Four mistakes companies make whilst managing remote staff
Although Covid 19 restrictions are lifting in Ireland, many companies are still working from home for most of the week. We understand that everyone has different managerial styles and that over the lockdown period you may have had to deal with some different problems that you may not have encountered during office life.
Here’s a list from the Lombard Accountants team of the four common practices that make working from home harder for your business and reduces employee productivity.
Having too many meetings during the day
Companies fail to see some meetings for what they are – an interruption. A significant relationship has been seen between the number of meetings staff attended and daily fatigue. As the number of meetings increased so did feelings of fatigue and overload. Consider cutting down on the number of meetings you have during the week and focus on streamlining your meeting schedule. What issues merit meetings and what can be done via email or slack etc?
Making meetings too long
Consider reducing the length of your meetings by
- Having a clear goal and topic for your meeting.
- Having a time limit on your meeting.
- Making sure everyone involved has a clear overview of what will be discussed and why the meeting is taking place.
- Reduce the numbers in your meetings, only have meetings with staff directly involved in the topic of the meeting.
- Set tasks and trust your staff to meet the goals you set.
Making your meetings shorter and more to the point will help improve productivity and it will help your staff focus.
Frequent changes of staff tasks
The truth is that while you may feel productive when multitasking, you may not be. Multitasking two things at once may seem like the epitome of efficiency but research shows time spent switching between tasks depletes our cognitive resources and decreases efficiency.
Instead, send requests, emails etc rather than online meetings. Encourage staff to have blocks of time free of all interruptions so they can focus and get things done.
Being rigid about staff working hours.
It’s impossible for staff to be clued to their work screen when working from home. In lockdowns, we all experienced disrupted lives and need to manage families, home-schooling and relationships. A company that allows people the dignity of making choices about how and when they work – so long as they deliver quality outputs and can collaborate with colleagues – will win hearts and minds.
Trust your employees to deliver on your targets.
These tips have helped us at Lombard Accountants manage our productivity as staff continue to work from home, indeed some companies are allowing staff the option to continue to work from home once all restrictions end, and we hope these tips from the Lombard Accountants team help your company to manage remote staff.
If you would like to discuss your business needs. Call Lombard Accountants on (01) 678 9960 or email hello@la.ie
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