How to Look After Your Remote Web Team
The web industry was one of the first to introduce remote working, even before it started to become popular. Many web design companies and similar businesses noticed that they could get most, if not all, of their work done remotely. When remote working boomed, the web industry was in the perfect position to do whatever they needed to do from the comfort of their own home. While some work in a hybrid form, others work remotely full time, and it’s hard to make sure that the latter are getting the attention they need. If you’re a boss or manager in the web industry, how do you make sure you’re looking after your remote web team properly? Here are just a few ways to do so.
Keep Them in the Loop
Thanks to the number of conferencing apps out there, remote workers can attend any meeting that they need to. It’s all too easy, especially if some of your team is in the office, to not keep remote workers in the loop. It’s not so much a case of out of sight, out of mind, but more the fact that conversations in the office often happen naturally and you might discuss an important issue without even noticing it. The easiest way to keep your remote workers in the loop is to set up regular meetings with them in which they can ask any questions that they may have and you can give them the information that might be relevant to them. Remote working has so many benefits but it’s easy for those who work in this form to miss out on certain conversations or pieces of information that come naturally during office chat.
Keep Their Training Up to Date
The world of web design and other similar businesses are constantly evolving. With processes changing so much, it’s important to keep the skills and knowledge of your team members up to date. Making sure that your remote team members are keeping up with their training and that you’re offering them everything that is available to them, is so important. For example, training such as AWS cloud practitioner training can be done completely from home and is an important part of the future of the web industry.
Remote working can actually make training like this so much easier. Working from home brings a level of flexibility that isn’t often found in the office; that is, when they can fit training into their schedule at their own convenience, you might find that it’s easier at your end to make sure that your team is keeping up with their training commitments.
Look After Your Remote Web Team – Make Them Feel Valued
In the office, you might naturally speak to your team and let them know what a good job they did on a particular task. When someone works remotely though, the only time you usually speak to them is through scheduled meetings.
These meetings often have agendas and don’t leave a lot of room for praising the remote team members who have done a good job. It’s so important to make sure that you do this though, as it’s great for keeping up morale and vital for letting them know what they are doing right. Even if you have to set time into the meeting agenda to do this, so be it. It doesn’t have to be this formal though; sometimes a quick message is all they need to get that feeling of being valued and like they are doing great. When you’re remote and are only corresponding through mostly messages, it’s hard to get those positive feelings across. This means it’s crucial to try your hardest to do so.
Encourage Them to Take Breaks
Remote working can offer a great work/life balance but only when proper breaks are taken. When you work from home, it’s easy to always feel like you’re, sort of, always at work. This means that you are less likely to take the breaks that you deserve. As a boss or manager, encouraging your remote workers to take the breaks that they want or need can actually help them do their job better and keep them working productively.
It’s easy to think that only those who don’t work hard take regular breaks. However, you can’t work hard without taking regular breaks, as they can act as a real boost when you get back to them.
Keep the Office Door Open
This certainly only applies if there is still an office to go to. Many companies sold their office space when remote working grew so rapidly. However, if there is still an office, letting your remote workers know that they can always come back can be a great feeling for them. Remote working is right for so many people, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and you certainly don’t want a member of your team to feel trapped in their own house.
Creating a culture that promotes the idea that they can come back whenever they like (or never if they don’t want to) is a great environment to work in and can make the members of your team who work from home feel included and like they have options. In many cases, just having the option is enough and your employees will stay working remotely. You might find though, that some team members absolutely jump at the chance at joining the web team in the office and don’t look back.
Remote Web Team in the Challenging Times
The web industry is known to be very stressful at times. With so much changing all the time, a lot of competition, and difficult requests to fulfill, it’s understandable that those who work in this industry may start to feel the pressure. This is especially the case if you work remotely in an area such as web design. It’s very important for managers and bosses to make sure that their remote workers in this industry are being treated as well as they can. This leads to happy and productive workers that can navigate this, often difficult, the field of work. If you are looking to expand your global team, using an employer of record provider such as Remote can avoid legal complications and streamline your HR processes.