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    How do I manage an effective remote workforce?

    While remote working was something businesses could largely take or leave before the coronavirus pandemic, it is now vitally important. However, it's important to acknowledge that managing a workforce in person is very different to when they are dotted around working in a wide variety of environments. Being proactive with encouraging the behaviour you took for granted in the physical workplace is key to striking the right tone.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Creating an effective remote workforce

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium

    Remote working is nothing new, but before coronavirus it was much more the realm of freelancers or more digitally-focused businesses. Businesses forced into remote working patterns are now experiencing first hand how a blended approach can actually be of benefit. Take advantage of the many common experiences and tools available to devise an approach to remote working that suits your business best.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Improve communication within your team

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : High

    When a business is communicating well internally its staff feel more engaged and involved. When done badly it can be something that breeds resentment and confusion. Developing a set of steps which outline a system of communication that suits the individual needs of your business will ensure consistency and prevent many parts of the job your team felt frustrated by.

    Action plan

    Improve the way you performance manage staff

    Effort : High
    Impact : High

    At the heart of it, performance management involves a business and its employee getting the most out of the relationship. For the business, the process involves ensuring it is able to best leverage the skills and experience an individual has while, or an employee, it helps drive learning and development key to their current job role and future career. Taking the time to ensure the way your business performance manages staff will help both sides and drive important improvements and change.

    Guide

    An introduction to effectively managing a remote workforce

    Leaders need to take a deliberate and systematic approach to management to keep a remote workforce motivated and productive.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that’s available

    Tips for managing remote employees

    Tips for managing remote employees

    Make remote work productive and engaging for employees with these empathetic but practical actions from Gartner.

    See what digital tools could help with remote management

    See what digital tools could help with remote management

    Managing remote workers can be difficult, especially for those without experience. But even an inexperienced manager will benefit from using the right toolkit – a combination of tools and processes for managing remote workers.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Real business story

    Developing good lines of communication throughout your business

    Communication, communication, communication. It’s a buzz word that many of us might disregard, but in actual fact, communication is key to the success of many businesses..
    Kathryn Roberts, Adzuna

    Real business story

    Remote working attracts better talent – and diversity of thought

    Distributed workforces reduce costs, increase the pool of candidates and create a higher level of job satisfaction, but education and communication are key..

    Real business story

    Base your health and wellbeing strategy on people, not theories

    Poor mental health and stress are two of the top causes of long-term absence. Having a health and wellbeing strategy in place is one step towards supporting your employees and creating a motivated and productive workforce..

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments?

    Leadership & Strategy

    How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs?

    People & Team

    How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I run a better appraisals process? How should I performance manage my staff? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How can I keep my best members of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How can I reduce employee turnover?

    Planning

    How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to scale up my business? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I know when to invest in my business? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals? How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business?

    Sales & Growth

    How can we develop new products and services? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I build a network to support my business? How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How can I identify new customers to target? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth? How do I benchmark my business against competitors?
    All