Managing Virtual Employees

The old office was bursting at the seams. So when the swank new office was inaugurated, everyone wanted to move there. The gym, cafeteria and pool table in the new office got featured in many of the magazines. The MD and her direct reports continued to operate out of the old building for sentimental reasons. Except for Finance and Accounts, all the other departments moved to the new location. When the employee engagement survey was done after six months, the scores showed a remarkable drop. A drop in face time with their leaders was cited as a common complaint.As organizations grow beyond the single office “where it all began”, they need to skill their leaders in managing virtual teams. Employees are seeking the flexibility of working from home or have a need to be in a certain location for personal reasons. Employers seek to test the waters as they move to new geographies by posting a lone individual or scatter a handful of people who can build a customer base without the organization investing in large overheads. We often think of employees working in another country or city when we think of virtual workers, but the challenges of managing a person working out of another office building is the same as it is across time zones or in an office space across the street.Even the smallest degrees of dispersion, such as working on different floors in the same building, can greatly affect the quality of collaboration. There is more frequent communication and trust in teams that can see each other without having to go to a different location. In a hyper-connected world, technology makes it easy for work to be done from any location. So it is not surprising that colleagues who work in two ends of the same office floor use technology to communicate as much as a team scattered across continents. There are enough options to help the employee stay connected but what is often missing is the emotional connect of the employee with the leader, the team and even the organization. Without an emotional connect the virtual team member is no more than a faceless person operating somewhere. What is needed to manage a virtual employee is to ensure they have a share of mind; share of voice and a share of the wallet.Share of mind: Simply put – does the manager think of the virtual member as often as he/she does for the others who they see more often? Virtual employees often miss out on information because it was conveyed verbally. Some of them complain about losing out on interesting assignments just because the leader happens to meet a team member in the hallway more often than someone who works on a different floor of the same building.What works: Use technology to create frequent “face time” with your virtual team members. Create more structured opportunities for updates and conversations on organizational strategies, policies and changes. That ensures the virtual team members hear you and feel included.Share of voice: This ensures that the virtual team members are heard as much as those who are physically present in the meeting. It is human to seek the opinions of people when they drop by. This is where virtual employees lose out.What works: Managers should set up process guidelines that the team will use to structure the work, review progress and communicate with each other. Ask virtual employees if they are happy about how decisions are made or how conflicts are resolved.Share of wallet: Virtual team members often get unfairly treated when their work is evaluated. The impact of their work is not adequately measured since they are not around as frequently to give ongoing updates about their achievements or challenges.What works: Managers should focus on not just formal rewards like increments and bonuses but also ensure that the virtual team gets included in informal rewards as well. Sending someone a note or setting up a video chat to acknowledge their contribution can make a big difference to anyone especially those who do not get to meet you in person often.We are all learning to keep in touch with friends and family through social net working sites and mobile phones. When the relationship has taken roots and matured, it is easier to manage it long distance. Helping people managers learn how to manage virtual teams can help build a highly engaged workforce.Do your virtual employees get the same share of mind, voice and of wallet as the other employees? Think about it.Do you think virtual employees get shortchanged? Do you have any tips on how to manage virtual employees?------------------Read my column in Economic Times dated 1st June 2012: Beam up to your virtual employees