When you walk into Starbucks you’ll notice that there’s always a handful of people there with their laptops and tablets, along with the extremely addicting Starbucks coffee in hand. Even at Panera Bread, if you ever happen to want a little breakfast before you go into your workday, you’ll see people sitting there as well with computers and paperwork. You’re probably wondering what these people actually do for a living or even where these people work where they can actually work outside of the office and not get fired. Nowadays, you’ll find that many employers are now allowing employees to work from home, in restaurants, or in coffee shops.

Your employees can thrive when they know that their employer trusts them. They tend to rise to the level of responsibility and self-motivation because they have particular metrics that they are monitored by. If you’re considering allowing your employees to work from home that’s awesome! However, some employers may not feel comfortable with the idea of not being able to keep track of remote employees throughout the day. They fear that communication will be more difficult if employees aren’t physically in the office. In this blog post, we are going to share four ways you can successfully manage employees remotely.

Set up an instant messaging system– It’s important to allow employees to communicate from wherever they’re working. By investing in a corporate instant messaging system you do just that. That way you don’t have to rely on emails for communication all the time. As some of us know, communication by email can sometimes be delayed. By investing in an instant messaging system employers are able to ask their employees quick questions, get direct answers, and can make work tasks run more smoothly. This communication tool will help ensure that constant communication is possible remotely as it is in the office. And good communication is a must in any business. Some platforms your business can use are HipChat, Campfire, and Chatter.

Implement a formal policy– In any business it’s important that everyone’s always on the same page. That’s why businesses have policies. If you have to, work with your HR department to create a policy for your remote employees. In that policy, there should be expectations, a clear understanding of the type of tasks that can be completed remotely by employees, and communication of deadlines. Communication is the one thing that’s most important when it comes to remote employees. Remote employees should always be responsive and reachable to emails and phone calls. Making a policy will allow employees to know exactly what’s expected of them so there is no miscommunication.

Utilizing Cloud Technologies– Cloud technologies are everywhere and for that we can thank Apple. Ever since Apple released iCloud it’s been a very popular storage concept lately. The purpose of having a cloud is to allow documents and files to be viewed in multiple places. If you’re going to have employees working remotely they need to be able to access any file or data that they can access in the office while working remotely. That way all the information they need is right at their fingertips. If there’s no way to get the work remotely then you’re making their job that much harder.

There are benefits to allowing employees to work remotely, including increased productivity. It’s worth considering if you have some employees who are more than qualified to work remotely. Allowing remote employees in your office could lead to a happier, more productive, and more flexible workplace. Not to mention some of the office costs you could save. Isn’t saving money a beautiful thing?

Perhaps you don’t have much staff that you trust. Perhaps you don’t have many employees that are productive enough to actually work remotely for your business. This is when you should consider working with a staffing agency, like ours, so that you get the employees that you have always dreamed of.

INTERESTED? Email us to get started.

We have an entire page dedicated to sharing all current job openings. You can learn more about ATHENA’s culture and benefits here.