As an employer, you should not assume that automatically a good worker will be successful as a remote employee. Mastery of specific skills surpassing industry knowledge is included in productive telecommuting. The good news is that the employees can be taught to be extra proficient at work, employees can reap the benefits of it if they take the initiative.

It can be a learning curve in the career to thrive in a remote workplace or virtual office for those employees who are used to going to and fro from office with 9-5 timings. Recent reports have highlighted some significant findings related to this topic. It shows that with the employers, several workers have a kind of flexible work arrangement. A majority of 57% did not receive any kind of guidance or training on how to handle work remotely. It was also seen that the employees that received training were feeling more engaged in their work and 70% more productive, as of the ones that were not trained were (53%).

Having a formal training boost 53% of the employee’s skills and abilities to communicate, be innovative and creative with their fellow co-workers. Those who did not receive any training were at 39%. This is why it is essential that the management set the employees a thriving change from office to the home office.

Here are five tips that will help you to train your employees to work remotely:

1. Nurture Collaboration

In an office, the relations that are developed by the workers have a huge impact on their job satisfaction and productivity. A survey was conducted of 1000+ employees, 66% were found to have a positive effect on their productivity and focus by their co-workers. In another analysis, it was found that 40% had listed that the thing they loved most about their job was their co-workers.

They also mentioned that they start to feel detached from the team the more time they stay out of the office during working hours. Researchers have shown that while working, talking to an email address all day that is faceless can make the workers feel lonely. The management should encourage collaboration among employees so that their work and relationship can be efficient and strong in the office.

The management should begin with taking the time to properly introducing new members to the team. If possible throw break parties to make the new member feel comfortable with the team. This will help them to trust and understand each other. Make the new member collaborate with each member in a task over the time.

For the existing team, give group projects with tasks assigned to each member so that they work together to fulfill the task. This will build the relationship and will help them understand each other’s skills, abilities, and weaknesses. Knowing one person’s weakness, they can help him to learn and develop in that area. All of these developments will help them when they are working remotely.

Allow them to have a chat room or an email chain. The more they communicate, the faster they can work. This will give them social connections and build relationships.

2. Teach them about the technology used

Remote working often requires the use of modern technology for collaboration and communication. The issue is that everyone who comes to work comes with different levels of competency. So you as an employer should not just assume that they know how to use the tech, video call or completely understand how the Slacks channels work. Conducting training programs can be more active rather than just thinking that your workers know automatically how to do it.

They should be taught how to navigate the specific tools when they are working on their own or even when they are alone. Additionally, this will also give you a peek at what your employee is good in.

It’s a good idea to schedule check-ins with your team as well as each individual worker to assess how they’re doing on both a professional and personal level. Telecommuters may not be quick on their own to recognize and rectify areas that could use improvement. Providing convenient handbooks, tutorials, webinars, and other educational tools dealing with issues such as time management, organization, and communication demonstrates your company’s seriousness about developing skills that aid in remote performance.

On a personal level, if one of your workers feels lonely being remote, encourage them to connect with colleagues outside of the office or take advantage of some of the more social aspects of the communications tools you’ve implemented to still feel that camaraderie they’re craving.

Then, help them see the positives of remote work, such as the ability to have better work-life balance, and remind them that they can always reach out to you at any time for guidance. That way they’ll understand that in a remote work environment, out of sight is never out of mind. This will help you to make it all work by concentrating on the weak points of the employees. This helps in increasing efficiency and effectiveness in working remotely.

You should also take time and create a schedule about when and how the employees are expected to do certain things so that this guides them when you are not there. Set a time limit for reading and checking the emails, if everyone knows that Charles checks his mail every 2 hours, then there will be no pressure on him to respond in a hurry. This will increase the concentration at work also.

It is essential to understand that each person is different and each one of them processes information differently. Give them guidelines on how to read and process the situations or emails so that they are able to work faster. Others who are fast at these tasks should be given small doses of other situations to increase efficiency.

3. Let is Phase in

Unless the company swiftly requires to be 100% in working remotely, try to implement your employees in phases. E.g., To start to test the remote working, you will have to make a number of employees (3 to 4) work remotely for at least two days a week.

This will help in different ways, one – the employees will have a quick ride and will know how it goes especially for the ones who have not done it before. Two – you can check what they feel they need to work more efficiently remotely and resolve the problems before entering the phase. This will also reduce more problems and resolve upcoming issues.

You can use this opportunity to give them a run-through on using the communication tools, the communication options, etc. It will give the workers the feeling of safety also as they will be able to come to the office3 while the complications are being worked on. It balances the work life and working remotely.

4. Give Guidance

The workplace policy should not be “sink or swim,” it should be positive. You should have a flexible work policy, make your employees aware that you are there is they need anything or help with any issues. They should know that you are there to help with issues such as tech problems, or getting used to working remotely. You should establish a streamlined communication down the line with your workers so that it helps when going completely remote.

5. Check in

Do regular check-ins. It is a good thing to conduct regular check-ins with the team as well as individually. This will help you assess them on both a professional and personal basis. The workers may not be able to see and rectify all of their problems, and you can help them.

Provide them with handbooks, tutorials, webinars and other educational tools which will help them to deal with other issues like organization, communication, and title management. Doing so you show how serious your company is about developing skills and remote performance of workers.

Encourage your workers to stay in connection with each other so that working remotely does not make them feel lonely. Let them stay in contact with each other personally and socially as these communication tools can be used to improve the efficiency.

Help them see the positive sides of working remotely, such as the work-life balance, remind them that they can always keep in contact with you and also reach out to you if they require guidance. That way they will understand that working remotely is a nice advantage to everyone.

Conclusion

With the help of these tips you would be able to build a team that would work perfectly for your business and help in growing faster. But again for that, you need to give time to them as well and train them to work together remotely and properly.