How to implement an effective remote working strategy

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The new normal: Remote working

The concept of remote working has come a long way. In its early stages, it was mostly unique to small start-ups lacking physical offices and digital nomads operating out of co-working spaces scattered across the world. Many things have changed since then. While the Covid-19 pandemic definitely played a major role in the worldwide shift to remote working, the model's standalone benefits have gone on to surpass expectations and are more than capable of holding its own.

The initial transition required some getting used to. Introducing video conferencing, new tools, and the right strategies proved challenging, and employers recognised that laying down a solid foundation was essential to a successful long-term telecommuting routine.

A remote working model allows businesses to save up to 40% in overhead costs

Amidst all the challenges encountered by business decision-makers, the benefits of a work-from-anywhere model were undeniable. 

Some of these examples include: 

Significant reductions in real estate expenses as only a small handful of employees were required to be in the office.

Reduction in costs related to electronic devices, electricity, heating, and air conditioning that on-site employees would typically utilise.

Reduction in time spent commuting to work. As the average employee spent an average of one hour commuting, working from home meant that this time could be spent on work-related projects.

Hiring remote employees from various geographic locations meant companies could expand their presence into multiple regions with a workforce familiar with the local business practices, languages and cultures.

Challenges of setting up a remote working strategy

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• Limited access to the right technology or getting timely access to tech issue resolution.
• Lack of cohesion and communication between employees might lead to information getting lost in translation.
• Difficulty unplugging after work or maintaining work-life balance
• Lack of collaboration and socialising can lead to feelings of isolation among employees
• Difficulty maintaining company culture for HR managers and business leaders.
• Disconnect in training and development processes for onboarding new talent can be challenging for HR.
• Difficulty in managing global teams scattered across different timezones

Important considerations for implementing an effective work-from-home strategy

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HR involvement

Get your HR team involved early in developing all workforce management programmes. It is an essential step in helping departments communicate their plans to all their employees.

Transparency and clarity are key to ensuring that employees understand the financial reality, the reasons behind the department’s approach, and the potential impact it may have on them.

Workplace culture and employee experience

For employees accustomed to working in an office setup, a work culture that involves some degree of isolation can throw various curveballs to the assimilation process. The most jarring shift, perhaps, might come from working collaboratively in person to adapting to a collaborative expectation in a physically distanced setup. Both employees and employers must learn how to manage the changes in how internal communication can be maintained.

Workers must also acclimate to the introduction of new technology. This might include tools to track and manage workflows in a mobile working setting, help onboard new employees, streamline interdepartmental collaboration, and structure HR processes. Along with this comes the potential challenge of not having immediate access to an in-office IT department to troubleshoot any complications.

Another thing worth thinking about is what happens when homes begin to double as workspaces. For employees, identifying how to find a balance between personal and professional lives will prove to be a learning curve, as the line separating the two can easily blur under these circumstances.

Fostering an employee experience is integral to a company’s success. The physically distanced nature of teleworking settings can restrict the level of visibility companies have over employee engagement.

Employers must think about supporting remote work best practices in the long term. Be it through regular one-on-one phone calls, conducting periodic surveys or providing employees with sufficient access to information and knowledge tools to nurture their growth.

Maintaining compliance

Growing accustomed to the new reality of a telecommuting model also involves adjusting how compliance policies are managed. This is even more complex for companies with a global workforce as they will have to pay attention to the regulations that govern their own country as well as the ones of the countries where their employees live and work.

For traditional office environments, these regulations are clearly laid out, but when most (if not all) of your employees are working from home, restructuring your compliance program to ensure that your newly remote company is legally liable can present a lot of grey areas.

Some of the steps companies can take to maintain an effective compliance program include the following:

• Updating your compliance policies to reflect a work-from-anywhere environment.
• Consulting global mobility experts like Airswift to identify best practices for incorporating employee safety and liability considerations into a global remote organisation.
• Implementing training sessions to ensure that employees are caught up on the latest changes in your company’s compliance policy.
• Ensuring employees are aware of the dos and don’ts surrounding the handling of company information.
• Conducting regular compliance audits to reaffirm your company’s commitment to maintaining compliance.

“Where compliance is concerned, companies should be mindful of adding remote workers into the business in new locations, they should do so in a way that doesn’t trigger permanent establishment (PE) risks with corresponding corporate tax exposure.”

Consider the costs

There are plenty of tangible short-term savings to be made with regard to reduced overhead costs. However, you must consider the costs your organisation is ready to absorb from employees working from home. Before rolling out a long-term, flexible workplace model, companies must identify and outline the costs that will be covered along with the ones that won’t be.

From office equipment such as desks, laptops and scanners to stationery, insurance and the hiring and training of talent - be mindful of expenses that may be incurred through this new normal working model.

Data security risks

With employees working from their own spaces, increased use of unauthorised devices, insecure or public Wi-Fi networks and more put companies at greater risk of compromising their sensitive data. And that of their partners and clients. Making them susceptible to unintentional breaches of data protection laws.

Enforcing cybersecurity safeguards across scattered home office spaces whilst monitoring employee activities without infringing on their privacy can pose a challenge. This is further heightened for businesses that operate globally and must be in compliance with multiple data protection laws.

For employers to continue to protect their corporate and employee information whilst remaining compliant, steps must be taken to suss out and mitigate data security risks. Start by assessing your cybersecurity risk profile. Next, work with your IT and risk management teams to properly establish a clear and robust data security playbook.

Once this has been implemented, the next phase should involve recalibrating and communicating these procedures to your employees and management teams. Training in this arena is often necessary to ensure that all staff are educated and updated on company policies related to maintaining healthy data security habits.

