How to build a thriving remote workforce

Remote working is becoming the norm for many office workers around the globe since the rise of COVID-19 and, it will possibly remain that way in the future with potentially almost half of office staff working remotely in the forseeable future. With this change setting into the work environment, how can business owners ensure a thriving remote workforce?

Quick, Effective Communication

Communication enables that information be passed from one member to another member, or one team to another effectively, allowing individuals within an organisation to understand their roles within a specific process or what is required of them for a specific period of time, whether it be for a day, week or month. In the workplace, it is very important to be in constant communication, especially if your workforce is operating remotely. When it comes to quick, constant communication, there are some methods that are better than other. We all know a quick email or a quick call is necessary from time-to-time but using tools such as Microsoft Teams, or if you don’t have Microsoft365, a free alternative like Trello and Slack which gives teams a platform to manage expectations, project tasks, send messages, video call and more in one platform. Microsoft Teams, is the most comprehensive when it comes to this as it offers a project management tool, instant messaging, file sharing, video calling and more whereas, utilising a platform like Slack and Trello will require you to use both platforms for their relative features.

Company wiki’s or resource portals

When it comes to remote work, its important to ensure that you have resources freely available that enable employees to retrieve the information they would generally retrieve in-person through being in the office space. This is particularly information regarding your products and services, your company processes and procedures and relevant departmental structures and contact information. In essence, you need to document the 20% of processes that run 80% of your business. Having a company wiki or a resource portal helps to enable employees to find these answers themselves without the need to come to the office or constantly bother other employees with details that could rather be documented and retrieved. A great tool for this is Microsoft Teams, which allows you to utilise its wiki functionality to add multiple wikis that can be shared with the organisation or multiple individuals in a specific teams group.

Regular Meetings

A great way to keep comaraderie and team-focus is through regular meetings. Taking an approach similar to Agile in your organisation that requires daily or weekly standup meetings where there can be quick discussions on the goals ahead and feedback on work performed in the previous day or week can help ensure all employees or teams are on the same page at all times and know what is expected of them. Again, Microsoft Teams is a great platform as it allows you to have video calls with individuals or teams with a click of a button.

At the end of the day, a thriving remote workforce is built on the foundation of communication in its various forms and with Microsoft365, teams have the tools at their hands to ensure productivity and a functioning team dynamic, even if they are separated geographically.

Would you like a quote on Microsoft365 for your team? Contact us.