Six Tips for Effective Communication with Remote Employees

June 23, 2020

As remote employees prove they can get the job done with little or no oversight, managers must evolve. Even as some businesses plan to reopen their workplaces, titans such as Facebook and Twitter are letting thousands of employees work remotely. This change has been years in the making. Gallup flagged it in 2017. Coronavirus has accelerated the trend. Adopting a communications style that meets the needs of your remote workforce will nurture stronger employee engagement and minimize the anxiety and isolation team members may struggle with.

Here are six tips for effective communication to help managers navigate this new terrain:

1. Tell it like it is and inspire. Earnings forecasts, business development plans, supply chain status — all these topics are likely on employees’ minds.  Whether your business is facing challenges in these areas or is on the upswing, it’s critical for employees to hear directly from you. If they don’t, the virtual rumor mill can plant seeds of doubt or create false expectations among team members. Without the ability to read the mood of the break room, managers must work even harder to share information in a way that demonstrates transparency and inspires confidence in leadership’s ability to forge ahead.    

2. Check in regularly with your team. Check ins are essential but understand some colleagues might see frequent check ins as micromanaging. Talk to your staff (through their preferred channel) about what they’re comfortable with. During check ins, give your team members time to express how they’re feeling and listen to them. These meetings are also an opportunity to share company information and recognize good work. Consider supplementing your check ins with a virtual open-door policy. Set aside an hour, once or twice a week where you’re available to discuss matters you and a colleague could resolve with a ten-minute conversation. 

3. Encourage colleagues to be open about how they feel. The racial injustices and protests taking place throughout the country may have employees feeling sad, frustrated and exhausted. Managers may not pick up on these emotions through a video conversation and need to proactively communicate to employees their concern, their allyship and their willingness to listen.  

4. Make sure the team knows your hierarchy of communications. Is everybody on your team crystal clear on what channels to use for urgent communications? For those situations, encourage the use of chat through apps like Slack or MS Teams, texting or phone calls. In turn, reinforce the use of Email or MS Teams posts for routine communications.  

5. Be consistent in communicating your company’s commitment to flex time. Some employees must balance work with childcare and may need to take more frequent breaks. Show you understand their situation — and more importantly, show you care — by being flexible. Collaborate with employees to arrive at solutions that allow everyone to meet their personal obligations while still advancing the work. 

6. Communicate about more than just the work. Forming a strong, productive team is as much about building relationships as it is about expertise. Employees at leading companies like Zappos have embraced virtual happy hours. At SPI, we’ve created an MS Teams channel called the Virtual Lounge where SPIs can share memes, funny stories and good news with one another.  

We’d love to hear how managers at your organization are adapting their communication style and channels to support a remote workforce.