How to Improve Relationship With Remote Employees

Building Strong Relationships in Remote Teams

If you work in a remote team, one of the aspects you quickly notice is the importance of communication. Finding the best ways to communicate with your team is imperative when you’re not working face-to-face because you’re missing most—if not all—of the context of each person’s situation.

If you’re in an office with your teammates, for instance, you’ll notice if someone is especially quiet and withdrawn. And if that’s a common behavior pattern, you’ll know that it’s a tip-off that they didn’t sleep well last night and need some space or that they’re especially stressed and could use a chat to share their concerns.

Building relationships on any team isn’t easy. And being a remote or work-from-home team makes it that much harder. But with some thoughtful planning, and our helpful tips, you can start building strong relationships with remote coworkers and strengthening your team today.

SCHEDULE COMMUNICATION WEEKLY

Up first, the obvious. It’s critical to set time aside to talk when you’re not running into each other in the office; and if it’s not in the calendar, it’s less likely to happen. We all know how even the best of intentions are pushed aside when the to-do list starts piling up. By scheduling weekly team meetings and individual check-ins, you can ensure you address concerns in a timely manner, keep employees in the loop, and even get to know them better.

STAY UP TO DATE

When your teammates are working on the other side of the world, you get used to waking up or coming back from lunch to a full inbox and messages flowing in from your team chat, shared documents, and various other places. This can be overwhelming, so finding ways to keep on top of what’s going on is imperative for communicating efficiently with each other.

SWITCH TO VIDEO

On that same note, one of the great advantages of technology is that video chats are now possible for anyone with the right equipment and a decent internet connection. While video conferencing technology isn’t perfect, it can help to build strong relationships with remote employees when used in the proper scenarios (and yes, there are good and bad times for video depending on the circumstances).

Video has the advantage of giving you those visual cues you often miss with written and even verbal communications. Sure, there is sometimes a lag, but understanding body language can be important to improving the quality of a conversation.

DON’T BE ALL BUSINESS

One of the best things about working in an office (yes, there can be positives) is the opportunity for random conversations to happen. For example, if it’s someone’s birthday, there’s cake, of course. But there’s also the casual conversation that comes with the cake. During that celebration, you might learn that Jane has a dog she crochets sweaters for, and John has two kids that love soccer.

While you might have a virtual birthday celebration with remote coworkers (and you should because cake!), more often than not, your conversations may center more on business topics than personal ones.

COLLABORATIONS COMPLICATIONS

Some of the most common issues remote workers deal with on a day to day basis are loneliness, collaboration, and communication issues. The best way to combat these complications is to build a good relationship with those employees or colleagues that work remotely. In order to build those relationships and establish those connections, everyone needs to be equipped with the proper tools and technologies. Things can get lost in translation through emailing or texting, and nothing else helps businesses to close those communication and collaboration gaps like high-quality audio that you can trust.

THE BEST TOOLS AND TECH

Some of the best tools that help companies build up relationships with remote workers and clients are video conferencing platforms, video conferencing cameras, TVs or quality monitors, and of course the best audio conferencing products from the best companies.