How to Establish Communication and Build Relationships in the Remote Working Environment
Human beings have an inherent need for community and social engagement – two things that are the backbone of any successful work environment. Every employer should understand that when people feel a sense of belonging and can build relationships where they work, they establish emotional investment, a greater sense of loyalty, and better understand their role and purpose in the overall environment. This serves to help people feel motivated, capable, and willing to try their best when they’re at work, since the investment they feel for their coworkers and the task at hand comes from a more genuine place.
The importance of these things are as integral to our being as the air we breathe, and that is as apparent in the workplaces of today as it ever was. However, in a post-pandemic working world where more Americans than ever before are conducting work remotely, fostering a sense of belonging, camaraderie, and community through lasting workplace relationships is made all the more difficult, and the isolated vacuum of remote work-life makes those relationships more important than ever.
Why Are More Employees Choosing Remote Work?
Record numbers of employees wouldn’t be flocking to remote employment opportunities if there weren’t considerable benefits and attractive prospects of doing so, both from the employee perspective and that of the employer.
If the pandemic proved one thing about the employer-employee relationship, it was that employees were capable of being as productive at home as they could be in a physical work environment, and part of this is due to the degree of flexibility, agency, and greater work-life balance allowed in the remote environment. While remote work imposes challenges relevant to relationship building, here are some of the most compelling reasons that make it such an attractive option to employees:
- Greater schedule flexibility means better work-life balance: Since many remote jobs come with flexible schedules, this degree of flexibility means employees can be more present in their lives outside of work. This is often due to the variable nature of remote work schedules, where oftentimes employers are more concerned about what gets done in a day and the quality of that work without being as concerned with how many hours per-day an employee spends working. The responsibilities of an employee’s work-life and home-life can have a better, more organic balance when working remotely.
- Jobs aren’t limited by location: One considerable advantage of remote work, for both employees and employers, is that any employee can ideally be employed at a job no matter where they live, meaning employees can capitalize on employment opportunities in areas outside of their general area, expanding their opportunities while allowing employers to hire from a greater pool of talent. For jobs in areas with a high cost of living, this means employees won’t have to relocate to apply their skills to a company. Conversely, for employees such as military spouses or those in other circumstances where they move frequently, remote work means people can enjoy a fruitful career wherever they are. This also encourages diversity, as employees not bound by geographic restrictions can ideally find employment anywhere in the world.
- Employers and employees save money: For employers, factors like real-estate costs, overhead, and transportation coverage can be greatly reduced when hiring remote employees. In fact, during the pandemic, U.S. employers saved approximately $30 billion per day by conducting employment operations remotely, and today when employees spend even just a fraction of their time working from home, employers save money. For costs associated with transportation such as gas, car maintenance, and parking fees, employees also find remote work to be a lucrative money-saving opportunity. Much like employers, employees look for any opportunity to save money and maximize their purchasing-power.
- Increased productivity, easier to track performance: Remote work often means workplace distractions that are out of an employee’s control are no longer present to disrupt them. Consider the additional lack of a commute, and remote employees have even more time during their day which they can flexibly apply to completing their tasks. While it’s true the combination of work life and home life can often present new distractions, generally speaking, remote employees feel as though their home environments are more conducive to focusing on their work. For employers, remote work also makes it easier to track an employee’s performance, since the work they complete in a day is allowed to speak for itself, outside of less-clear determinations such as when they arrived or left the workplace. Productivity is no longer measured in “face time”.
What are the Challenges of Remote Work? Why Is Addressing These Challenges Important?
While it’s undeniably true that remote work poses advantages that can be lucrative for employers and employees alike, life under remote work presents its own challenges, brought by its potential lack of tangibility and general employee isolation. The money saving potential, increased productivity, and greater flexibility of remote work are all wonderful advantages, but with the social aspects of the workplace gone, remote work can lead to loneliness and a lack of motivation in some employees.
Communication is an integral part of a productive, successful, and rewarding work environment, but when remote employees lack a tangible connection with their fellow employees, or the entity they work for, it can be difficult for some to stay motivated, often lacking the emotional investment and relationships that inspire employees to do their best. This can affect communication in the workplace and collaboration between employees, but the very technology that could be causing these deficiencies can also be leveraged appropriately to mitigate them. The truth is, considering the lack of a discernible workplace environment, establishing consistent, meaningful, and productive employee relationships is more important than ever, while being more difficult to maintain. Luckily, the right technologies, combined with enough structure and consistency, can help employees forge meaningful relationships even when they’re working from home.
How to Build Better Remote Work Relationships: Community, Connection, and Communication
Fostering consistent and meaningful relationships with employees in remote-work environments takes persistence and dedication, but with the right tools and strategies in-place, employees can be given everything they need to reinforce and build those relationships all on their own. Here are some considerations for employers and employees alike to establish a feeling of community, camaraderie, as well as effective organization and communication in remote work environments:
- Set up a remote project management system: In order to establish better organization and communication, while setting up tangible goals for remote employees to accomplish, it’s important to use a project management software, such as Asana. Project Management software can help employees better manage their projects and priorities, help employers and their employees communicate about feedback, due dates, and the specifics of complex multi-tiered projects all while making that communication streamlined and effortless to establish. With a project management software, remote employees can have a greater sense of purpose, as they can see how their tangible goals contribute to the completion of a project. It can also ensure projects don’t slip through the cracks, as employees are kept accountable for completing their dedicated list of tasks.
- Establish and capitalize on social capital: Capital usually refers to the monetary value of something, but social capital refers to the intangible value that relationships can build. Social capital is a bit nebulous, but it refers to the qualities of a connection shared between two people, built by trust, loyalty, understanding, shared values, shared obligations, and other factors. This matters because when people are able to establish social capital with each other, they feel more comfortable and willing to help each other, ask for help, and collaborate on a given task. This emotional investment creates an attachment to those who share an employee’s work-life, creating inspiration, dedication, and motivation.
- Engage with employees to prevent isolation: Employees need to feel like the work they do for their company isn’t just shouting into a void, and leadership can prevent these feelings through consistent communication! Anything from feedback on a recent assignment, congratulations for a job well done, or facilitating avenues for employees to communicate more casually can foster feelings of community and keep employees from feeling alone.
- Develop trust: Trust is an inherent quality built into the fabric of successful workplaces, and when employees feel like they can be relied on to freely utilize their skills, coming up with their own ways to solve problems and address their tasks, they feel better equipped and more capable to do their work to the best of their ability. In physical workplaces, trust is something that’s felt just as much as it might be overtly communicated, but in remote environments, a consistent feeling of trust may be harder to build. Employees can build this trust by completing assignments promptly and with a high degree of quality, but effective communication, acknowledging employees’ contributions, and demonstrating transparency can go a long way in making your employees feel like the trust you have in them is tangible and real.
- Make your presence consistent: What makes all of these factors work much better is merely by being a consistent presence in your employee’s work lives. There is no better way to give employees the opportunity to develop trust, feel community, and communicate effectively than by being around enough for them to develop those things; not doing so could mean employees lose sight of why they’re doing the work in the first place, and their motivation, investment, and happiness at work could go along with it. In order to not lose your employees, it’s important to ensure they won’t want to lose you; trust, communication, and all the other benefits of an effective work environment will be much better established if your presence is felt consistently.
Are You Ready To Improve Remote Work Relationships?
If you have questions about how to establish better communication in the remote work environment of your workplace, or need more information about navigating the landscape of remote employer-employee relations, don’t hesitate to contact Triple Track HR Partners. We have the experience and knowledge you need to manage human resources, helping to keep your business on-track.