Telework Tips: 4 Strategies for Leading Remote Workers - Developing Training (
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In
addition to the agreement, training can also go a long way toward establishing
expectations. Golden says that he has seen some of the best companies go so far
as to develop training programs that include practice offices where workers can
simulate working offsite before actually doing so.
But training shouldn’t just
be reserved for the teleworkers.
Stanley says that it is critical to also
train management and coworkers on how to work effectively with the teleworker.
“You
have to train everybody,”
Stanley said. “You cannot just train a teleworker
on how to be a good teleworker. You have to also train the manager and teach
them how to manage by results and you have to train the coworkers how to
communicate and work with teleworkers when they’re not in the office. If you
leave them out, you're destined for problems.”
Keeping
Lines of Communication Open
Because
management and coworkers cannot simply pop into a teleworker’s office to chat
about a problem, there needs to be a well-established line of communication to
ensure that operations run smoothly.
“It
needs to be made as seamless as possible for it to work successfully,”
Stanley said.
When
initially setting expectations, either verbally or through a telework
agreement, the most important item to be explicit about is availability. Once
the worker understands availability requirements it is up to them to ensure
they can be contacted during the appropriate hours.
“No one
expects everybody to be next to their phone all of the time,”
Stanley said. “Even if you were in the
office you are not going to be next to your phone all of the time. But you
check your voicemails and you call back as soon as you possibly can.”
This
should be an expectation made of not only the teleworker, but of management and
coworkers as well. The managers who are most likely to fail with a telework
experiment are ones who expect prompt replies from remote workers but who fail
to offer the same courtesy when their teleworkers need to connect.
IT Management 
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