Building Professional Teams Remotely: A Guide

Is your organisation looking to build out its professional teams remotely? 

According to statistics, 64% of organisations allow some form of remote work. Remote working isn’t just a hangover from the pandemic. It’s becoming the new, cost-saving norm. Estimates state organisations can save $11,000 annually per telecommute employee on average.

They can also enjoy 21% higher profitability. This is thanks to savings on real estate costs, employee turnover, and absenteeism. However, it would be best to focus on the right hiring, communication, and management strategies to enjoy these benefits. Otherwise, you might hire the wrong people for the job. Or hurt productivity and trigger employee disengagement.

Keep reading to find out how to go about building professional teams remotely. 

Have a Clear Communication Process

Transparent communication processes are critical for the success of remote professional teams. Virtual settings allow less chance for frequent, organic communication. Therefore, organisations must ensure that teams have a clear communication protocol.

The best communication cadence will depend on the nature of your organisation and teams. Start by mapping out what communication frequency teams should have. Decide what channels they should use and what form communications should take. Also, clarify the required hours of availability and stipulate the expected response times from team members and managers. 

We’d also recommend prioritising one-on-one management in your operations and communication process. Team leaders are the nodes through which remote teams operate. Having a solid line of individualised communication is essential. It can have a profound impact on employee performance. 

Ideally, managers should regularly get in touch with remote employees. These check-ins help managers spot upcoming issues and ensure team members have the necessary resources and guidance. 

Cater to All Time Zones

Are you building out international teams? If so, you’ll also need to tailor your communication processes for multiple time zones. Having active employees in different time zones can be beneficial. If your expansion goes global, it might reach a point where the sun never sets on your teams. This can accelerate turnaround times and widen customer service hours. 

But, you will need to coordinate how remote teams can communicate effectively through different time zones. 

Implement the Right Tracking Solutions

Identifying and implementing effective tracking solutions is another priority for remote business models. 

Time tracking doesn’t just monitor employees’ working time. It also lets managers gain a bird’s eye view of project progress. Time-tracking solutions can also provide valuable metrics on turnaround times. Additionally, it can afford remote employees increased flexibility. With an easy overview of their hours, employees can manage their time effectively.

Find the Right Hiring Solution

Hiring wisely is one of the most critical parts of building professional teams. Remote or otherwise. Shifting to a remote business model can expand your available talent pool. It can also make you more competitive as an employer. But, there are challenges to remote hiring.

Let’s imagine you’re building international teams over multiple countries and regions. Firstly, comparing credentials, certificates, and education can be very complicated. Besides vetting for technical competencies, you must also consider candidates’ abilities to work independently and communicate via virtual channels.

Finally, you will need to consider local employment laws. Deal with administrative issues such as taxes, and comply with local payroll requirements. 

The takeaway? Sifting through uncurated responses to online job postings and evaluating/onboarding candidates can be a mammoth task for HR departments. Finding a good hiring solution is the most streamlined way to get around these remote hiring challenges. Such as a professional employer organisation (PEO). 

For instance, we take all the legwork out of sourcing global talent here at Bradford Jacobs. Not only do we consult and attract top international talent. We also handle the engagement and onboarding process. Moreover, you won’t need to worry about local legislation requirements. Nor will you need to think about payroll complexities. We handle it all and negate the need to create a local entity to hire.

With a PEO like us, you can onboard the best talent for your professional teams within a few days. 

Focus On Creating a Close-Knit Company Culture

If you look at some of the most successful companies, you’ll notice that most have positive cultures. Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Estee Lauder are a few examples.

Fostering a solid company culture is especially important when teams span the globe. Positive company cultures don’t usually arise by themselves. Instead, they have to be built and maintained. If left to develop without direction, bad company cultures can take on a life of their own, quickly creating dynamics of negativity and conflict. 

The first step to nurturing a close-knit culture is to create a set of guidelines that can be shared with all team members. Clearly outline what types of communication are not allowed. Such as hate speech, discrimination, etc. List what steps will be taken if a team member disregards the company culture guidelines. 

It would help if you also established how complaints and issues should be raised. For instance, encourage problem-solving over complaining. Finally, toxic dynamics should be dealt with swiftly before they get out of hand. 

Encourage Connection

One of the challenges remote teams face is isolation and a lack of connection with co-workers. 

Interpersonal connections can be slower to develop in remote settings. Fortunately, there are many ways you can encourage relationships between remote employees. Such as:

• Virtual water cooler chats via platforms like Slack
• Photo sharing (of both tasks completed and after-hours activities)
• Online competitions and talent challenges
• Raffles
• Online quizzes and games (such as trivia)
• Virtual book clubs

Some remote businesses also implement annual conferences. Others encourage local meet-ups where remote employees from a particular area can attend. 

We Make Building Professional Teams Easy

Building remote teams can have big payoffs for businesses. But they can also come with unique challenges. Here at Bradford Jacobs, we make building professional teams easy. We handle everything from attracting top talent to ensuring compliance with local legislation and payroll requirements.

Let us streamline your expansion. As global expansion experts, we are the partner to pick for all your PEO needs. Get started today by learning more about our global expansion services.