In today’s digital world where everyone is connected to the internet, the remote workforce is gradually gaining more ground as more people are beginning to realize how beneficial it is to their businesses. Apart from its ability to help businesses save money on technology and office space, remote workforce offers employees the flexibility required to work from anywhere around the world and reduces the cost, time and stress of travel.

Despite the many benefits of a remote workforce, it has challenges that must be overcome by each business to get the best out of it. Here are some of the challenges of managing a remote workforce and how to overcome them:

1. Distrust of the employees

When managing a remote team, trust is always one of the prominent issues to deal with. Do you trust your employees to get the work done even when nobody is monitoring them? Nonetheless, it is important for you to understand that you must first trust your employees if you want them to trust you too. To earn their trust, make sure they understand that they can always come to you when they have issues with their works.

2. Issues related to collaboration/screen sharing

When it comes to collaboration among workers, remote teams often encounter problems as the members may be unable to follow the progress of each other’s tasks. However, this problem can be easily solved through the use of screen sharing features offered by companies like ShowMyPC. There are many companies offering various features nowadays; therefore, team managers must never underestimate the benefits of screen sharing software to the promotion of collaboration among their remote team members.

3. Issues with determining the suitability of the employees

If you are hiring employees for your remote workforce, it is essential to ensure that your employees align with the expectations of your company. In this regard, consider their work ethics, attitude as well as personality before determining whether they are eligible to be part of your remote workforce or not.

4. Poor communication

Whether you are working remotely or not, the importance of communication can never be overemphasized. However, for a remote workforce, poor communication is usually an issue that must be taken care of. Since workers are not located in the same place, issues related to availability can be a deterrent to good communication. You can solve this challenge by using task management software to ensure that every member of your workforce communicates with others without delay every time they are available. Software can also be used to track the progress of your projects.

5. Varying time zones

For those managing a remote workforce that has members in various parts of the world, time zones will undoubtedly be one of the challenges. Meetings and live chats can be difficult to schedule due to differences in time zones of the members. To take care of this challenge, you must always adjust any activity that will require the presence of all workers to suit most of them. Also, promote communication among your employees through emails so that there will be no need for live chats or meetings.

6. Difficulties with embracing the company culture

Ensuring that employees embrace the company culture has always been an issue to deal with for many managers of a remote workforce. Managers often have difficulty enforcing policies of the company as well as evaluating the attitude and activities of their employees. You can encourage embracement of the company culture by fostering face-to-face communication through team building activities from time to time.

Overall, these challenges of managing a remote workforce should not deter you from taking advantages of its benefits. You only have to create strategies that will help you solve these challenges and promote and ensure the success of your company.