Best practices for remote communication

More and more organizations are employing employees who work partially or fully remotely. Effective remote communication with these employees has its challenges.

Use clear and concise language in all messages

This is a good rule of thumb for most electronic communication but is especially necessary for communication with remote workers. Remote employees don’t have the luxury of walking down the hall to a fellow employee’s office or cubicle to ask more questions about something emailed to them. Take a little extra time to make your messages clear and concise so remote employees have what they need to know to understand your message clearly.

Schedule regular check-ins with your team

Remote employees may worry about feeling disconnected from supervisors and the rest of the team. Similarly, supervisors may worry that remote employees aren’t staying on track without the accountability that working in person provides. Help yourself and your remote employees with regularly scheduled check-ins to stay connected and build trust.

Leverage video calls to foster personal connections

Emails, texts, and other electronic text-only communication often feel impersonal over time, especially for fully remote workers. Video calls can foster better connections with your remote workers and in-person teams. One way to make those calls more personal is to occasionally use them to just let your employees chat or get to know each other. You could even plan some sort of game or guided chat activity.

Set expectations for response times and availability

Remote workers usually choose this route because they want the freedom that comes with setting their own schedule and working at their own pace. To integrate their desire for freedom with your organization’s needs, settle on availability and response time expectations.

Want an effective remote workforce? We can help your organization with everything from transitioning to technology to training. Contact TeamLogic IT today.