It’s easy to make mistakes in business. People management, office management and financial management all need your attention and when you have only two eyes and a million things to watch over, things can get complicated. If you’re a modern company, you’ll know that one of the many things that employees appreciate is the ability to work flexibly. The reason for this is that spending 10 hours a day commuting and working away from home is stressful, and employees are so much more than just cogs in the business machine that you’ve so carefully crafted.
There is a huge variety of benefits to allowing people in your organisation to work from home and away from the office environment, and it’s little to do with your overheads being cheaper. Happy employees work harder and work better in the long run, and you are able to cultivate an environment where people are more relaxed and spending less of their time away from their families. There are mistakes that can be made, though, and we’ve listed a few of these for you below.
- Lack Of Rapport. You interview and hire your employees yourself, and whether they work in the office or from home, you have to ensure that you build up a good enough relationship that they can trust you with anything that they are worried about. Rapport is important in management, and with it comes a more relaxed relationship all round.
- Lack Of Security. Working away from the office requires you to be vigilant as a manager in how you manage your data security. Your IT team should be on the ball with network security services so that those working away from the office have the same access as those in the office, and none of the security issues that surround it. Touching base with employees and very frequent checks on the security you have in place are crucial.
- Lack Of Communication. Being remote and away from the office means that celebrating company wins leaves your workers out. There are ways around this, though. You could schedule that all remote employees come to the office once a month for an achievement ceremony to recognise all they do. You could also communicate weekly with your staff to explain how well they are doing on a one to one basis.
- Lack Of Praise. It’s easy to praise the sales floor of your business – they’re right there in front of you. The remote workers that you don’t see are those who can slip through the cracks, so make a point of encouraging their efforts. They’re still working for you, just not in the same room at the same time, so they deserve recognition and virtual high-fives in place of the real ones.
Your business needs to run smoothly and for that you need employees who care about what you are trying to achieve. If you can’t see that these are your people who need nurturing, remote work and flexible opportunities shouldn’t be on offer. Be smart about your staff and conscious of their needs and you can work together in harmony.