Tips on How To Manage Your Remote Workforce

Thanks to the pandemic, there have been real shifts in how and where we work. For many, the time has come to work remotely full-time. While there are lots of people who have been very happy with the shift to remote working, there are others who find it more challenging.

It’s a big shift in the way they work and as such, they’ll struggle. Here’s how you can help that team member adjust to this way of working. 

Understand What’s Impacting Their Work

The first thing to do is to understand what is making work difficult for your team member. The overall reason will most likely be that they are struggling to adapt to working remotely, but you need to zero in on what’s making it hard for them. 

For example, it could be that childcare has fallen through and they’re trying to take care of their kids while working. They may not have a suitable workspace in their home and so they have to work in an environment that isn’t conducive to being productive. 

Also Read: How To Support Mental Health Of Your Remote Team

There could be all kinds of reasons why your team member is suddenly not performing to their best standard. If you can narrow down exactly what it is that they’re struggling with, you can then start to help them. 

Don’t Feel As Though You Can’t Reach Out

Many managers hesitate to reach out and help their team members in cases like these. “They feel as though they’re overstepping, as it could be a personal issue,” says Caroline Peters, a business writer with UKWritings. “In fact, it could well be an issue that you can help with.”

Remember, at the end of the day, your team member needs to be able to do their job to the best of their ability. You’re there to help them do that, so make sure you reach out and ask if anything is impeding them from getting the job done. 

Remember That Remote Work Unveils A Lot Of Issues

When people first started working remotely during the pandemic, they quickly found that a lot of their work processes were not really made for the world of remote work. The new setup showed that certain processes were slow, or didn’t really work as well as they should have. 

This is important to consider when you’re working with a team member who apparently isn’t performing well. Is it that they’re finding it harder to use certain systems? After all, they can’t simply walk over to their colleague’s desk and ask for help. 

If you find that it’s an issue with a process that’s occurring, then you can work with that team member to address it, and potentially make changes to make it better for remote working. 

Separate Emotion From Fact

“When handling a team member who is underperforming, you may need to remove any emotion from the process,” says Andy Harrison, a tech blogger at Ox Essays. “Emotions can get heightened when working remotely, and that’s not going to help when you try to get to the root of the issue.”

For example, if another team member has come to you, asking you to help as a certain team member isn’t fulfilling their duties, they may be irritated and frustrated. You want to ensure that you hear that frustration, but then remove the emotion so you just have the facts of the case. That will help you deal with it more effectively. 

Consider Your Own Role

While there can be all sorts of things affecting your team member’s performance, remember that you may also have a part to play in the issues they’re having. That’s not something that’s pleasant for you to consider, but it is important that you consider it. After all, that’s good management. 

For example, think about whether you’ve been clear enough in your expectations when directing this team member. Have you given them all the tools they may need to do their job? Sometimes you may not even know what it is that’s missing from the equation. You can ask the team member if there’s something they need from you, so they can do their job effectively. 

Also Read: 5 Employee Appreciation Ideas For Your Remote Team

Don’t Lower Expectations

If you feel a team member is struggling when working remotely, then you’ll be tempted to lower the bar for them so they can meet expectations. However, this isn’t going to help them or your business in the long run. It’s much better to find out what they’re struggling with first and then put measures in place to help them meet the bar that was already there. 

The best place to do this is through video chat, as you’ll be able to read each others’ expressions. You can check in on the team member and ask them why they feel they’re struggling. It’s important you listen carefully to their answer, as that will help you put the right measures in place. For example, quick, in-person jobs may now have become a long string of emails or messages, making it harder to keep up. Now you know what’s wrong, you can start making changes. 

Get The Team Member Involved

Since your team member has told you what’s causing issues with their remote work, it only makes sense that they help you solve it. When talking with them, ask them what they would change if they could. That shows that you trust them to be able to help improve the situation and help you find ways to put things right. 

This will also give them the chance to ask for that help, without worrying about doing so. Often, they will be able to find just the right solution themselves, and get the work back up and running quickly.

If a team member isn’t performing as they should under remote work, you don’t need to panic. You can work with them to find the solution, and solve the issue quickly and easily. 


manage remote employees


Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is remote work?

Ans. Remote work is a working arrangement where employees need not go to the office and can work from any remote location.

Q2. What are the benefits of remote work?

Ans. Some of the benefits of remote work include:

  1. Work/life balance
  2. Cost saving
  3. Freedom and flexibility
  4. Health and happiness
  5. Save time

Q3. What are the demerits of working from a remote location?

Ans. Some of the cons of working remotely include:

  1. Lack of social interaction
  2. Communciation gaps
  3. Management challenges
  4. More number of meetings
  5. Distractions at workspace

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This article is written by Jenny Han.

