Understand about
Challenges of Delivering to Isolated Employees
Remote or isolated employees are hard to communicate with as they only rely on communication tools. Learn about the common challenges in communicating with isolated employees.
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Intro
Intro
Remote employees are totally reliant on electronic communication. For obvious reasons, these employees are harder to reach compared to those who are located in the head office or central locations.
So, what do your isolated employees need?
Employees who work in the office are more aware of what is happening within the organization and they have better access to company resources. Moreover, they can easily attend meetings or presentations (and sometimes more importantly they meet people by the coffee machine...).Thus, recent news, events, or updates can easily spread within the workplace.
But those who are working remotely or located in other regional offices, often lack the resources and information they need to work effectively and they can feel a cultural disconnect without the human interaction. Because of this, they are more reliant on other modes of communication such as email, phone calls, video conferencing, and intranet platforms.
If they feel left out of what is happening within the organization. This can have an impact on their morale and productivity.
Let’s find out how you can effectively communicate with your remote or isolated employees.
Challenges with Your Isolated Employees
Challenges with Your Isolated Employees
The real challenge with isolated remote employees is how you can effectively deliver information and the tools they need to work efficiently.
Here are the barriers to consider:
Slow or unstable internet connection
Limited IT skills and exposure
Lack of PC access
Technology issues
The purpose of an intranet is to meet the needs of your employees, but this is often the challenge because your remote employees are the most difficult to deliver information to.
Practical Approaches to Take
Practical Approaches to Take
Overcoming these barriers is not that easy, but here are some practical approaches that you should take:
Spending time in the workplace to understand what your staff need and conduct staff surveys with tools like Google Forms to do employee "pulse" or "temperature check" surveys
Rather than replacing existing tools used by your remote employees, consider improving them
Allocate a budget for improving employee communications and demarcate responsibility for this
Provide tools for information sharing like intranets and messaging platforms (like slack)
Assign local “intranet managers” to publish relevant information in the organization
Creating an employee communication strategy that delivers via different channels
Remote Employee Communication Challenges
Remote Employee Communication Challenges
- Building Trust
The most common issue in a remote workplace is the difficulty to build trust. Trust is important in the workplace for employees to feel comfortable and acknowledged.
However, remote employees find it difficult to build trust especially if they are working in a large organization. When an employee doesn’t have trust in upper management, this can significantly impact their performance and team spirit.
To build trust in the workplace, encourage social interaction by hosting regular video conferencing or team-building meetings. This creates a safe environment for remote employees to feel comfortable sharing their ideas and socializing with colleagues.
It is very important to include a social element in meetings when trying to build trust. for example, asking an employee how their weekend went or what the local weather conditions are is a way to start building a relationship and level of trust.
2. Lack of Employee Engagement
2. Lack of Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is one of the most important factors that affect the success of your business. Many remote employees find it difficult to engage with their colleagues online because they are not comfortable or used to the format of the meeting.
To help your employees interact with each other, you need to provide the right communication tools and facilitate spontaneous interactions and an encouraging culture to ask questions.
3. Technology Issues
3. Technology Issues
We rely on technology for day-to-day communications, so it’s no surprise technology issues are one of the common challenges in both remote and in-office working environments.
Unstable internet connection, audio, and video issues are just some of the technological challenges that remote employees face.
To make sure that you’re getting the message across, use several communication channels (eg movie table or browser) in case one is down.
4. Lack of Transparency
4. Lack of Transparency
When you don’t have an effective employee communication strategy, it can lead to a lack of transparency in the organization. This is especially true for remote employees because they often feel out of the loop.
About 79% of remote employees are hesitant to ask questions during virtual meetings which leaves them confused. Employers need to focus on two-way communication to allow remote employees to provide feedback. This also creates an open culture where employees feel safe and comfortable speaking up.
5. Lack of Feedback
5. Lack of Feedback
Lack of feedback lowers employee morale and engagement rates. Many companies fail to provide constructive feedback to their remote employees. As a result, remote employees will feel that their work is unnoticed and irrelevant. To keep remote employees motivated and engaged, provide regular feedback on their recent projects. Feedback should be specific and objective so employees can use it to improve their performance.
6. Oversaturation of Team Meetings
6. Oversaturation of Team Meetings
Due to a lack of face-to-face interactions, many employers schedule lots of team meetings. Team meetings keep everyone in the loop, which is very important. However, scheduling too many meetings can cause communication problems and employee productivity decreases.
Moreover, remote employees will have less time to focus on doing more productive work which can lead to resentment or frustration towards the management.
To prevent this, try to limit virtual meetings and make sure that it’s absolutely necessary. You can also consider brainstorming sessions or workshops to make meetings more engaging. Try and schedule a 10-minute break if the calls last more than 45-60 minutes.
Looking for a customized intranet solution for your organization?
Looking for a customized intranet solution for your organization?
Since 2008, we here at Steegle.com have been delivering intranet development solutions and ongoing support and maintenance for organizations including hospitals and medical institutions. As a certified Google Cloud Partner, we specialize in Google Workspace based solutions. Give us a call at US ✆ +1 (302) 672 3007 UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 502 or contact us today to view a demo of our intranet solutions, and see how it can help increase employee productivity and save time and money. Click below to learn more about the Steegle.One Intranet solution.
Sales Hotlines
Sales Hotlines
US ✆ +1 (302) 672 3007
UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 5021
US ✆ +1 (302) 672 3007
UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 5021
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