Technology has provided the leverage to work from any place at any time of the day. In today’s digital world where everyone is connected to the internet, the remote workforce trend is gradually gaining more popularity among small business owners.
Telecommuting is viewed as being good for both employees and employers. Everyone thinks money and saving of time when they think about remote work. They think about the savings. No office costs, employees living in less expensive areas do not ask for higher salaries etc. But they are wrong.
Let’s say you decide that to expand your small business, you need an android app. In most cases, you can outsource creation and maintenance. But that comes with its own challenges, which remote workers, as well as employers, have to face a lot of problems and lead to the lack of work-life balance. Every new business faces a variety of issues. When your company is remote, then you can imagine the toughness level. What are the biggest challenges facing remote employees as well employer?
Here is the list of challenges small business and their employees face:
• Accountability and visibility
• Physical and digital security
• Time zone and communication difficulties
• Effect on office culture and individual well- being
1 Accountability and visibility: Face to face interactions and daily engagement, create a feeling of trust and bonding among the group members. With a remote team, you don’t have the same advantage. Team building and trust establishing exercises are particularly very important. Remote managers must be comfortable trusting their employees and giving them to freedom. This can be a major concern while dealing the business remotely.
2 Security: In the age of global hacks, cybercrime, physical terror, the main question arises on how to keep our employees, data and our information safe. In the office, we have protocols, procedures, and policies covering everything from virus protection and password policy or what to do when working alone in the office. Remote employees encounter a completely difficult set of risks when working in the shared spaces, home alone or sometimes even accessing the business systems on public networks.
3 Work-life boundaries: Improved work-life balance is usually seen as one of the major incentives, and benefits, working from home. However, it is not given. Remote workers are more prone to home interruptions and other disturbances between work and home life. Without working physical boundaries between a work environment and home environment, this can result in longer and unpredictable hours worked, increased stress and strain on the personal and professional relationship.
4 Time management and communication difficulties: It seems that working remotely is not an issue when it comes to time management. All that time people spend on commuting, being stuck in a traffic jam. People usually thinking work from home can save a huge amount of time for themselves. But when you work from home, you have to consider all your duties you may need to perform, such as cleaning, making dinner, and organizing workspace. It may cause time management issues for the employee.
5 Impact of organizational culture: Many workers say that lack of community and disconnect from overall company culture as one of the biggest downfalls. In the remote environment, there are very few opportunities to connect or engage with their peers. This can be the biggest setback faced in remote working. Dealing with a globally diverse workforce can bring some big challenges, including language and cultural differences. These differences can impact how employees interact with each other.
What is the general possible solution to these challenges?
• While operating a small business, make use of communication-based technological tools. Instant messaging, chat and another way of communication channels makes sharing problems and possible solutions easier than ever.
• As a business manager, be clear about project aims, deadlines, and expectations. If your employees know that what you want from them, you are more likely to get the results you need.
• Utilize time tracking software outsourcing company to get the best results of what your remote team is working during the workday. Depending upon the system we use, this portable platform can even provide screenshots to show exactly what an employee had done on his screen throughout the day.
• As the manager, you can be attentive about learning the cultural differences between you and your employees. The best way to learn is just to ask. Your team is going to appreciate your genuine interest and care by making everyone on the team feel welcome, comfortable and valued.
Even though there are lots of challenges in managing the business, but we can sort out these problems by taking some important cautions steps. There are also some noticeable benefits of the managing business through remote workforce once you learn to manage the difficulties that arise at the initial level of building the business. After managing these challenges we can run our small business smoothly.
Divyesh Aegis is a senior writer and working with Aegis Softtech – leading mobile and web development company in USA. You can contact his in order to hire digital marketing to avail the highly functional mobile and web development solutions. He has several years of experience in the field of SEO.