Hiring & Managing Staff: Lesson 5
Remote Workers
Jaime Williams, an Assistant Professor at Tennessee Tech University with a specialized topic in Human Resource Management, will be discussing remote workers.
Topics:
- Define Remote Workers
- Steps to Setting Up Remote
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
- Check-ins
Test Your Knowledge
To receive credit for taking this course through TSBDC, watch the video and take the quiz that will appear below to demonstrate your knowledge.
Video Lesson Topics
- 0:12
- Define Remote Workers
Remote workers are the employees that complete work through electronic interactions, telecommunications, and internet technology outside of a centralized workplace.
- 0:33
- Steps to Setting Up Remote
- Define Work and Expectations: Not every job is suitable for remote work like a receptionist or warehouse employees. However, customer service reps, sales people, and IT specialist can be entirely successful conducting their business in another location.
- Hire the Right People: Hiring and placing the workers who desire a remote work assignment and who are suited for remote work, is very critical. Not everyone is well suited to remote work. The characteristics in an employee who would be successful in remote work include a self starting attitude, maturity, the ability to communicate and collaborate, and a demonstrated commitment to their work.
- Provide Appropriate Technology: You want to make sure that your employees and organization have the appropriate technology to easily facilitate remote work. You may have to invest in a intranet, file sharing software, remote access software, client management system, video conferencing, or communication apps.
- Test Remote Work: You are going to want to test a small percentage of your workers in a remote work arrangement before you fully go remote. Conducting a test is a good way to see how remote can work for your company.
- Build a Remote Culture: It is important to make sure that your remote workers can participate in your organizational culture and feel a part of the company. What is more important speed or quality of work? How does your team communicate most often? How does visibility and meeting impact employees rise in the company? How much does your team work? These questions will help you determine if telework is right for the positions and people that you have.
- 3:28
- Advantages
- There are fewer expenditures for employees
- Save commuting time
- Increase employee morale, job satisfaction, productivity to the organization, if the remote work situation matches their preferred work method.
- 4:31
- Disadvantages
- Possibility of working more hours for your individuals
- A social isolation component
- Electronic media does limit employee interaction and may stifle company culture
- Role conflict between work and family
- May cause poor performance in teams
- Absence of home and work boundaries
- 5:57
- Check-ins
It is important to schedule regular check-in calls and in-person meetings, depending on the job, with your virtual employees. Arrange for remote workers to join in team activities or meetings since nothing beats face-to-face interactions. These activities depend on the job of the remote workers and if you want to have them monthly or a couple times a year.
Topics & Lessons
Each Below Topic Contains a Video Lesson and Helpful Downloadable Information
Employment Law
Employees or Contractors?
Hiring & Onboarding
Diversity & Inclusion
Remote Workers
Employee Retention Strategies
Employer Obligations
Workplace Safety
Building and Training the Right Team
When the Employment Relationship Ends
Want to learn more about how this topic relates to your business?
Schedule a meeting with one of our consultants! All counseling sessions offered by the TSBDC are no-cost and provided by our staff of professional business consultants.
