How to Set Employee Expectations for Remote Workers

If Your Time is Short

Remote workers are taking the world by storm. According to Forbes, it is projected that 25% of all professionals will be remote by 2022, and will only continue to increase.

Managing remote workers then will be a pivotal part of business strategy. We will cover the do’s and don’ts of how to set employee expectations for remote work by covering the following in-depth:

• Setting Clear, Measurable, and Actionable Goals
• Record All Communication
• Check in Often
• Avoid Micromanagement Like the Plague
• “My Door is Always Open”
• Be Inclusive & Foster Friendships
• Take Advantage of Good Technologies
• Know What Motivates Your Employees
• Be Open Be Honest Be Transparent
• Agree on a Set Schedule
• Require at Least 1 Team Meeting a Week

The Deep Dive

Setting Clear, Measurable, and Actionable Goals

This is the first thing I cover here for a reason. A study found that remote workers actually tend to be more productive than office ones, working on average 16.8 more days per year. It doesn’t end there, a compilation of studies found that remote workers are typically 47% more productive than those working in an office setting. This means remote workers are working more often, and more efficiently, those are some hard stats to ignore, especially during hard times where only the most efficient businesses can survive.

However, in order to truly unlock this productivity boost, good management is a necessity. This starts with setting goals. Make no mistake, it is a skill in and of itself to not just set goals, but ensure they are carried out, and being able to track the process, progress, and results.

Good goal setting has 4 essential parts:

1. Make Sure It’s Measurable – Ask yourself, is the goal I am setting for my employee something that I can confirm is completed properly? Whether the goal is a certain number of sales contacts, articles produced, phone calls made, these data points act as a barometer to check the health of your business as well as your labor force. Because it is more difficult to monitor the day-to-day actions of a remote worker, having quantifiable goals ensures productivity and sets an expectation and pace for your employees to maintain.
2. Break it Down – We have all been there, staring down what seems like an insurmountable task, so daunted by it that we never actually begin. That is why you should simply break up larger projects into smaller tasks. One great advantage of this is it ties into the first practice of good goal setting. If you break a task into smaller parts, you can measure the progress. This is called a key performance indicator, or, KPI.
3. Be Generous with Time Allotted for a Task – If there is anything that the past few years have taught us, it is that stress and overwork are the kryptonite of productivity. In fact, research found that stressed employees are absent from work 60% more than their happier counterparts. They also tend to underperform while at work. Some estimate a stressed employee’s productivity level can drop by up to 77%! Another bit of research estimated that an employee who is overworked spends the equivalent of 58 more days out of the office because they simply are not working while on the job. The data is clear, you have to set realistic expectations and be patient. Patience pays in productivity.
4. Review and Reassess Goals Regularly – Out of mind, out of sight. To achieve our goals, they need to be on our minds regularly. Your team should constantly be reassessing and analyzing their goals. Ask, have you achieved what you set out to? If not, why? Is the goal itself still valuable? Adaptation in all scenarios is the number one determining factor for survival. Be sure your small goals are still helping you achieve your large ones. Also keep in mind that goals can be personal too. Fostering a sense of community and belonging among your team will pay back big dividends in the long run.

Record All Communications

This is an important one because in a remote work setting, it is very easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. You talk about something important in a meeting, one thing leads to another, life happens, and everyone has completely forgotten the discussion.

That is why to save everyone time and grief, it is simply a good practice to keep a good record of all communication channels, whether email, virtual calls, phone calls, etc. The nice thing is that technology has been evolving quickly, and call software such as Zoom, has a recording feature built right into it.

Check in Often

With remote workers, getting on the same page with everyone will always be a friction point. Considering how much more productive, happy, and less expensive a remote worker is compared to an office worker, it is worth the pain. It is simply about adapting to a new, and frankly, better way of doing business.

A study found that employers that do not have to provide office space and supplies for employees can save a LOT of money. Just having an employee work from home half of the time, according to this study, saved the company on average, $11,000 per employee annually! Even better, the employee saved an average of $4,000 themselves.

So, whether it is just a daily email blast, or a daily meeting, be sure to keep your finger on the pulse of your employees. It is good to think of them like immediate family. Ask them how they are doing, how they are feeling. Make sure they are not overwhelmed by their goals, and they understand them clearly. Routine communication, no matter how small, can go a long way to having a cohesive team.

Avoid Micromanagement Like the Plague

Few things will poison an organization faster than unnecessary nitpicking. Part of why remote workers are more productive is that they feel they have the freedom and respect of their managers, who trust them to get their work done. Micromanaging will stifle productivity and creativity. So simply take a step back and trust your instinct in choosing a competent employee. Your employee will be better at their job, and you will have a smaller workload. Everyone wins.

