5 Steps to Ensure Your Work-From-Home Employees Maximize Corporate Performance
Workplace Fairness is the #1 Most Comprehensive Online Resource for Information About Workplace Rights
WASHINGTON (March 13, 2020) –The number of people working remotely continues to rise as corporations recognize that employees – particularly millennials and contract workers in the “gig” economy – value the flexibility it offers. Remote work can also be an attractive option to employers, who see the benefit in reducing brick-and-mortar expenses, such as rent and utility bills.
The trend will surely continue, especially in light of current worldwide health concerns. In fact, many companies may soon be faced with mandated work-from-home provisions due to circumstances related to the Coronavirus pandemic.
While remote work can be a win-win situation for employers and employees, corporate managers often fear employee misuse of the freedoms that come with the arrangement. Workplace Fairness, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for and promotes employee rights, has advice on how to best maximize corporate performance under these conditions.
Here are 5 steps to ensure that creating a remote workplace environment for employees is a positive, beneficial step for the company.
- Identify clear expectations from remote employees. Key elements of this communication include the hours to be worked, amount of work to be completed each day, task prioritization, guidelines for the amount/timing of communications with management, etc.
- Ensure remote employees have the proper tools. Not only does this include corporate laptops and other needed tools, but also ensuring they can log in and input data via corporate portals that will assist management in tracking employee progress, performance, needs, etc. Doing so will reduce the need for managers to utilize valuable time in personally tracking and evaluating such data.
- Regularly monitor employee progress (and needs). Employers must regularly follow up on employee progress to ensure that corporate objectives and expectations are met, and also to ensure that the company is there to offer assistance to any employee who, for whatever reason, is struggling with the “remote” proposition.
- Interact regularly with remote employees. All employees need some degree of support and morale enhancement from their management and key associates. This in turn bolsters productivity and acknowledges that remote employees have not been forgotten nor their contributions overlooked for performance evaluation or promotion consideration.
- Place trust and faith in remote employees. Virtually every employee wants recognition as being an important asset to the company. While some may intentionally or inadvertently misuse remote working privileges, most will not – especially if given the proper guidance recommended above. Managers need to avoid the extremes of micromanagement and inadvertently placing too little emphasis on mutual communication with their employees.
Properly managed, the remote workplace can benefit employers and employees alike.
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About Workplace Fairness
Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights.
The organization’s mission is to educate workers and their advocates about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems and that policymakers, members of the business community and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.
Private Interview Opportunities
Individual interviews with Workplace Fairness staff and members of the Board of Directors can be scheduled to discuss workplace issues for workers and employers.
Workplace Fairness works toward these goals by:
- Making comprehensive information about workers’ rights—free of legal jargon—readily available to workers and to advocates and organizations that assist workers;
- Providing resources to support the work of legal services organizations, community-based organizations, law schools and private attorneys that provide free legal information and services to low-income workers;
- Presenting the employee perspective in publications, policy debates and public discussion.
A 2017 Webby Award Honoree, the award-winning Workplace Fairness website has newly updated information throughout the site, as part of the web’s most comprehensive resource educating workers about their legal rights in the workplace.
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