As a manager, engaging employees on the job is a constant search for balance.
More than anyone else, the manager sets the fun/work balance for the office, and is responsible for keeping everyone on an even keel. But that can be extra difficult when trying to engage remote workers, who now make up 43 percent of employees in the U.S.
The struggle to strike a balance with teleworkers comes from the idea of giving employees more autonomy, probably the biggest benefit employees receive from working remotely.
More and more, businesses are seeing increased autonomy as a good thing – it has great influence on employee satisfaction, which can lead to several other positive outcomes. Study after study tells us that giving employees more empowerment and autonomy simply makes them happier and more productive at their jobs.
But it also creates a paradox of sorts: We want to give them more autonomy but at the same time it needs to be balanced with accountability, which can become easily obfuscated in a remote working situation.
The point is sometimes it can be hard to tell if you are giving workers more autonomy or adding more disorganization for yourself by allowing them to work remotely.
That’s because everyone has their own idea of what autonomy means – to one employee it could mean working all week with their head down without talking to anyone. To another, it could mean daily check-ins. Yet another might prefer to cram all their work into the first few days of the week.
People may also change their work habits altogether once they gain added autonomy.
Some workplaces have formal policies on expectations from teleworkers, but as it’s still a relatively new thing, many don’t – in our company, for instance, HR leaves it up to the individual managers to sort out the best arrangements with their remote employees.
This is one of those things that is easy to say, but not so easy to do. But still, you must be able to define what autonomy means to yourorganization first to set proper expectations.
Here is my go-to list:
You might already know the answers to those questions, but the time spent making the personal connection and keeping them close to the organization’s pulse is what’s important.
The benefit of autonomy is increased happiness and job satisfaction. The drawback of autonomy is that you can’t always know exactly what the employee is up to.
But trust me – nine times out of ten the autonomy that comes with working from home is a good thing, and the employees that really want it are probably going to be smart about it.
If you’re still worried, setting proper expectations is the best insurance policy. No matter how the world changes, it has always taken clear expectations from management and a good balance of work and fun to keep everyone running smoothly, even when they’re not in the office.
This was originally published on the Michael C. Fina blog.
