Written by: Fraser Duncumb, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Remote working has spiked in both necessity and popularity, with over half the global workforce working remotely in some capacity. Companies that know how to support their employees from afar are sure to increase job satisfaction and productivity, helping them to break ahead of the competition.
It’s one thing managing your teams in person, but when people are in the office less and less, it can be difficult to tell when they need a bit of extra support – and what they need support with. To get some advice from the best, I spoke to Emily Christmas, HR Manager of Carrington West. Carrington West are one of the most sought-after recruitment companies to work for in the UK, and they are the proud holder of a Platinum IIP award. Having overseen hybrid working at her company for years, Emily had some great tips about supporting employees whilst they work from home. Here’s what she had to say:
Look for changes in the behaviour of your more remote employees.
If your team member has their camera turned off out of the blue, or their output of work has gone down, it could be a sign that something’s wrong. Note that you’re only looking for how their behaviour/output compares to what’s usual for them, not how the rest of your team functions.
Take a coaching approach.
Ask people what they need, rather than asking why something hasn’t been done. (The Harvard Business Review call this the difference between checking in (collaborative) and checking up (suffocating). People will feel more comfortable telling you what’s going on and what obstacles they ran into when any implication of blame is removed from the question. (Coaching approaches are shown to increase communication levels by 42%.)
Do weekly check-ins and GET SPECIFIC.
Ask employees to rate how they feel about their work, personal life, and overall well-being for the week out of 10. Oh, and 7 is not an option– it’s too neutral. Ask people to describe why they gave the score they did.
You can also ask team members to give you a DIO – a Decision, Idea or Opportunity that they’d like others’ thoughts or advice on – these can be things that have been weighing on your team members recently. Ask for a priority rating on each thing. A would be right now, B would be soon, and C is not an immediate issue.
Make sure people are supported from all angles.
Ensuring your team members are in conversation with their manager, their team leader, their HR person, and the rest of their team/colleagues is really important. This way, when somebody’s struggling, everybody can band together to support them, which takes a bit of pressure off the manager so they can continue supporting everybody in the team.
If you want to read about how to stay connected with your remote workers, check out my last article.
Or, if you want to see how engaged your employees are, go to https://wotter.me/.
Fraser Duncumb, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Fraser Duncumb is an expert in the employee engagement field. He believes that every person has the ability, enthusiasm, and creativity to excel in their work if only given the right conditions. Fraser is the CEO of Wotter, a platform that empowers companies to make work even better for their team, by tracking the effectiveness of employee engagement initiatives in order to continuously improve them. It’s Fraser’s conviction that the success of individuals is what propels a company, and he is committed to promoting a focus on engagement at this personal level.
