The idea of employees competing with each other to catch the attention of their bosses in now a concept preserved for businesses that still run under conventional management policies. Collaboration has taken a center stage role in helping to enhance the productivity of employees while at the same time promoting teamwork. However, collaboration is no longer confined within the four walls of brick and mortar business premises.
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Given that the trend of employees working remotely has improved by 115% in the last decade, this complicates the achievement of a collaborative culture. Without the introduction of effective policies, promoting collaboration between on-site and remote employees will be nothing but a foreign concept for your organization.
Read on to learn how to encourage collaboration between your remote and on-site workforce:
What Is The Actual Value Of Collaboration?
Picture this – you have a time bound project that needs to be done within the next 24 hours. When engaging in the job, your on-site employees only deal with the part that they are responsible for and barely communicate with each other on the necessities for enhancing quality. Even before complicating this scenario with remote employees, it already seems like a recipe for disaster as this lack of communication often breeds half-baked products and services.
Collaboration ensures that all hands are on deck when it comes to completing any project. In turn, employees feel more satisfied with what they achieve as a unit, which further increases the employee’s retention rates in your business. A collaborative culture also supports remote workers to the extent that your business can take full advantage of the perks that remote work positions have to offer.
Technology Is Key to Enhancing Collaboration
Remote workers have the disadvantage of failing to be physically present, but this doesn’t have to be a barrier in the current technologically-forward world. By using employee scheduling apps like Humanity and leveraging video conference calls along with other technologies, it becomes easier to encourage communication between the management and employees.
Remote workers should make it their goal to alert the onsite employees on the key proceedings in the tasks they commit to and vice versa. This will also include eliminating anything that might bar the technology from working in favor of the organization. For instance, using VPNs when employees are working off-site will help to improve the security of company data.
Have a Strong Communication Strategy
Communication is key when looking to enhance collaboration between onsite and remote employees. There is a lot of information that needs to be shared to make things work. For instance, you need to have a communication strategy that identifies the necessary productivity and communication tools, tracking tools and pertinent information such as the different time zones of your remote workforce.
Both onsite and offsite employees should be trained on the necessary communication strategies to ensure that they minimally fall astray from the expectations. In cases of video conferences, your strategy should also look into the time that would be most convenient to have a meeting for both your onsite and remote employees without having to overburden one side.
Create a Sense of Community
Off-site employees will often feel excluded from the organization, which further increases the need to make them feel like part of a team. While video conferences can be great for building a formal community, they might fall short when it comes to encouraging a strong bond between colleagues. Instead, it would be wise to use social media sites to build a sense of inclusivity.
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You might use these platforms to praise a remote employee for their exemplary performance. Also, these platforms can be a great channel to deliver constructive feedback on issues that affect both onsite and remote employees. The fact that the employees can comment and interact with their peers makes them feel appreciated, which increases their satisfaction rates.
Conclusion
Remote work is only but starting to become prevalent in the business world. If your company can encourage seamless collaboration in its workforce, you will increase your chances of survival. Invest in the necessary collaboration technology to fortify the future of your business.
