Member Article

Creating consistency in your remote workforce

By Sami Bouremoum, Hofy

It may be a legacy from 2020, but the conversation around remote work continues to roll on. Employees are still seeking more flexible working arrangements, and employers are keen to make the remote working experience as seamless as possible in order to better their employee experience, and retention.

With employees typically spending in excess of eight hours at their desks, even in remote workplaces, this employee experience goes well beyond just sending them out a new laptop. Mental and physical wellbeing have a huge impact on job satisfaction, and so it’s important to ensure that team policies are applied consistently across a workforce so you don’t create any unintentional hierarchies within teams.

Here are four ways to ensure every employee has the same experience, whether they are remote, hybrid, or working from a fully-equipped office.

Ensure the onboarding process is standardised Consistency begins with the onboarding process. There’s no use looking to create a standardised employee experience if some employees are waiting for weeks to be onboarded, simply because they have specific needs or are in very remote regions. You could set up internal processes - which can cost time and money - or work with a global equipment provider that takes on responsibility for the logistics.

Create consistent team equipment policies With teams often dispersed across geographic regions, there is the temptation to treat each team member differently depending on their accessibility or proximity to what you may consider “the office”. It doesn’t matter if a team member is in a hard-to-reach location, they will still require the same equipment if they are fulfilling the same role as someone else in their team.

Be sure to set equipment policies that ensure the onboarding (and off-boarding) processes are the same for everyone in that team. Take into account equipment needs and budget available, and then set up a policy that can be applied to all team members.

Be aware of individual needs Creating consistency within teams also means being aware, and accommodating, of individual needs. For example, if one employee has postural issues or perhaps is hard of hearing, then the necessary specialist equipment needs to be provided in order for them to have the same experience as other team members (be it an ergonomic chair or special headphones). The goal is to create a standardised employee experience, not create standardised policies that assume every employee is the same.

Prioritise connectivity So, your workforce has been onboarded, and equipment delivered depending on their individual needs. Another factor to consider is connectivity. A team member is rendered useless if they can’t access consistent, reliable WiFi and communicate with the rest of the team.

Equipment such as range extenders can tackle issues like a weak signal. If you’re onboarding an employee in a new region, it helps to research connectivity before their start date, so you can provide any necessary resources before their productivity suffers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hofy .