Managing at a Distance

February 4, 2010

More and more, offices are moving towards being virtual. The internet and cloud computing have enabled employees to work from home with ease. “Working from home” has an air of negativity about it from an employee perspective and a management perspective. Often, the employee feels like they have to constantly “prove” that they are working and may call or email more often than needed. Managers might feel uneasy because they can’t “see” their employees being productive.

Inc. magazine has decided to go virtual for a month and went out seeking advice. Here are some of the suggestions:

1) Have a place for employees to “gather”. This is where instant messaging services come in, such as Yahoo Messenger, AIM or Campfire. If employees are working from their home, they should be required to sign into an Instant Messaging tool so that they can be readily available to colleagues.

2) Maintain accountability. Using tools such as Basecamp and Salesforce, managers can track employees work easily. Employees will also feel more at ease, since their work is being tracked. No one can accuse them of slacking off as long as they are reporting their work properly.

3) Maintain a sense of community. Working from home has it’s advantages, but it can also feel isolating. Encourage employees to talk in person as well as online. One suggestion was to keep an open tab at a local coffee shop for casual meetings.

You can read the entire article here.