Fierce competition, hiring suitable candidates, and acquiring loyal customers are some of the biggest problems faced by startups.

Our experience shows that the best solutions to address these are simple: amazing employees.

Employees are the biggest assets of an organization. Read that again – it’s the most important and time-tested truth that there is in business. Superstar employees are the ultimate weapon against the competition, the cornerstone of amazing customer service, and makes your organization resilient to any other problem which may arise.

But it’s not so simple. It’s hard to find great talent. So what do you do when your superstar is nowhere to be found? You can start by broadening your search. Try thinking globally.

Thanks to the internet, it has become tremendously easy to get a hold of a person who is living thousands of miles away. Every startup wants fast growth, and for that, they need great talent. Many times, it doesn’t matter if that talent is local or in a completely different timezone.

But, there’s another catch Are you able to retain your remote workers? In other words, Are you providing an environment where your remote team can be productive, where they can grow?

Checking in on your in-house team and taking care of the issues they are facing is easy. But remote workers are physically distant from you, and you can’t see what they are doing and what problems they are facing. It certainly isn’t viable to call them every hour to check in on your remote team. This leads to isolation and reduced social interaction, which may lead to stress and anxiety.

Related: “How to stay mentally healthy while working remotely?”

It’s indispensable to develop a plan to include your remote team in your in-house family, getting them acquainted with your company culture, and making them feel comfortable.

Let’s look at some of the ways you can make your organization remote friendly.

1. Communication:

Communication is the most important factor in making your organization remote friendly. You have a distributed team, so water cooler talk isn’t an option anymore, and swinging by your coworkers’ desk is impossible. So, it’s time to rely heavily on instant messengers and video calls.

In one of a webinar “5 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Remote Staff”, Krish Chopra, Co-Founder of NPHub said –

“You have water cooler talks or coffee where you hang out with your coworkers every day, you need to schedule that time for your remote teams as well.”

Create channels where your team can communicate, and not just about work. Constant communication is a good way of getting the in-house team and your remote team to interact and know each other well, and also to get work done.

Remember, there is no such thing as over-communicating when you have a distributed team.

2. Trust:

If you want your company to grow with your distributed team, you need to foster a culture of trust. The employer isn’t aware of the whereabouts of his remote team and the work routine they have, but that should not be a reason for him to be doubtful about their work arrangement. Employers should trust their remote teams, and that’s how they can set a great example of trust in the organization as a whole.

Mention to your team that mistakes are alright, supposing they talk about those mistakes, learn from each other, and bond together.

Don’t be afraid of giving leadership opportunities to remote workers just because they aren’t in front of you all the time.

3. Train your team:

It’s critical to give your remote team the appropriate training needed to perform their duties. Your in-house team always has the advantage of watching you work and pick up on some tips and tricks. This won’t be the case with your remote team. You will need to think about how to give your remote employees an environment where they can thrive, constantly improve, enjoy their work, and be more productive.

4. Team retreats are also for remote teams:

Team retreats are probably the thing employees look forward to. Who would want to miss an opportunity to go out with the team, have fun, and especially meet your remote teams?

Organizations should organize a team retreat once in a while; this gives a chance for the in-house team to meet face to face with the remote team.

Meeting in a new environment, away from work, getting to know each other over a couple of drinks and games, can make your remote team feel like they are an essential part of the family.

5. Buddy system:

The buddy system can work wonders in increasing interaction between your local and remote teams. Pairing members from your in-house team with members from your remote teams is an excellent way of training your remote team, getting things done, and making your team feel comfortable around each other.

Conclusion:

It’s high time for organizations to start planning how work will look like with a remote team. With the millennial workforce on the rise, the 9 to 5 schedule isn’t what it used to be, employees they like to do things on their own terms, on their own time. Making everybody feel like an integral part of your organization should be one of the top priorities. Millennials come with different perceptions towards the world and have a different skill set; it’s up to you how to utilize those skills in the best interest of the employees and the company.

These tips will get you started in making your organization remote friendly, but you may need to think on different, innovative methods to make sure that an entire team is a single unit firing at peak efficiency.