The concept of remote working had already found its way as a path-breaking business revolution even before the Covid-19 crisis hit the world. The pandemic merely helped accelerate its popularity. Approximately 50% of the global workforce is today working remotely, 50% of employers are contemplating making remote working permanent, and 97% of all remote workers would like to continue working from home for the rest of their lives.
There have been enough studies conducted on remote working, and almost all of them have found that remote workers take fewer days off, are more productive, enjoy a better work-life balance, stay motivated, and stick around for long.
But while remote working has its benefits, organizations cannot switch to it overnight, and it does not come without challenges. This article looks at the top 7 challenges faced while working with a remote team from an employer’s perspective and how to overcome them. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
Working With a Remote Team – Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Here’s presenting a list of the top 7 challenges most organizations face or are likely to encounter while working with remote teams and how to overcome them.
1. Project Management
The biggest challenge for organizations with remote teams is ensuring targets are met and projects completed on time. Communicating with remote workers and tracking individual responsibilities could be a problem, especially when dealing with a large and spread-out remote team.
How to Overcome?
Thankfully, the evolution in technology has provided organizations access to software and tools to manage project management issues efficiently. Tools like Asana, Trello, Slack, etc., offer plenty of features to manage remote workers effectively.
2. Collaboration
No matter how popular and beneficial remote working may be, it is always easier to collaborate with in-house teams. Collaborating with remote workers can pose some challenges, especially when spread across different time zones.
How to Overcome?
Thankfully, there are several collaboration tools like Slack, Google Drive, Invision, Spark, etc., available that offer all the features organizations need to interact with their remote teams instantly and flexibly.
3. Tracking Productivity
Tracking productivity is part of the bigger problem, project management. Unless organizations track individual responsibilities effectively, it would be impossible to determine when remote workers began and completed their tasks.
How to Overcome?
Fortunately, there exist tools like Status Hero, Toggl, Rescue Time, etc., which can effectively help organizations track what their remote employees are working on, the time taken to complete specific tasks, and reduce or eliminate any time that kills productivity.
4. Working Across Time Zones
While hiring a remote team from different time zones provides organizations the flexibility to run 24×7 operations, it could also jeopardize team coordination and project execution. An essential part of the team could be sleeping somewhere while others are trying to get things done elsewhere, disrupting communication and delaying projects. And to add to this, there is no physical supervision of remote workers; meaning organizations can never rest assured every remote worker would be available when needed the most.
How to Overcome?
While organizations might abstain from infringing upon the freedom of remote employees, they need to be mindful there needs to be some balance to achieve the desired results. It is always advisable to have guidelines and maintain a schedule to know when remote workers are available. Tools like Slack, Status Hero, and the team version of Calendar enable organizations to track what each remote worker is doing, who is available, and schedule meetings accordingly.
5. Dealing with Cultural and Language Differences
When organizations hire diversified remote talent from across the globe, along comes a mix of diverse languages, cultural backgrounds, and work ethics. For example, in Japan, people are used to working long hours; it is considered impolite to contradict or question seniors, and registering complaints is highly discouraged. But in the US or the UK, it is entirely the opposite. Language aside, a failure to understand and respect the differences in cultural beliefs and work ethics can make handling remote workers a challenge.
How to Overcome?
In our opinion, language issues should be dealt with during the hiring process itself, after which there is no point complaining. If there is still an issue, preference should be given to interacting over emails where everyone can read and understand the requirements at their own pace.
The best way to handle cultural differences is to identify what impacts the team performance and causes offenses or disagreements. With a basic understanding of the work culture, encouraging open dialogue amongst team members, and discouraging any negative sentiments, organizations can eliminate the risk of operational failures arising from the negligence in recognizing and appreciating cultural differences.
6. Building Trust
Trust issues amongst remote workers and between remote employees and the management can quickly escalate and get out of hand because of a lack of in-person interaction. And when this happens, it can have a direct and disastrous bearing on productivity and organizational efficiency.
How to Overcome?
Besides using the right collaboration tools, organizations can try various ways to build and maintain trust. These include:
a.) Organizing team meets, as allowed by work schedule.
b.) Recognizing & rewarding jobs well executed.
c.) Promoting transparency throughout the chain of command.
d.) Drafting and communicating shared goals and vested interests.
e.) Avoiding micromanagement.
f.) Leading by example.
7. Keeping Remote Workers Motivated & Engaged
A lack of personal supervision and face-to-face interactions with co-workers can lead to many remote employees losing motivation and neglecting work. It is an issue that can soon lead to employees becoming disengaged if left unaddressed.
How to Overcome?
The management should regularly communicate with remote employees to identify what keeps them motivated and engaged. Every employee has different motivational needs, ranging from something as small as a weekly conversation to achieving short-term goals or being assigned additional responsibilities. The key is to understand these needs and take appropriate steps to address them.
Final Thoughts
If handled effectively, remote teams stand to benefit organizations enormously. Conversely, if not managed efficiently, they could lead to suboptimal outcomes. When faced with a dilemma on whether to focus on delivering value to their customers or divert their attention to managing remote teams, talent management partners like Ufinity Ventures prove to be a savior for organizations.
About Ufinity Ventures
Ufinity Ventures helps organizations cast aside all apprehensions about working with remote teams and focus on their core competency by serving as their extended arm and catering to all their talent management needs. Whether human resources requirement mapping, cost estimation, candidate sourcing, recruitment, background checks, or services like compensation structuring, payroll & people management, policy compliance, and employee engagement & retention, we offer end-to-end solutions for our global clientele looking to outsource their operations to Asia. For more information on our services, please visit https://ufinity.in/ or mail us at info@ufinity.in.