Jenny Han

Jenny Han is a writer for Paper Writing Service. She covers the world of remote work.

How AI is Enabling Cloud-based SaaS Applications for Remote Work

The pandemic introduced remote work culture to all forms of businesses. Organizations that didn’t have the capability to go remote found it extremely hard to find a reliable solution. 

Organizations migrating towards SaaS-based and cloud-based applications were obvious and ultimately the only solution. 

A generous amount was spent to migrate and sustain. According to Gartner, the total amount spent on cloud-based SaaS applications will be $171,915 this year.

But integrating SaaS apps is not an easy task. It involves a lot of repetitive tasks and that can increase the cost. That is when AI comes in. It can help you avoid repetitive tasks and save time and resources for more important tasks.

In this article, we will discuss different aspects of how AI can help you enhance remote work capabilities.

AI Operations

remote work strategies with AI

As discussed above, more and more companies are preferring SaaS and cloud-based solutions. Due to this, the intake of enterprise content has increased. This sudden increase in content consumption has led to an increase in demand for AI-based operations.  

First, let us understand what AI-based operations are.

It is a multi-layer technology platform that enhances the capabilities of SaaS applications. Its functionalities take remote working to the next level. With the help of machine learning (ML) algorithms and analytics, it offers the best-in-class operational experience. 

Also Read: Remote Work Challenges and How to Overcome Them

AI collects data from several resources of your organization and then deploys an ML algorithm to show real-time changes in your SaaS app. The analysis performed will be detailed and have all the different parameters.  

AI operations operate on two components, namely ML and Big data. They would require more data other than records and logs. Moreover, it will also collect data from operational analytics, CRM tools, security systems, and more.

AI operations are so competent that they are able to detect any changes in the security of your system. So, this part is important when your employees are working from home and are accessing the system via an unsecured network. 

Hence, apart from tracking changes in the data, it is a savior for a company in maintaining the confidential information of projects.

AI as a Software

If you use AI as the software, it can enable third-party integration as a SaaS application. For instance, you want to integrate some marketing solutions into your CRM application.  

With AI algorithms, you can design custom APIs as per the vendor’s environment and seamlessly integrate SaaS-based CRM software.

Most organizations develop custom APIs for such integrations. But this way, you have to create a new API from scratch. However, AI can help you reuse scripts with minor changes for the new environment. This will reduce the development time of APIs.

There are frameworks that offer reusable scripts but they are not flexible to adjust to different environments and are highly opinionated. Also, remote integration would need enterprises to deploy APIs to cloud platforms and require smart functionalities along with thorough monitoring of assets.

AI as a software monitors tools and can help organizations track deployment remotely for different environments. AI would also help you overcome challenges while executing remote deployments.  

Flexible Integrations

It is obvious that an organization would require several interactions for different functionalities like CRM, security, and communication. A lot of enterprises use Communication as a Service integration for calls, messages, and VOIP features.  

In a similar way, there are other integrations that every enterprise-level app would need to enhance the user experience.

Deployment

Once organizations decide to go remote, they face challenges while deploying SaaS applications remotely. It is difficult to store the core service in local data centers for security reasons and uptime. But you can use a hybrid cloud approach to execute deployments. There is a challenge here too. Deployments require continuous streamlining of integrations and deliveries. 

For example, you want a chatbot integrated into your SaaS application. For its deployments, you would require to configure trigger functions that activate storage, data processing, and analysis. Chatbots have AI as their core function. But still, you can use AI for deployment. It will create a deployment pipeline to streamline everything.

It is also capable enough to deliver content across platforms effectively along with creating and collaborating content remotely.

Also Read: How to Develop and Sustain Employee Engagement in Remote Workplace

Content Delivery

When you have a high number of resources working in your organization, you would require reliable solutions to deliver content on all platforms while ensuring the user experience is excellent. For example, the required images and videos in the content would require a reliable network or it will slow the loading time of the page.   

You will require an efficient network to deliver the content on time. Organizations use Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to handle loading challenges and any performance glitches. AI-based CDN can help SaaS apps deliver content timely with a faster loading speed. It instantly enhances customer experience. It will use an auto-deployment pipeline that is triggered by ML algorithms. You would need a trigger function that can be customized as per your business needs.

Customization

Customization is the only key to making it compatible with all types of business requirements. You might have to customize trigger functions for your apps to elaborate your SaaS strategy. After strategizing all the AI integrations, the next would be to assess existing apps and define functions that require triggers.  

For instance, let’s say you are building a SaaS app for marketing requirements. You will be required to define a trigger function like follow-up emails, auto-replies, etc. The advice from an expert would help you more in understanding and executing all the uses. You can hire remote developers who can help with the development of essential trigger functions. 

Security

remote work

Security has always been a major concern for organizations. The risk further increases when all your employees are working from home. AI can help you mitigate the risk involved while using SaaS apps. 

