Many millions of people are now singing the praises of remote work since the pandemic disrupted our work patterns.

I’ve been working and managing staff remotely for over eight years now, which makes me something of a veteran.

At this point, there aren’t many people criticizing remote work for being unproductive, or difficult to manage like there used to be.

You can see it’s the next wave of workplace evolution, the freedom to work from anywhere there’s a strong internet connection and mobile phone service.

So, you’re familiar with remote work and those of you with a few more years under your belts know how to do it well.

That’s why I want to pass on some tips and tricks of the trade, especially for those of you who are new to managing employees remotely. At the end of the day, like most things in life, it comes down to clear and effective communication.

There are four aspects of communication that will help you connect to and manage your staff remotely.

Be Clear:

• Make sure your staff knows your expectations, your goals, and what you consider quality work. For example, we created a “Guide to Excellence” for all our employees, which removes any ambiguity about our expectations.

Be Curious:

• This is about giving your employees the benefit of the doubt when they don’t meet your expectations. Curiosity is a non-judgmental way to help you understand how to make them successful.

Be Consistent:

• Consistency goes hand in hand with clarity. Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Your team will trust you and perform better when they understand your rules.

Be Transparent:

• You’ll gain respect when you acknowledge a mistake and ask how it can be made right. No one expects you to be perfect.

By the way, communicating like this is helpful with every relationship, not just for managing staff.

Especially with virtual employees, good clear communication skills are vital. That’s why we train our virtual employees for 40 hours, much of that time focused on listening and communication skills – so they can meet you halfway.

Are you looking to build a team of remote employees, or to add in a remote assistant?

Do you want to work with a staffing company with expertise and proven success in managing remote employees?

If so, you are invited to book a free consultation here.

Reward based compensation is just a fancy name for a bonus. Bonuses are good, we all love bonuses. That is, we all love getting a bonus.

As entrepreneurs and managers working with tight budgets and increasing payroll costs, adding to those expenses with employee bonuses may seem like not a great idea. In that case, don’t think of it as an expense – consider it an investment.

We’ve talked a lot about the cost of replacing good workers and the benefits to keeping them for a long time. I’m telling you, as a staffing expert, it’s never been harder to attract quality staff for reasonable salaries.

That’s why the idea of employee retention is top of mind for all the business experts and consultants. They’ll charge you big bucks for what I’m going to tell you right here in this email.

Giving bonuses as a reward for excellent work will keep your employees coming back for more. This is so important for workers who can’t move up in your organization, who may feel like they have no room for growth.

As usual, I learned this one the hard way. Many years ago, before I knew about the power of reward based compensation, I lost a great employee.

She’d been with me for five years, everything seemed fine, the business was humming along and then one day she came in and gave me her two week notice.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but this was also before I knew about the value of the weekly check-in.

What got to me, though, was that she left for basically the same job with a similar salary at a different company. There was only one difference. . .

You guessed it – bonuses.

She knew, as an office manager, there were no advancement opportunities in either business, but my competitor gave her a performance based bonus incentive plan and that sealed the deal.

At HireSmart Virtual Employees, we want you to have every advantage when it comes to keeping your workers happy and productive for the long term. That’s why we advise you to use bonuses to spice up your compensation package and keep your staff motivated.

Here are some tips when you’re thinking about creating a bonus program.

• Use the bonus program to show recognition and appreciation for behaviors you want to promote. What you bonus is what will get done
• Not all bonuses are monetary. In our business, we do compensation, time off, close the office for an outing together, think bigger than just cash. Not all workers are motivated just by money.
• Use bonuses strategically so they’re not the only source of employee motivation
• If you give the same reward repeatedly, it can lose its reinforcement value. Try changing the type of reward you give your employees periodically.
• Budget your bonus payments at one to two percent of annual payroll

Increasing payroll one or two percent is a big deal. But the bang for your buck on that investment in your staff will save you big time by keeping employees long term.

At HireSmart Virtual Employees we know that sometimes you have to spend a little to save a lot. In fact, we save our customers an average of $26, 770 per year on labor cost for each employee.

We recommend you put some of that savings into an employee bonus program and the rest in your bank account.

Are you looking for ways to build a strong team that sticks around a long time while saving you a lot on payroll? Then you’ll be happy to know that’s our specialty. You can book a free consultation here for creative staffing solutions.