Manage remote employees under COVID-19

Attempting to define details of remote work policies is a mistake: Here is what you should be doing instead

COMMENT | CAROLINE SEKIWANO | Due lockdowns and stay at home notices to avoid the coronavirus disease COVID19, many employees are working remotely, mainly from their homes. The reality today, however, is that there are many businesses that did not have official remote work policies. The remote work happening is ad hoc and very informal. T

he mistake that organisations are making right now is to attempt to define the exact detail of what remote work policies should be. This is a little too late. Employees are already working remotely albeit in ad hoc ways. So the question managers should be asking is; now that we have employees who are working from home, how do we as employers make sure that they are not stuck up in the home environment? That productivity and employee retention is maintained to lead to success of the business?

Employers have to put a lot of focus on how to improve manager – employee interactions and communication in order to maintain productivity in a remote environment. In an informal remote workforce it turns out that employees begin to have a relationship of peer-to-peer rather than manager to employee.

Therefore, employers need to think about how to make employee to employee relationships work in a way that peers can talk to each other, teams can work with each other and talk to each other and the workforce can still move in and across the organisation.

Organisations need to know that this is not a snow day where you know it will last for one or two days. Working remotely has dawned on us and is here to stay as the new normal. Therefore, leaders and managers should stop thinking about the processes and activities that remote employees get involved with; such as taking care of the children as they work, which would limit their ability to focus on work related matters. Rather managers should instead think about accomplishing expected outcomes. Are things getting done? Flexibility is at the heart of remote work. It is fine for
employers and managers to shift from managing processes to focusing on outcomes.

Leaders should ensure that employees have the technology that they need to be successful. Technology is more than a laptop and a cellphone. These are necessary but not sufficient. Employers must make sure that the virtual private network VPN that some employees are using is capable of handling all that is required, along with providing employees great quality cameras to enable effective video conferencing. The internet access and Wi-Fi services at employees’ remote locations should be robust enough to enable work to go on.

The employers need to ensure that the managers and employees know the right way to communicate in a virtual environment. For example: how do you communicate effectively in a virtual work place when you do not have body language to see what’s going on? Leaders need to become intentional in making remote services work by enhancing communication procedures to coach managers and employees to work effectively in a remote environment.

In seasons of disruption like these due to the pandemic, remote service employees will require more tools and support in order to be most productive. The right thing for a manager to do is suspend disbelief and instead put utmost belief and trust in your employees. The managers can solve any puzzles later when the performance evaluation kicks in. During times of difficulty employees desire to be recognised for their contribution, therefore, as a manager you should identify what your employees are doing and their contribution and thank and reward them.

In conclusion, if the above issues can be addressed, then productivity and improved employee retention is likely to be maintained leading to the success of businesses. Leaders and employees should be ready to face the challenges that come with new ways of working but also learn fundamental lessons and skills in this season. At the end of the day, as a global work force, we are conducting a global pilot of remote work. It is the biggest pilot that has ever occurred on changing how people work and we should be able to cope.

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Dr. Caroline Sekiwano is Human Resource & Organisational Development Advisor

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