Corporate Bumps Companies Face While Operating Remotely

Companies across sectors are struggling to follow ‘work from home’ practices after the Indian government instructed India Inc. to implement it and limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. They are now trying their best to ensure their operations are barely disrupted. Even though studies refer to remote working as a business revolution that brings a productive and healthier option to those looking to enjoy a more positive work-life balance, it isn’t something companies would switch to in the long run.

Despite all the perks remote workers enjoy, organizations find it difficult to nurture their company’s culture in a work-from-home environment. In fact, it becomes problematic for the managers to be on the same page with the entire team and urge them to work effectively from different locations in their bid to get the best out of everyone. This primarily happens across fast-growing startups. Here are some of the issues companies are facing during this remote working phase:

Managing projects

This is one of the biggest challenges while working from home considering the team members are spread across multiple locations and might be working under different circumstances. This makes it difficult for the managers to meet the deadlines and hit the targets. In the absence of physical presence, communication becomes difficult and keeping track of individual tasks becomes extremely time-consuming, especially for complex projects and large teams.

To deal with such issues, there is a couple of management software that can help companies overcome such challenges. They can be installed on every team member’s system to keep track of their work progress along with managing the tasks. While there are plenty of options in the market to solve the management problems, organizations need to ensure that they have got the right management in place.

Remote team collaboration

The collaboration of teams is yet another challenge for many companies, especially those working on the same project. While working at the office premises, they can interact with each other for any documents or brainstorming session without any real limitations. However, in a work-from-home setup, everything is limited and even interactions become a challenge. Companies must look for an effective communication channel to break down those remote co-working barriers. Platforms like Zoom, Slack, Spark, etc. are instant, responsive and flexible, favorable enough to make collaborative prototyping possible for remote teams.

Tracking tasks and productivity

This is one of the most complex problems of managing remote teams. In order to complete bigger projects, companies are required to make sure that all the smaller tasks are getting accomplished on time. This can be possible only by keeping track of the employees’ work progress on a daily basis, which manually can be a daunting prospect. Softwares like Teamviewer can resolve this issue. They will allow the management to track the work progress of the team members in real-time. Meanwhile, platforms like Toggl tracks the time it takes to complete tasks, enabling companies to maintain and improve turnaround times for better productivity.

Building/maintaining trust

Working from home can obviously trigger trust issues among remote teams as no one can physically see what people are doing. So, companies must take certain steps to build and maintain trust across their entire teams. They can urge their team members to be responsive and take accountability for completing their tasks on time. Team leaders and the higher authorities should promote transparency at every level and demonstrate the benefits to team members. They must also create shared goals that can inculcate the feeling of having each other’s back.

It takes a leap of faith to build trust or maintain trust among the team members in any organization. So, even during the global crisis like these when remote working is the only way of sustaining a business, companies should give the employees enough freedom to prove their trustworthiness. This will help then incentivizing team members with positive feedback and rewards for achieving the set targets and sacrifices they might be making along the way.