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Remotely Speaking
Once upon a time, only salespeople worked outside the corporate head office.
Now, even if you’ve never telecommuted a single day in your career, you certainly know people who do. Technology connects the head office with satellite offices and with individuals working from home in any location around the globe. Time zones remain an interesting challenge, but the technology for connection is here.
But is the connection here? While many remote workers appreciate the flexibility, the opportunity to live where they want and work for a company in another location, they also bemoan their isolation, their struggle for visibility and recognition, and a nagging sense that they’re out of the loop.
Head-office employees get indignant over what they perceive as special treatment for remote folk. Remote employees are frustrated by communication breakdowns and the extra effort it takes to be visible to their own management.
Head-office employees grumble about whether remote staff are really pulling their weight. Work-from-home telecommuters argue with family about evenings and weekends spent answering email.
Head-office employees resent coming in early or staying late for cross-time-zone meetings. Remote employees don’t see why they should always be the ones to adjust schedules.
Tolerance, trust, and a willingness to be surprised are crucial as you work through these issues. Here are a few thoughts for both head-office and remote staff.
Stay in Touch
Staying in the loop, keeping informed, knowing what’s going on — these are key concerns of remote employees. While it may be nice not to be embroiled in the latest rumor-fest, it can also be disconnecting and disconcerting.
As a head-office manager or co-worker of a remote employee, establish clear expectations for communication for yourself, not just for the remote person. If you’re the telecommuter, be sure to understand your own needs for communication, and ask if you have questions or concerns.
It’s easy to think you’ll just naturally stay in touch, but without some thought and a clear intention it won’t necessarily happen. Sometimes a remote employee will feel uncertain about how often he’s “allowed” to call or email before being perceived as nagging or needy. And the remote employee doesn’t have the opportunity to stop by someone’s desk or go out for lunch.
This is not about being social or “nice”; it’s about creating the human connection you need to work together effectively, maintaining a two-way flow of information that enables everyone involved to make informed decisions and take appropriate action.
Meet Responsibly
One of the most obvious examples of the difficulties faced by remote employees is meetings — those informal meetings that happen before the conference phone is dialled, and after it’s disconnected.
As a remote employee, be very sure to call in to meetings on time or even early, and actively manage issues of background noise and cell-phone interference.
Head-office employees need to remember an unspoken reality of meetings: there are productive conversations that happen just before a meeting is officially under way, and many more happen after the meeting has been formally concluded, but before everyone’s left the conference room.
Don’t hang up the conference line too quickly — and as I said, be sure to open the line and dial in on time or, better yet, early.
Enable Visibility
Remote employees can sometimes feel all but invisible. They work hard, but no one sees their car in the parking lot after hours. It’s easy to stop and talk to your co-worker down the hall, so you may collaborate more freely with him even though a remote associate could have a more useful skill- and knowledge-set.
As a remote employee, it’s your responsibility to network effectively with head-office co-workers, making sure everyone knows your strengths and abilities, staying in touch with projects, offering to help where it makes sense. Don’t overload your plate or gain a reputation of not having enough to do; do stay on top of upcoming plans and schedules.
If you’re in the head office, remember that you have remote compatriots who may be more qualified for the project you’re starting than someone down the hall. Do you know the skills and knowledge of the remote staff? (If you’re thinking you don’t even know the skills and knowledge of the head-office staff — sounds like you’ve got a networking and learning opportunity!)
Making it Work
As often seems the case, technology has created opportunities that challenge human nature and the ways people connect. A little extra thought will go a long way to resolve problems before they arise, making sure everyone has the understanding they need of who’s doing what and why, and creating the human connection that makes the workday more pleasant and productive.
“When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other.” Margaret Wheatley, American writer, management consultant, and student of organizational behavior.
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