Improving the Experience of Remote Workers

Improving the experience of remote workers means giving them the same access to information, colleagues and support as someone in the office, and being clear about what is expected of them. In our experience that comes down to three things: fewer, better communication channels, training that covers how people work together as well as which buttons to press, and policies that set clear expectations.

The benefits of remote and hybrid work go well beyond cutting commuting time and travel costs. Organisations can recruit from a wider area, keep people who might otherwise leave, and reduce office costs. Those benefits only arrive if remote work is planned properly rather than simply allowed.

What is the difference between allowing remote work and supporting it?

Giving someone a laptop and telling them they can work from home isn't a sustainable model. It works for a while, then people start missing information, feeling disconnected from their team and working longer hours because the boundary between work and home has gone.

Whichever model you choose, fully remote, hybrid or mostly office-based, it is worth treating the change as a proper change programme. When we run change management for clients we start with three things:

• identifying the risks, such as teams that depend on paper processes or people without a suitable place to work
• creating the resources people need, including guides, FAQs and a clear place to find them
• training people on the tools and on how the organisation expects them to be used

Supporting remote work is about more than where people sit. It is about making sure their day works as well at home as it would in the office.

Why does employee engagement matter for remote workers?

Engagement is what stops remote workers feeling isolated. Professional isolation is often more about information than social contact, which means a virtual catch-up on a Friday afternoon is a nice touch but it doesn't solve the problem on its own. People need to be connected to the organisation's culture, to each other, and above all to the information and resources they need to do their job well.

If decisions are made in office conversations and never written down, remote staff are always a step behind. Getting important updates into a shared channel, rather than relying on who happened to be in the room, makes a big difference.

How do you build engagement with remote workers?

There are lots of methods and tools for engaging employees, but the three we focus on are channels, training and policies.

Bring communication into fewer channels

Where possible, bring your communications into a single place so people can find answers and the people they need. When a business has too many tools, information gets scattered and people waste time checking each one. One or two channels, each with a clear purpose, works better.

In Microsoft 365 that usually means an intranet for news, policies and resources, Teams for day-to-day conversation, and Viva Engage for communities that cut across teams and locations. The SharePoint app in Teams brings intranet news and resources into Teams on desktop and mobile, so remote staff see them without having to go looking.

Train people on how to work together, not just the tools

Once the channels are in place, train people to use them, with an emphasis on the softer skills that make remote working go well. We are still talking to people even when the conversation happens in a chat window, so it helps to build habits that create trust: writing clearly, acknowledging messages, turning the camera on when it matters and giving people the benefit of the doubt when tone is hard to read.

Managers need particular attention here, because managing a team you rarely see in person is a different skill from managing one across the desk.

Set clear expectations and policies

One of the biggest problems we see with remote working is a manager's expectations not matching their team's. What works for one organisation won't suit another, so write down the policies that reflect your culture and the way you want people to work, and make sure everyone has read them.

Be specific. If you expect people to be online during certain hours, say so. If it is fine for family to interrupt an internal meeting but client calls should be quiet, tell people. If people are expected to update their Teams status or calendar so colleagues know when they are available, make that part of the policy rather than an unwritten rule.

With fewer, clearer channels, a team trained to work well together and expectations that match, remote and hybrid working gets a lot easier. Our article on the benefits of embracing a digital workplace covers the wider technology picture.

Frequently asked questions

What tools do remote workers need in Microsoft 365?

At a minimum, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint, which most Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans include. An intranet gives remote staff one place for news and policies, and Viva Engage core features, included with Microsoft 365 enterprise and frontline plans, give them communities to join across the organisation.

How do you stop remote workers feeling isolated?

Make sure they get the same information as office staff, through shared channels rather than conversations in the office. Give them informal places to connect, such as Viva Engage communities for interests or employee networks, and make sure managers check in regularly one to one.

Do we need an intranet if we already use Teams?

Teams is good for conversation, but news and policies posted in Teams chats get buried quickly. An intranet gives published content a permanent, searchable home, and the SharePoint app in Teams shows that content inside Teams so people don't need to leave it.

How quickly can we put an intranet in place for remote staff?

Our pre-built SharePoint intranet can be deployed in as little as 4 to 6 weeks. It costs £12,500 for up to 100 users and £17,500 for up to 500 users, with Involv or Omnia platform licensing charged per user on top.

If you'd like to talk about how to support your remote and hybrid staff better, get in touch or have a look at our pre-built SharePoint intranet.