Managing a remote workforce during coronavirus outbreak is quite a task to be taken on the event of the coronavirus pandemic.

Managing a remote workforce during coronavirus outbreak with the best methods can effectively improve better productivity in a concern.

The novel coronavirus is spreading abundantly after each passing day. It leads many companies to ask their employees to work from home. It is an effort to slow down the spreading and preserve the health and safety of their people. This change created a new set of challenges for managers as they need to support and stays connected with their new remote workforce. If you are also one among those managers, here are a few tips to help you.

How to effectively manage a remote workforce during coronavirus outbreak?

• Establish a remote leadership team

Shifting an entire division or a company can trigger a shockwave of change. So, for mitigating this, you can start evaluating the current managers and rally a team of experts who have experience in handling remote workforce. These people should be efficient to communicate nuances and serve as resources to the employees who will inevitably have doubts or questions.

The core part of this team’s role will be to document challenges in real-time. They should transparently prioritize those challenges and need to assign DRIs (directly responsible individuals) to find the right solutions.

Executive assistants should also take on a more important role in the transition. They can become documentarians in meetings and assist in internal communications.

• Create a “source of truth” handbook to hold your employees in the loop

It can be rudimentary to start but will serve as a single source of truth for the pressing questions. You’ll need to communicate this widely in the company and update it continually with DRIs for common questions or issues around tools and access.

One of the most sizable hurdles when going remote is keeping everyone in the loop in an efficient way. Put concerted effort around systematically documenting significant process changes in a central place to reduce confusion and dysfunction.

• Create a formal (and informal) communication plan

Depending on the size of the team, consider creating an always-on video conference room per team. Here team members can linger, or come and go as they please. This simulation helps acclimation. It enables team members to embrace the shift to remote in a less jarring way. It also shows intentionality around informal communication, an essential element that happens spontaneously in an office and needs a sudden replacement in a remote setting.

Whatever your current view on transparency is, leaders should not go back during this time. It’s crucial to maintain perspective through this shift. Everyone reacts to working remotely differently, and not all homes are ideal workspaces. It can feel jarring, and team members will expect frequent updates as leaders iterate on their communication plan in real-time.

• Minimize your tool stack

While functioning remotely, your firm should strip the tool stack down to a minimum. You can use Google Docs, a company-wide chat tool and Zoom or another video conferencing platform to start the remote journey. Your team may need access to internal systems through a VPN. Then, make sure that everyone has easy access, and instructions on usage are clear.

Working well from a remote place requires writing things down. For firms who do not have an existing culture of documentation, this will prove to be the most challenging shift. So, you should aim to funnel communication into as few places as possible. It will reduce silos and fragmentation. You will want to proactively solve for mass confusion when it comes to finding things. It includes various policies, protocols, outreach mechanisms, messaging, and so on.

• Drive cultural change

Human beings are resistant to change naturally, especially changes that are formed during the time of uncertainty or crisis. Leaders need to meet this reality head-on. An all-hands approach to recognize the new reality is essential to empower everyone to add their contribution to the success of remote working.

Particularly it is vital for firms with strong “in-office cultures,” to understand that the remote transition is a process. It is not a binary switch to get flipped. Leaders are responsible for embracing the iteration. They need to be open about what is and are not working, and message this to all employees.

Managing a remote firm is much like managing any company. It comes down to trust, communication, and wide support of shared goals. The power of going fully remote, long-term can benefit your company a lot. It not only can you reduce overhead costs, but you can dramatically expand your talent pool since candidates’ physical proximity will no longer limit you to your facilities.

It’s great for the team member. They save the time they spend on commuting to the office. And most of all, they get work flexibility. If the kids are sick, they are already working from home. They are able to be there for them. And it shows up in employee retention.

The work world has changed in the last couple of weeks, and the firms are navigating new challenges. One of them is how to adapt and handle remote work. Some firms are offering limited work from home for the first time. Some other companies have gone 100% remote for the first time. It seems like nearly everyone is embracing or at least testing the future of work.

Flexible and remote work arrangements are becoming a powerful tool for most companies. It attracts and retains talent and strategic levers with which companies can control costs.

So, if you are not offering remote work options now, it’s an excellent time to consider them. If you are offering them only until the coronavirus outbreak get brought under control, it’s time to consider making them permanent. And if your firm does have to make a sudden shift for any reason, it helps to have processes in place to keep your things on track.