Adapting to rapidly changing requirements is an essential capability in any company. The unique challenges of long-term remote work have tested the strength of many organizations this year. Although nearly a quarter of the U.S. workforce worked remotely at least part of the time before the pandemic, COVID-19 has completely altered where work happens — in some cases, permanently. Momentum, Inc. combines our own experience with a distributed workforce and proven techniques to offer our tips for managing a long-term remote workforce.

Understand Remote Work Challenges

To better understand how to manage the remote workforce long-term, you’ll first need to consider the challenges workers face working remotely. Even if your company already had a telework policy or distributed workforce, there were probably requirements like dedicated office space, child or elderly care, and access to the right tools and technology. Employees that have had to work from home unexpectedly may have a less-than-ideal working environment. How can managers deal with that?

Momentum has had a distributed workforce since our inception in 1998. Over the past two decades, we have adapted to these unique challenges to promote camaraderie, productivity, and problem-solving skills. We’ve listened to our consultants and clients, and many of them have dealt with some or all of these work-from-home roadblocks in recent months:

• Limited child or elderly care
• Remote or hybrid schooling, requiring more supervision
• Multiple individuals working from home at once, limiting office space and technology access
• Difficulty managing the work-life balance and blurred lines between work time and off time
• Difficulty accessing work materials and lack of communication with colleagues and managers

How to Manage A Long-Term Remote Workforce

What began as a short-term stopgap became a months-long requirement. Many businesses plan to maintain a remote work posture until 2021; some are even considering permanent distributed workforce arrangements. The nature of our work at Momentum has made us find innovative solutions to managing a long-term remote workforce. We have a few tips for how to manage employees remotely over the long haul.

1. Provide Consistent, Reliable Access to Required Work Materials

Many of our clients, especially in the public sector, have proprietary and secure systems with specific access protocols. Accessing shared network drives or even a computer is a challenge for some, especially without adequate preparation to procure technology.

Are you regularly assessing employees’ technology needs and delivering them? Nothing is more frustrating to a dedicated worker than being unable to access the required materials, whether it’s a consistent VPN connection, network drive, software, or communication platform. Information technology support is critical, and following through on solving known issues is key to fostering trust and encouraging productivity.

Technology problems will always happen, and managers and senior leaders must actively solve these problems and communicate with workers to offer workarounds and find approaches that work.

2. Encourage Daily Communication in Multiple Formats

It’s challenging to balance the need to be informed with the risk of micromanaging. Daily check-ins help keep a pulse on what everyone is doing. These can look like simple check-in emails, a phone call at a set time every day, video conferencing, or other forums available to team members.

Momentum requires consultants to provide a daily status report to outline what they have worked on that day. These reports keep the team informed and reduces feelings of isolation and loneliness. We also habitually activate our cameras during conference calls. Sharing our cameras allows for those visual cues associated with true face-to-face communication.

What works for your organization will likely look different from another, but what’s most important is providing various options and setting clear goals. Communication flows much more easily when team members understand that daily contact is an important tool to keep the entire team in the loop rather than an attempt at micro-management.

3. Focus on Outcomes and Results

Office work structures were lost for many organizations in recent months. It is unrealistic to expect the same degree of structure at home. Managers should focus on work outcomes and results, instead of specific work times, for those who have had to adapt to full-time telework quickly. This emphasis is especially true for workers dealing with additional unexpected challenges.

Momentum has long understood that the nature of our work leads to unusual working hours and arrangements. Since our team members are already in disparate locations, we focus on their work outcomes rather than strictly on hours worked. Does your agency or organization have a flexible work schedule available? Are employees able to tailor their work times to accommodate their unique situation while still achieving organizational goals? When coupled with consistent communication, non-traditional schedules and arrangements can still yield productive and engaged team members and work products.

Long-Term Remote Workforce Management Solutions

Momentum, Inc. recognizes the complex needs of the remote or distributed workforce. We have worked with organizations to provide management consulting and process support across multiple industries, understanding that each organization’s needs are unique.

We can help you find creative solutions for managing your long-term remote workforce so you can build productive and engaged teams. Contact our diverse team of consultants today.