AI can match patterns and assess human factors, and ML can replicate hackers’ actions to figure out risks beforehand. Thus, companies can invest in AI-based cloud security services to identify abnormal behaviors. It works as a repellent to cybercrimes and saves companies from fear of fraud and threats.

Final Thoughts

SaaS or cloud-based application platforms are continuously evolving. There are a lot of beneficiary updates happening to keep up with the demand for remote-working employees. AI has made it easier and safer for both organizations and their employees. Organizations are able to offer all the services in a better way without impacting the customer experience while maintaining the secrecy of all the data. 

Employees are able to work efficiently with SaaS and cloud-based apps from the comfort of their homes. If your organization requires any AI integrations on SaaS apps, you must hire remote developers who have expertise in this field. They will help you make your platform more secure without affecting the customer experience.  


AI enables remote work


Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What are AI-based operations? 

Ans. AI-based operations is a multi-layer technology platform that enhances the capabilities of SaaS applications.

Q2. What is the full form of SaaS?

Ans. Software as a service (SaaS) is a cloud-based method to provide software to users.

Q3. What happens when AI is used as software?

Ans. AI as a software monitors tools and can help organizations track deployment remotely for different environments. AI would also help you overcome challenges while executing remote deployments. 


This article is written by Harikrishna Kundariya.

Harikrishna Kundariya

Harikrishna Kundariya is a marketer, developer, IoT, ChatBot & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, and Director of eSparkBiz Technologies @Software Development Company. His 10+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and ChatBot.

How to Prepare for the Future of the Remote Workforce in 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic had an astronomical impact on the workforce.

From layoffs and furloughs in 2020, hiring sprees in 2021, and high inflation rates in 2022, it’s challenging to determine what the headwinds and opportunities will look like in 2024.

However, if there is one silver lining to the pandemic that holds true across most industries, it’s that remote work is possible.

To add a cherry on top, many studies prove that a remote workforce reduces overhead costs, increases productivity levels, reduces employee turnover, and improves work-life balance.

What’s not to like? Although we don’t have a crystal ball that’ll tell us what 2024 has in store, it’s safe to say that a remote workforce has a strong foothold for continued success.

Trends in the Remote Workforce

Deloitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Trends report shows that the workforce after COVID-19 has seen a ‘fundamental mindset shift: from a focus on surviving to the pursuit of thriving.’

The demand for remote work remains strong. It’s no longer just for the self-employed. Remote will be a large part of the future workforce, no matter what business you are in or where you are located.

remote workforce in 2023

Studies show that more than 80% of on-site workers are interested in working remotely. As younger generations enter the workforce, businesses should adopt a remote or hybrid workforce to capture a piece of that pie.

6 Ways to Prepare for a Remote Workforce in 2024

Although remote work is here to stay, it’s still a careful balancing act to ensure optimal productivity, employee engagement, and top talent.

Thankfully, a little planning goes a long way.

Let’s dive into a few ways to prepare your organization for a remote workforce in 2024.

1. Leverage Digital Collaboration Platforms

The success of your remote workforce comes down to communication and collaboration. Without investing in the proper digital tools, it’s nearly impossible for your team to collaborate and maintain high levels of productivity.

So the most important thing you can do is to provide a good user experience from day one. Your digital collaboration platforms should be intuitive and easy to use so that your team members can easily access them on their devices.

Also Read: 10 Remote Working Tools You Need in 2022

These tools are required for real-time communication — whether via video or text chat — so that you don’t lag between sending an email and getting responses from team members in different time zones across the world.

The best project management software has features that make it easy for people to work on different projects, share documents, and simultaneously collaborate on tasks.

In 2024, social media will be even more popular than it is today. Your marketing team needs a social media tool to communicate with your customers and understand their wants and needs.

Never underestimate the power of good communication.

2. Avoid Zoom Fatigue

Zoom is a great tool for remote meetings and presentations, but it can be hard to use for months on end.

Attending Zoom meetings all day can leave your team feeling fatigued. The intense close-up eye contact and increased cognitive load are no joke.

There are several reasons Zoom fatigue sets in so quickly:

  • There’s more eye-to-eye contact than in a typical conversation
  • Background noise can be distracting (especially if there are multiple speakers)
  • People may have trouble hearing or understanding each other
  • The application doesn’t allow for much collaboration or real-time note-taking

If you find that the first half of your meeting involves everyone checking their phones or fiddling around with their laptops (or even having their camera off altogether), it’s time to consider other meeting alternatives.

Don’t forget that some meetings are better off as a simple email or a screen-recorded video.

Encourage your team to turn off their self-view cameras, keep your meetings short and sweet, and give your team breaks from the constant demand for Zoom meetings.