Key metrics towards remote work success

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Establish clear communication

A clear communication strategy is the quintessential stepping stone towards a successful strategy. Ensuring employees perform consistently involves more than just tracking the times they're logging in and out of work. Therefore, project management teams must be precise in communicating their expectations from employees and perform regular check-ins to ensure that their virtual teams have the resources they need to meet these standards.

Employers should structure a clear workflow plan on an individual and team level with their staff. For the sake of transparency, this information should be available across the department so that employees know what they need to do to perform but are also looped into what their teammates are handling. This is so that they know what to expect and who to communicate with when challenges arise.

Online productivity tools such as Monday.com and Asana have proven helpful under these circumstances as they allow for easy reporting, productivity measuring and business continuity.

Define goals and measurable outcomes

While we know that clear communication is integral to any effective strategy, the concept itself can be rather abstract. What exactly entails clear communication? This is where we break down the specifics of setting up a seamless communication plan.

Questions to ask and answer might include:

• What are the agreed-upon working hours for all team members to be available?
• What tools will be used for communication, and what are the procedures involved?
• What is an acceptable response time for emails and messages (take timezone differences into consideration)
• Who reports to whom?
• Who has access to which documents?
• How are responsibilities delegated?

Having well-defined responsibilities is essential to ensuring that everyone in the team knows what they’re accountable for. It’s also important to remember not to work in silos.

Therefore, an open communication stream is necessary when discussing KPIs and expectations. It allows teams to acknowledge and agree on what they are working towards. It also makes it easier for employees to monitor their own progress against pre-defined targets and stay organised.

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Create healthy telecommuting environments for your employees

Satisfied employees are the backbone of any successful company. Make it a point to provide your employees with conditions they need to maintain productivity while working from home. This might include making sure they have the right equipment to setting up task management solutions to help them stay on top of their KPIs and track their progress.

On an intrinsic level, empower employees by reminding them that they are valued and their voices heard. Small gestures such as rewarding good performance, asking for opinions, or putting aside a few minutes daily to check their well-being can go a long way. In many cases, conducting employee surveys are useful in bridging the gap between expectation and actual experience.

Also, pay attention to behavioural changes such as lowered KPI scores, increased sick days, etc. These may be telling signs that something might not be right. In such instances, create a safe and comfortable space for employees to speak openly without strong-arming or interrogating them.

Reinforce company culture

When your virtual workforce is scattered across geographic locations and time zones, how do you cultivate an environment of trust and connectedness among employees? Here are some helpful tips:

• Organise regular and informal Q&A sessions with team leaders and management staff
• Send virtual kudos or shout-outs to recognise and encourage outstanding performance
• Create a social channel on your business’s communication platform to allow employees from various departments to interact and mingle in a light-hearted environment
• Schedule virtual townhalls or huddles once every quarter to re-establish company-wide goals, progress and values
• Invest time into creating a thorough and informative employee onboarding deck, as this can help new remote team members familiarise themselves with and understand your company culture

How an Employer of Record helps businesses manage remote work processes

What is an Employer of Record?

An Employer of Record (EOR) is a service offered by global employment solutions providers. It allows their client company to legally employ staff in a foreign country where they don't have a legal entity.

While the client company is responsible for managing the performance and schedule of the employee, the EOR is regarded as the legal employer in the foreign location. An EOR’s responsibilities can include sponsoring work visas, managing payroll and taxes, immigration and making sure all labour regulations are followed. 

To learn more about the different functions provided by an Employer of Record, an article on EOR vs international business incorporation will provide you with deeper insight into why many companies opt to work with an Employer of Record while planning for international expansion.

Here are some ways an Employer of Record can help streamline global remote workforce management.

Manages all legal responsibilities on your behalf

An Employer of Record is legally responsible for handling all facets of compensation. This includes allocating employee benefits and managing taxes. Protecting you from any risks involving employee compensation and claims management. For remote employees that are based outside of their origin country, an EOR can help to provide them with the correct documentation to ensure they can continue to work legally.

Manage your back-office tasks

From overseeing employee onboarding and advising on notice periods and termination procedures to managing payment disparities to ensure your employees are compensated fairly, an Employer of Record handles all administrative tasks on your behalf.

Maintain compliance

An Employer of Record can help your company avoid compliance risk by ensuring you are aligned with different state and federal government regulations. This includes overseeing a remote employee's compensation, ensuring they are paid on time and withholding all necessary taxes.

Save time and money

From payroll to handling local regulations, an Employer of Record saves you time by handling all the bureaucracy on your behalf. By removing the need to set up a local entity in the host country your employees are based in, EORs can save business owners thousands of dollars. It also frees companies from investing money into hiring internal teams to manage administrative functions ranging from finance to legal procedures surrounding local employment law.

Advise on confusion about notice periods and termination rules

An EOR can help remote workers resolve these issues when there are no clear guidelines stated within their employment contract with the client company.

Navigating global workforce strategies with Airswift's Employer of Record services

Implementing an effective remote work strategy takes time and patience, especially when working with a globally dispersed team of international employees. Here at Airswift, we consider ourselves a global business with a local approach. We have more than 40 years of experience supporting companies in managing a global workforce across 60 countries worldwide.

Whether you’re working with remote teams across the globe or are looking to expand into new locations, our global employment and mobility (GEM) solutions range from tax and payroll processing, Employer of Record services, HR outsourcing and much more. All of which can be customised to suit your specific needs.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help you accomplish your global workforce management goals.