Making Your Business Fully Remote 101
Friday, March 22, 2019, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Nowadays, remote working is becoming a concept that we meet every day.
Even in traditional businesses, chances are that you’ll wrap up your work when you get home or at least use your personal computer to respond to a couple of corporate emails.
Well, if this is so, why not just move your entire business to a virtual environment?
After all, in an era that’s more and more cloud-based, just how hard can it be?
The answer to this question is – you would be surprised. Running a fully remote business is one thing and running a successful remote business is something else entirely.
Here are several things that could help you bridge this gap.
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System of communication
The first thing you need is to establish a system of communication with your employees.
An average person uses Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype and emails to communicate with others, however, when you’re running a company, it’s important that you make this systemic.
Therefore, try to restrict your interaction with your employees to a single app, regardless if it’s a collaboration tool that you’re using or a circular email list.
It’s also good to go for a tool that you opt for to be used only for business instead of it being a universal tool for work and private contacts. This is why you might want to go for an alternative specialized IM service.
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Remote control software
Another thing you need to prepare yourself for is helping your employees out in the time of need.
Even if your hiring requirements are fairly high, you need to understand that tutorials and guides are not efficient enough.
In a real office, you would be able to just walk straight to their desk and fix the problem but in a virtual workplace, you have to be extra crafty.
First of all, have them install remote control software of their choice. This is a standard tool in most virtual workplaces, however, it’s also a security hazard. You don’t want employees to feel like their privacy is endangered so try to be extra transparent when using it.
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Consider digital nomadism
Other than these two things, you also need to consider the probability of digital nomadism. You see, you shouldn’t assume that all your employees will be working from home, just because they aren’t working from an actual office.
Normally, you would have to cover all of your employees with workplace insurance, but such a thing would not be applicable to the virtual workplace.
What you can do instead is protect your virtual nomads with a travel insurance policy. This will help you transfer at least one aspect of the traditional workplace into a digital environment.
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Shared office spaces
Just because you don’t really need an office this doesn’t mean that you can’t use one. A traditional office layout is made to be pragmatic and provide one with a boost in productivity.
Also, an immediate company of peers is a feature that’s easy to underestimate. The fear of alienation is a real danger in the virtual workplace, which is why it might be a good idea to find a solution to this problem.
Shared office spaces are a great way to allow some of your employees to have this traditional workplace experience without having to force it onto others or lease a place.
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Employee monitoring software
The next thing you should consider is the fact that the productivity of your employees in a virtual workplace needs to be frequently monitored.
Some workplaces require check-ins, whereas others just set deadlines and measure one’s performance based on their ability to deliver results by that date.
The flaw in the latter system lies in the fact that if the employee in question fails to deliver results, you’ll be in quite a problem, especially if their work is important for the completion of the project as a whole.
With employee monitoring software, you can respond in time by either warning the negligent employee or by switching the task onto someone else.
Of course, moving deadlines a bit further can also do the trick but you won’t always have the privilege of time.
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Hire the people you trust
Remote workers have an incredible amount of autonomy and with no one to watch over their shoulder, it’s up to them to be reliable, ambitious and hard-working.
Therefore, your vetting process needs to be as complex and as reliable as possible. Ask for experience, ask to see examples of their work and don’t be reluctant to test them out first.
Naturally, there are a lot of businesses out there which turn this “testing process” into a way of making people work for them for free. In order to show your potential employees that this is not your intention, you should probably offer to pay them for a work well-done. This will ensure that you start off on the right foot.
Conclusion
Even following this list to the letter doesn’t guarantee absolute success in the business world, as there’s no such thing. However, by taking these safety measures and establishing a proper virtual infrastructure, your odds will drastically increase.
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