by the employee. To guarantee the privacy of all the data that circulates because they prevent unauthorized entry into the system.
Multi-factor authentication
This method will add an extra safety net to the accounts of your remote employees. Also, it will require system users to provide evidence such as unique codes and passwords, which will be sent to their devices. Consequently, that will guarantee that only authorized personnel will be able to access the systems and the data.
Employ safety training
Train through breakout sessions so remote employees are educated on security best practices. Thus, they will learn to prevent phishing and all habits that make browsing the Internet safe. Thus, if knowledge and awareness about Cybersecurity increases, employees will monitor the network. Additionally, they will be more proactive in protecting the confidential data of your organization.
Constant updating of patches and software
Verify that the software on the devices you use for work is always updated, including the latest security patches. Hence, obsolete software is vulnerable to hackers, therefore security will be compromised.
In conclusion, empowering remote employees can benefit you and themselves so the company will be more productive. Moreover, to accomplish this task, you will have to take many additional factors into account when implementing it. However, you will notice that it will be the best decision when you see how productive you will become.
If you want more information about worker empowerment, contact us and our professionals on the subject will help you.
