Guru's Verification engine ensures consistency, confidence, and trust in the knowledge your organization shares. Learn more.

Managing Employees in a Remote Environment

Managing performance, setting expectations, giving feedback and having transparent, aligned, productive relationships is an ongoing iterative process which is critical and essential to strong leadership. One of the key roles of the supervisor is mentorship; helping employees grow by identifying and building on strengths, as well as areas of continued development with intention, equity, objectivity and compassion.

Below are best practices we recommend managers use continuously with our hybrid workforce.

I. Setting Expectations

It is critical for employees to know what is expected of them in order to succeed. Set expectations not just in general terms, but with clear objectives and priorities, timelines for outcomes, and other metrics to demonstrate success in the role. The following are best practices for setting expectations particularly in a remote work environment:

  • Review how the job is being impacted by being remote.
  • Evaluate goals - do you need to reassess them in this new environment?
  • Acknowledge the changes to needs and priorities.
  • State clear, realistic expectations and set the parameters for how and how often to communicate.
    • Be aware of employee’s different needs for training and learning, as well as the varying degrees of direction or autonomy and acknowledgement needed.
  • When possible, set SMART goals.

Want to read more about goal setting? Read this from the Harvard Business Review.

II. Communication During Remote Times

People need to know how they are doing in real time. Communication is an incredibly powerful tool that when used effectively, provides opportunities for growth and development, improves the levels of trust and communication, and can strengthen the relationship between employees and supervisors. Having constructive, honest conversations is often incredibly difficult and challenging. However, there are strategies and practices that can be learned to help sharpen this skill. In our hybrid work environment, employees look to managers and leaders for direction and support. Feedback given with empathy and patience becomes even more critical in boosting morale and enhancing productivity.

  • Are you communicating in real time and with empathy, compassion, and patience?
  • Are you remembering to complement a job well done, flexibility or commitment?
  • Frequency matters; with the absence of face to face contact, people may need to be engaged differently.

This guide from the Harvard Business Review is a great resource on managing in a remote environment and elaborates on specifics of crucial communication strategies.

III. Supporting Your Employees

In the sudden transition from being on-campus to working from home, employees had to adjust and adapt to new ways of accomplishing work. While the new environment created new hurdles or exacerbated previous challenges, this situation also had a positive impact on others. Getting immediate answers and feedback was once as simple as walking over to your manager’s office or a colleague’s office; information flowed more freely between and among teams and connecting with others did not require layers of planning. The following are some tips and strategies on how you can get your staff training/support when they need it.

  • Online training modules – (LinkedIn Learning)
  • Ask what your staff members need to meet expectations and how you can help.
  • When changes happen, talk it through and follow-up in writing.
  • Facilitate support – provide referrals, implement structured and scheduled check-ins, discuss the appropriate communication options.
  • Leaders and managers must make an intentional approach to get information and connect with staff.
  • How you as a leader or manager react to a crisis can trickle down to your team. Take care of yourself and recognize when you also need support.
  • If you do not know what your staff member needs, the best way to find out is to ask!

Read these 10 tips from the Society for Human Resource Management.

IV. Giving Constructive Feedback and Recognition

People need to know how they are doing in real time. It is critical to let people know when they have done a good job and what they can do differently to be successful. Many people are working harder than ever, demonstrating flexibility and a commitment to the University. Feedback should be fair, objective and constructive.

  • Feedback should be a description of a behavior, not a judgment.
  • Focus on exploration of alternatives on how someone could have handled a situation.
  • Constructive feedback should be specific, solution focused and thoughtful.
  • Verbal feedback can be followed-up with email to ensure clarity.
  • Showing appreciation can offer a boost of confidence, maintain/encourage engagement, maintain open lines of communication and builds trust.
  • Managers should be aware of their own emotional reactions to stress before, during and after giving feedback.
  • Employees want to know their strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Use the STARS model as a guide for giving constructive feedback.

For additional information, this is a great article on how to have tough conversations and this is a great website from Aetna that contains FAQs, checklists and quick tips. There are also videos on LinkedIn Learning that are helpful when trying to identify personal blind spots and getting comfortable asking for feedback.

V. Understanding Underperformance

People make mistakes. As a manager, create a culture to promote ownership, risk taking and creativity - and give people the opportunity to thrive. Create a culture where people can openly own their performance challenges.

Prior to determining that an employee is underperforming, managers should be able to answer the following questions:

  • Have I clearly articulated expectations and goals?
  • Have I offered support if an employee is struggling to meet expectations?
  • Are the expectations realistic?
  • Have we offered adequate training, support to fill the gap?
  • Have I given direct feedback and given the employee an opportunity to improve?
  • Have I asked the employee for feedback on how I can support them differently or is anything else going on that needs addressing?
  • Respond to underperformance with compassion rather than toughness, read more about that in this article here.

In instances where there does appear to be underperformance, managers should also assess whether there are any stressors that are impacting performance, changes in capacity, access to resources, access to support from management and colleagues, and potential reasons why the employee did not ask for help.

VI. Additional Resources and Information

Managing employee performance, setting goals, identifying strengths and development plans, giving honest, constructive feedback is complex, time consuming and one of the most critical roles of a supervisor. Time is a resource many people do not have a lot of right now. However, consider the cost of not spending time on the most important and precious resources - your team. Support and encouragement will go a long way to maintaining a high level of engagement and commitment, what every leader needs right now. Want additional information and resources?

Contact the Organizational Development team for additional information or support.

You must have Author or Collection Owner permission to create Guru Cards. Contact your team's Guru admins to use this template.