How to manage remote employees: The ultimate guide

Remote work isn’t going anywhere, but its ubiquity has introduced new challenges related to visibility, engagement, and team cohesion. Managers and HR leaders need a playbook to lead remote teams with clarity, empathy, and intention.

The strategic importance of effective remote team management in a modern, distributed organization cannot be overstated. Flexibility remains a key differentiator in talent acquisition and retention, “return to office” fatigue is a palpable sentiment, and hybrid work models are rapidly becoming the standard operating procedure.

For HR leaders and managers, this evolving environment necessitates a comprehensive playbook. This guide aims to equip you with the strategies and insights required to lead remote teams with clarity, empathy, and purpose – with productivity and well-being as the end goals.

What is unique about managing remote employees?

Managing remote employees presents a unique set of challenges. A primary concern is the inherent lack of spontaneous feedback. In an office setting, quick check-ins, hallway conversations, or casual desk-side chats provide immediate opportunities for managers to offer guidance, praise, or constructive criticism. This informal feedback loop is often absent in remote work, making it crucial for managers to establish dedicated channels and a proactive approach to ensure employees receive timely and regular input on their performance and contributions.

Furthermore, remote work puts employee engagement in a constant state of flux. The absence of daily social interactions or impromptu collaboration can lead to feelings of disconnect among colleagues, compromising morale, productivity, and even retention. Good remote managers consciously design team interactions; they simplify communication routines, and figure out ways to create a sense of camaraderie across their distributed teams.

The importance of psychological safety and visibility cannot be overstated. Psychological safety is essentially the notion that employees can speak up without fear of consequence. It’s a crucial principle for sustaining any organization’s efforts toward open communication and innovation, especially when team members are not physically together. Employees need to feel comfortable sharing ideas, asking for help, and even making mistakes. Remote workers can sometimes feel “out of sight, out of mind,” heightening the need for managers to actively recognize their contributions, involve them in discussions, and ensure their work is seen and celebrated.

6 core strategies for managing remote employees effectively

There are a handful of simple yet proven tactics for overseeing a productive, self-sufficient team of remote employees:

1. Set clear expectations.

Clearly define work hours, expected availability, and preferred communication methods for your team. Outline success metrics explicitly, so everyone understands their goals and how they’ll be assessed.

2. Create communication rhythms.

Establish consistent communication routines, whether through daily stand-ups, weekly 1:1s or another method conducive to the behavioral needs of your team. Utilize tools like Slack, Notion, and Zoom to facilitate these interactions and provide asynchronous updates.

3. Build trust through transparency.

Overcommunicate important updates, celebrate successes, acknowledge challenges, and elaborate on significant changes where appropriate, to foster an open environment. Maintain virtual “open-door” policies to encourage candid conversations with team members.

4. Support engagement and motivation.

Instill rituals for recognition, and conduct regular pulse surveys to gauge team morale and address concerns. Create consistent feedback loops to keep employees motivated and engaged.

5. Foster a culture of autonomy and accountability.

Avoid micromanaging your team members and focus on outputs rather than hours worked or clock-in/clock-out times. Embrace flexible work models, discuss options, and trust your employees to drive performance and take ownership.

6. Enable social connection in various forms.

Organize virtual coffee chats, team games, and celebrations to strengthen interpersonal bonds among team members. Intentionally invest in building a positive and inclusive team culture where everyone feels connected.

Advanced strategy: Adjusting by behavioral type

Every employee is unique, and understanding their individual behavioral drives is key to effective management, especially in a remote setting. Behavioral data identifies four core behavioral drives:

• Dominance: This drive indicates a person’s need to exert influence on people or events.
• Extraversion: This drive measures a person’s need for social interaction and communication.
• Patience: This drive reflects a person’s need for consistency and stability.
• Formality: This drive shows a person’s need for rules and structure.

Remote work can impact each of these drives differently. For example, individuals with lower B drives might thrive in an asynchronous communication environment, while those with higher C drives might require more predictable routines and clearer expectations.

Integrating remote and in-office employees

Remote work has become an integral part of the modern professional landscape, with many companies adopting a remote-first approach. This shift has forced a re-evaluation of how to cultivate culture and optimize communication across distributed teams.

To help maintain culture and clear communication, we’ve identified some best practices that allow remote team members to integrate seamlessly when they do work on-site.

1. Learn about your employees.

As a manager, it’s important to know your direct reports well. Behavioral Assessments help you better understand each employees’ innate behavioral drives, tailor your management style, manage more effectively, and build stronger teams. The more you know about your people as people, the better equipped you are to cater to their individual needs – no matter where they are.

2. Stay connected.

The adage “out of sight, out of mind” can become a reality if managers and teammates don’t make a conscious effort to stay in touch with remote employees. Key to the success of integrated teams is a focused effort on including remote employees in company communications. 

3. Establish personal relationships.

Make sure employees have the opportunity to build personal relationships with their colleagues, whether through in-person visits to the company headquarters or scheduled conferences. Studies have found this initiative positively impacts team collaboration. 

Even if your employees can’t make it to HQ on a regular basis, offering quarterly or annual opportunities to meet in person can help foster connection between team members. You can also be sure to make company events—such as book club or game night—remote-friendly by using technology. You can even allow remote employees to host.

4. Invest in meeting technology.

Any investment that displays an intentional overture toward your remote employees is a worthy one. Standard tech like Zoom and Meeting Owl can uplevel video conferencing. Meeting Owl uses a 360° lens to capture video and automatically focuses on the speaker, allowing remote team members to feel like they’re part of the in-person meeting.

Not only do these efforts enhance your remote/in-person meetings, it signals to your remote folks that your commitment to a hybrid or flexible culture is solid. 

The number of remote employees is increasing each year, and now is the time to start thinking about how to manage, engage, and retain remote workers. No matter the specific tech in which you invest, the idea is to instill these practices with your people, make them second-nature, and perpetuate the notion that yours is a remote-first culture, regardless of logistics. 

The more intentional you are in your efforts to accommodate remote or hybrid employees, the better equipped your organization will be to handle the next shift in workplace preferences and dynamics.

Download our free guide with strategies to support all remote employees, including personality-based tips.

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