Also remember that there is a big difference between keeping regular, clear communication, and being a task master. Finding the balance is what separates bad managers from good ones.

“My Door is Always Open”

Mistakes can be costly. If one of your employees does something incorrectly, it means you will have to allot time, energy, and likely, the efforts of a more experienced and valued employee to pick up the pieces. That is why an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Let your remote work staff know that they can reach you at any time. This is especially important if you are in different time zones. There may be scheduling conflicts that make it difficult to stay on the same page.

Rarely is there such thing as too much communication. So let your workers know that they are not alone, and that they can reach out for help at any time. This will make them feel much more comfortable with attaining their goals. While of course it is not possible to always be available to answer immediately, simply try to ensure that all of your remote employees can have questions answered by someone rapidly and accurately.

Be Inclusive and Foster Friendships

Any business owner worth their salt knows that retention is the name of the game when it comes to having an effective team of employees. The Society for Human Resource Management reported that it costs an egregious 6 to 9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them. This does not even include the heartache and disruption the absence of the employee will cause to the workflow of your business.

A report also found that employees who have a friend in the office feel 22% more productive, and 21% more creative. The numbers seem simple, if your employees feel good, they will perform well. A cohesive team that actually cares about one another will be a top performer.

Isolation is a big problem when it comes to remote work. That is why you have to put extra focus and attention on keeping your remote workers involved in every aspect of the business, including getting them out to live events!

Fly them to conferences, host an annual get together. Let your workers become friends, become family. If they are happy, they will stick around, meaning they will get better at their job. You will also have lasting memories, priceless experiences, and you won’t have to replace someone every 6 months. It is a truly win, win situation.

Take Advantage of Good Technologies

We live in a golden age of technologies. Seems you can’t turn the corner without running into some new and useful software for business. There are many great tools out there to help keep a cohesive and productive remote work force, so be sure to use them!

Co-Schedule for example, is a content management and organization system that allows your entire team to post and schedule projects, provide updates, track progress, store ideas and talking points. This is an example of the many contact-less technologies that foster good communication and organization practices to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Know What Motivates Your Employees

The classic conundrum, is the carrot better, or the stick? The truth is, both positive and negative reinforcement can serve as effective management tools, they simply need to be applied at the right time and place, and used in a balanced manner.

Remember that not all your employees can be motivated the same way. The same water that hardens the egg, softens the potato. That is why an effective manager will learn the ins and outs of each employee. Understand what makes them tick, what motivates them, what their aspirations are.

Be strategic and use a deft hand. Know where and when to apply pressure, and where to alleviate it and to encourage your team. Often today, many employees struggle with mental health, so a few encouraging words on a regular basis can go a long way.

In today’s climate, it can be easy and even natural to get discouraged. If you are picking up on this from one of your employees, schedule some time to talk to them, or find subtle ways to let them know they are doing a good job and you value them and respect them as your employee and even your friend. It can make all the difference in the world for their personal and professional lives.

Be Open, Be Honest, Be Transparent

It’s a simple fact of life, you get what you give. When you have a remote team, it will be a battle to ensure that everyone is on the same page. That is why as usual, honestly is the best policy. Keep things simple and clear. If you are not upfront about why your business is taking a certain action, it will undoubtedly affect the performance of your workers.

Your employees, whether remote or not, need to know exactly how, why, where, and when things are happening in the business. Do not make an enemy of your own team. Make sure everyone is aligned with the same goals. You don’t want your team working at counter purposes all because you could not be honest with them about your company’s intentions.

Agree on a Set Schedule

This one is a no-brainer. While it is good to be flexible for durability and structural integrity, don’t be so flexible that your team cannot stand up on its own.

Research has found that a set schedule tends to make people more productive and less stressed. You just have to be sure that you are still meeting your productivity goals. Don’t be so focused on alleviating stress that your employees are not doing anything, but do not become a task master either. As always, find the golden mean.

The best practice is to allot your employees with an expected number of hours to work a week, making it the exception, not the rule to deviate too far from these expectations. It is good to allow some flexibility however, or your employees may get bitter or stressed, stop enjoying the job, and we all know where that leads.

Require at Least 1 Team Meeting a Week

We saved the best for last here. Having a weekly team meeting combines pretty much all of the strategies mentioned above for how to set employee expectations for remote workers.

A required meeting establishes routine, helps build relationships, keeps communication open, allows for clear goal setting, time for questions. A good weekly meeting can be a pillar for your entire business strategy. It serves as an excellent place to brainstorm, delegate important tasks, and set expectations for the coming week. That is why of all the techniques, this is probably the most vital to ensuring continued success with a remote team.