How do I manage an effective remote workforce? | Be The Business | A more productive economy driven by inspired business leadership

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

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

Action plan

Improve the way you performance manage staff

Effort: High

Impact : High

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

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

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. Not only does it promote openness and collaboration amongst staff, it also leads to progression and development.

Real business story

Remote working attracts better talent – and diversity of thought

Remote working came to the fore during the coronavirus crisis but many smart employers were already relying on remote working to find the best talent.

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

Leadership & Strategy

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

People & Team

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

Planning

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

Sales & Growth

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

All