4 Tips to Consider When Building a Remote Work Team

Support their mental health

For remote employees, the lack of face-to-face interactions with co-workers juxtaposed against the blurry boundaries between work and personal life can be emotionally taxing. When building a team that works from home, it is important to be prepared to support your employees’ mental health.

Simply encouraging them not to work beyond business hours and offering related resources can be a big help. You can also touch base with them frequently to see how you can support them. Many industry leaders have also offered company-subsidized counseling to give workers a safe space to work on their mental health. Supporting your remote team members’ mental health will ensure they have the emotional capacity to get their tasks done effectively.

Promote good physical habits

Even simple things like sitting down for too long, staring at a screen all day, or eating unhealthy meals can be detrimental to remote workers in the long run. Promoting healthy habits for their well-being can be a way to prevent absenteeism and quitting due to sickness. As such, it’s essential to discuss with employees ways in which they can protect their physical well-being from the common issues outlined above.

For example, to prevent back and joint pains, you can introduce the idea of ergonomic furniture. Standing desks and molded chairs are some examples that can make desk jobs less painful. In the case of digital eye strain, wearing blue light glasses is essential to filter blue-violet light and preserve visual comfort. Blue light glasses can strategically counter eye fatigue and dryness while also promoting better concentration. Finally, even just encouraging employees to take breaks away from their desks every few minutes helps them stay moving and engaged.

Balance employee autonomy

Productivity is a great measure of your remote team’s success. It helps them meet their bottom line and ensures they are delivering quality work efficiently. Because they are working from home, finding a balance when it comes to their autonomy is important.

Allowing flexibility, such as variations in work schedules, where employees work, and when to tackle certain responsibilities, is important. With these, employees feel trusted and less suffocated. However, they should still be able to meet goals and deadlines. Be sure to give your employees enough autonomy without sacrificing efficiency and the quality of their work. You can regularly touch base with them for updates so you can stay in the loop without micromanaging. Considering how to balance employee autonomy will help you understand how to let your team work on their own while still being productive.

Work on team morale

Planning how to foster postive team morale can counter the lack of socialization in remote work. Having activities outside of work can be extremely beneficial as it gives your workers time to socialize with each other and gives them a place to blow off some steam.

You can host team-building games that build a better rapport between your workers. Because of their nature, your employees will see it as a fun way to get to know each other and interact with one another rather than a work commitment. Digital games are a good option since they can be facilitated online, thus making it more inclusive for those with busier home lives and those who live farther away and would be unable to make in-person meetings. Planning how you will build team morale means you can already work on making your workers happy right off the bat.

Creating a remote team can be beneficial for you and your organization if you can do it successfully. These tips can make the planning phase easier. 

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Written exclusively by JB Wilson for Sift.

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About the Author: JB Wilson

JB Wilson worked in sales for several years before pursuing their passion in the HR industry. Their topics of interest today lie in the growing role of immersive technology in facilitating human connections.