Remote workers who are engaged–isn’t that counter intuitive? Aren’t they just scattered across the globe doing who knows what?
Not so fast. Rather than just being names you see online or voices you hear during your semiweekly check-in meeting, remote employees can be engaged and productive. In fact, they can be your most engaged and productive workers. A recent study found that 77 percent of remote workers get more done in fewer hours thanks to fewer distractions like meetings, conversations and noisy coworkers. The secret is to fill their toolbox with the right collection of tech.
Hard to believe? Maybe 10 years ago, but the times are changing. If we can now have pet food delivered by drone via the portable computer in our pocket, we can remove the “remote feeling” from remote work.
According to another study, 95 percent of employers say telework has a high impact on employee retention. Telecommuting is a wonderful way to ensure you have the best team members in place – regardless of location. With the proper tools in hand, your remote workers will feel connected, engaged and productive, no matter their location.
And the best part? Contrary to widespread belief, it won’t mortally wound your budget to hire remote workers. In fact, according to industry research, employers average around $10K savings in commuting and equipment costs when their employees elect to work remotely full-time.
Even with technology, you can’t always ensure employees are working. However, technology helps them be more efficient and connected. If you don’t use collaboration tools to engage with your remote workers, you may end up with a far-flung team that rarely connects. To avoid this – and ensure your remote workers are performing – make use of the following three technologies.
- Hosted Voice
The days of employees having to use the same company-issued phone and computer are in the past. When the cloud rolled in, it also brought with it hosted voice, a business phone service that enables unified communication from any device and location.
The flexibility of hosted voice services gives users full control over their phone system. It’s easy to reset a voicemail password or turning on holiday hours, and you can even do it away from the office. Furthermore, when properly architected, the sound quality on hosted voice improves greatly and gives IT the ability to monitor quality and adjust when necessary.
- Video Conferencing
Don’t just think of remote workers as sepia-toned versions of their Gmail profile pics. Instead, engage with remote workers as dynamically as you would with in-office employees. How? By using high-quality video conferencing.
Studies show that up to 93 percent of communication is nonverbal. In other words, conversation relies on body language to be fully effective. Enable teams to see each other and say hello to improved meeting efficiency and goodbye to miscommunications.
- Webcasts
When done right, webcasts are a fantastic way to relay information and track user engagement. Webcasts keep telecommuters in the loop through live-streamed meetings, conferences and events. Recording a webcast makes it easy for disparate teams to connect at any time and watch events as if they were live.
These three tools can improve the engagement and connection of your remote workers. In turn, you will see productivity and collaboration skyrocket for your telecommuting talent. That’s a win-win well worth the investment.
ATC offers collaboration tools like video conferencing and webcasting, enabling companies to foster employee connection and engagement, whether they are on the next floor down or on another continent. These solutions provide a professional, high-quality platform to ensure your entire workforce is seamlessly connected to meet all your communication and collaboration needs.