3. Invest in a Learning and Development Program

A learning and development program is one of the best ways to ensure that your employees are equipped with the skills needed to do their jobs.

And career development is in high demand. Research shows that almost 90% of millennials believe professional growth and career development are important factors when choosing an employer.

Learning and development programs are great ways to help employees reach their full potential. And there’s an overwhelming amount of studies that show employees want to get better at their jobs and gain new skills.

Most workers want to learn but need the opportunity to do so. If you don’t provide that opportunity, your business will lose out on talented employees, and your competitors may win them away.

Employees are more likely to stay with your organization when they feel invested. Prove that you care about their growth by offering career development and training opportunities.

4. Provide Enhanced Benefits

Union popularity is rising, with 7 out of 10 workers stating they’d consider joining a union if given a chance.

The main reasons workers choose to join a union include:

  • Increase pay
  • Improved benefits
  • Job protection

Show your employees that you care about them and avoid the risk of unionization by offering a competitive benefits package. These benefits can include your typical ‘must haves’ like health insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) match.

Or you can think outside the box and offer employees the opportunity to have more control over their schedules. Workers with flexible schedules can choose when and where to work, instead of having to work a set number of hours per day.

Also Read: What is pay transparency? Pros and Cons

You may also want to consider offering a stipend for internet and equipment so remote workers can establish a comfortable and reliable work-from-home setup.

Another popular benefit is providing a gym membership, which can help employees stay healthy while working from home online. Or, if any of your employees have children (or plan on starting a family), consider providing childcare reimbursement and other benefits like life insurance.

As different generations are at various stages in their lives, it makes sense that they tend to value different types of employee benefits. For instance, younger employees could be interested in benefits like mental health benefits or entertainment such as console or PC games, while the older generation might be more interested in parental leaves and retirement plans. The goal is for every generation to feel secure about your organization meeting their needs.

But one thing is for sure. All employees, regardless of age, prioritize flexible working hours and paid time off at the top of their benefits list.

And thankfully, these benefits typically don’t break the bank.

5. Outsource Tedious Tasks

In remote organizations, it is becoming more and more common to outsource tedious tasks. And this trend will likely continue for years to come.

For example, companies are hiring contractors or freelancers to work on a project basis, be it customer service agents, web developers, or virtual medical assistants.

Regardless of the task at hand, outsourcing is a great way to save money, free up your employees’ time, and keep your top talent.

Here are some additional benefits of outsourcing:

  • Avoid paying benefits, taxes, and other associated costs required for full-time employees.
  • Find someone who is an expert at what they do so you don’t have to spend time training them.
  • Give your employees more time to work on their core tasks and learn new skills.
  • Reduce overall stress levels on your team and improve employee morale with more helping hands.

6. Build an Employee-centric Culture

In the future, it’ll be even more important to focus on the people side of your business. While technology will continue to improve and make remote collaboration easier, not every person wants to work remotely all the time.

So here’s a tip: create a people-centric culture that celebrates your employees as much as it does their work. No matter how brilliant your product or service is, if you don’t have great people working for you, you’ll find it difficult to sustain long-term business growth.

future of remote workforce

The point is that by creating an environment where employees feel supported and connected, you’ll help them feel valued, which will help keep people around longer and attract top talent from around the world.

Also Read: 10 Best Employee Retention Strategies to Keep Your Best Talents

Wrapping Up

The remote workforce has changed drastically over the last decade and shows no signs of slowing down.

As new generations enter the workforce, they want more flexibility and access to experts who can help them reach their career goals.

We’ve also seen how important it is for businesses to adapt by offering more flexible working arrangements and collaborative teams that foster trust among colleagues online.

Don’t underestimate the investment in your people. Your people are your greatest assets. And with the proper time and dedication, building a robust remote workforce will pay off tenfold in 2024 and beyond.


remote workforce in 2023


Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How to successfully manage a remote workforce?

Ans. Some of the ways to successfully manage a remote workforce are:

  1. Treat employees as individuals
  2. Communicate and collaborate
  3. Trust your remote team members

Q2. What are the advantages of remote work?

Ans. Some of the advantages of remote work for:

Employers

  1. Less expense
  2. Increased productivity
  3. Less turnover

Employees

  1. No commute
  2. Autonomy increases
  3. Employees are healthier

Q3. What are the tools necessary for a remote workforce?

Ans. The remote workforce requires various tools such as Slack, GoogleMeet, Asana, Basecamp, Google Drive, Hangouts, and Zoom for communication, project management, and collaboration.


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Is Remote Work Good For Your Business?

Most employees love the idea of working from home, but employers are often not sure about the productivity of their remote employees. Working from home has set a trend in the industry.

But is remote work good for you business?

Continue reading “Is Remote Work Good For Your Business?”