Telework Tips: 4 Strategies for Leading Remote Workers - Keep Timely Communication (
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Keeping
daily communication timely and plentiful can also curb in-office coworker
dissatisfaction. According to Golden, one issue that office bound coworkers
have with teleworkers is that they feel like they must pick up the slack when minor
emergencies arise in the office. If they are unable to quickly get in touch
with the teleworker then they bear the responsibility to resolve these issues.
“If
someone is in the office and an manager stops by the cubicle, and says ‘Gee, i
need this now,’ the person who is there right now is the person who typically
gets stuck handling that,” he said. “If they perceive that the teleworker is
not available or doesn't want to be disturbed and they may handle the request
themselves.”
In
addition to bridging the gap through prompt day-to-day phone and email replies,
it is also critical to schedule regular meetings with managers and sometimes
coworkers via the richest media possible, be it phone, videoconference or in
person. This is especially important for remote workers who work far from the
office and can potentially feel isolated from the team.
Stanley suggests that at a bare minimum
teleworkers and managers should set a regular time to meet each week.
Ensuring
Adequate Face-to-Face Time
While
technology can go a long way toward facilitating communication, nothing beats
face-to-face meetings for solving complex problems and building rapport.
“Face to
face interaction is considered the richest for media interaction in that there
are the full range of contextual cues by which people can read and interpret
the messages and information and the knowledge which individuals are trying to
transfer during a discussion,” Golden said. “Technology has come a long way
toward mirroring many of these qualities but there’s some debate within the
research whether some of these technologies will ever to be able to truly
replicate face to face interaction.”
Both
Golden and
Stanley agree that every teleworker, from
the employee who works from home a few days a week to the telecommuter located
far from the office, should be given the opportunity to get plenty of
face-to-face time with management and coworkers.
Stanley suggests that managers ensure
that the occasional teleworkers should always conduct their weekly scheduled
meetings in person, while the remote worker should make a trip to the office at
least quarterly.
“Not only
does that help the manager and that person reconnect , but it is really
important for that remote worker who feels that they are isolated from their coworkers
and from the environment and especially the culture of the organization,”
Stanley said.
“This
especially helps to create an atmosphere where everyone is successful when
coworkers are working on teams.”
Golden
believes that one of the biggest reasons that coworkers of teleworkers tend to
be dissatisfied is because they are unable to build the same level of
camaraderie within a team over the phone and through email.
“If you
think about the typical office place, in addition to interacting over work related
topics, employees typically interact in a variety of chance or informal
encounters, by the elevators, by the coffee pot, and on the way to the
restrooms,” Golden said. “These tend to be unplanned and generally informal
kinds of interaction. As the proportion of teleworkers increases within a work
unit, these types of encounters are apt to become less common and as a result
some of the interaction which might have otherwise built camaraderie or affinity
between individuals becomes less prevalent.”
Obviously
management can’t replace all of these interactions lost on a day-to-day basis
through telework, but making a concerted effort to regularly bring the
teleworker back into the office can ensure that they happen occasionally.
“If
they have sufficient levels of face-to-face interaction they’re able to
potentially mitigate these types of adverse impacts in terms of how others
percieve these teleworkers,” said Golden.
IT Management 
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