While there are many advantages of working remotely, there are also disadvantages. For example, it’s hard to keep track of employees and monitor their performance if they’re not on-site. This can lead to underperforming remote employees who don’t feel connected with their team members or managers. If you have a remote employee who isn’t performing well or meeting the expectations set by other employees in the same position, then it’s time to take action.
Let’s take a look at what are the causes of underperforming remote employees exist:
Causes of Underperforming Remote Employees
Ineffective Hiring
When hiring someone to remotely work on your team, you should understand the role requirements and know what skills and experience are needed. You should also understand their personality, work style, communication style, and collaboration style. Finally, you should ensure they have the technical skills to do the job.
Lack of Team Collaboration
If your remote team is struggling to collaborate, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to do anything too drastic. You can easily create a culture of collaboration in your remote teams by implementing these simple strategies:
- Encourage interaction through Slack and MS Teams for fostering collaboration along with employee engagement apps.
- Create an open-door policy for employees (and supervisors) so they feel comfortable approaching you with questions and concerns
- Use video conferencing tools when possible
Poor Management Skills
One cause of underperforming remote employees is poor management skills. Even if you’re an amazing manager, if you don’t know how to manage remote employees, they’re going to feel like they’re not being managed at all.
You can’t just rely on email and Slack messages to make sure your team is on track. Consistency is important. It’s easy to get distracted when managing several people at once over the Internet—but it’s important to keep an eye on everyone so they can see how they are doing in comparison to others’ performance.
Fairness and impartiality are key when it comes to giving feedback, even if there are some who may be more difficult than others (or require more patience). Be patient with each team member, and make sure that everyone gets an equal chance at success by being treated fairly.
Poor Communication
Communication is the key to success. This sentence sums up how important communication is when working remotely. Communication allows you to build relationships with your team members, get things done efficiently and make decisions quickly.
Poor communication can lead to more disengagement and burnout within teams, causing them to feel less connected with each other on a personal level compared to those who work in offices together face-to-face every day. To prevent this from happening, it’s important that you communicate clearly, directly, and honestly with co-workers so they know how they are performing their tasks or if there are any problems with their work that need addressing.
Less Accountability
One of the most common causes of underperforming remote employees is a lack of accountability. When employees are not in the same room as their manager, it’s easy for them to feel like they can slack off without much consequence.
Managers need to be proactive and ensure that their employees are staying accountable at all times by focusing on performance and results instead of just attendance. A great way to foster this kind of environment is through regular check-ins via video conferencing or other types of communication software so that you can see each other face-to-face.
Finally, managers should keep track of daily progress by asking questions like “What did you do today?” rather than just checking schedules. It’s important that managers stay engaged with each team member regardless if they’re in or out of the office.
Issues with Remote Technology
We all know an employee who is not performing up to par and is not getting along with their manager. What if, instead of a personal problem, it is actually a technology problem? One reason for underperforming remote employees is having issues with remote technology.
There are many reasons why you might want to hire remote employees: they can work from anywhere, they can work at any time of day or night, and they can help solve your staffing problems without having to relocate people. However, when you hire remote workers, it’s important to make sure they are set up with the right tools so that they can do their best work.
Remote technology is growing more sophisticated every year, but there are still some common issues that plague remote workers. These include:
- Lack of quality internet connection in certain locations (ie: rural areas)
- Lack of equipment such as headsets or headphones with good noise cancellation features
- Poor phone quality (ie: bad reception)
Uncomfortable Working Conditions
Disorganization
When you’re in an office, it’s easy to keep track of your workday. You have a desk and a computer, and everything you need is right there in front of you (or at least within 10 feet). But when you’re working from home, with no physical space or time constraints, it can be hard to keep track of what needs doing and when.
This can lead to stress and frustration—and ultimately, lower performance. What’s more, the more scattered your space becomes, the less likely it will be for you to focus on what really matters: getting things done!
Define your goals before you start working on them. If you don’t know what your goals are, it won’t matter how much effort you put into achieving them because there will be no point at which they reach completion and satisfaction.
In addition, remote workers need to set ambitious but realistic targets for themselves; there’s nothing worse than having high hopes shattered after investing time/effort into something only for it not to work out as we planned.
Lack of Connection
Another cause for underperforming remote employees is a lack of connection.
A lack of connection can be a major problem for remote employees. It can lead to feeling isolated at work, which means they don’t get the same level of mentorship and support that people who are in the same office might receive. It can also lead to employees feeling like they’re not being given the same opportunities as their colleagues. If remote employee is given fewer opportunities, they’ll likely feel as though they’re not as valued by their company—and this will affect their performance.
Lack of connection can be in many ways:
- Lacking camaraderie with colleagues because of not enough engagement opportunities
- Lacking a connection with your boss because you don’t have enough opportunities to interact in an informal setting
- The hybrid setup is where in-office employees may have better connections and opportunities because of a better connection with the management.
Lack of Training and Support
Your remote employees won’t be able to perform at their best if they don’t feel supported. Training and support are the keys to making sure that your remote workers feel like they have everything they need to succeed.
When training your remote employees, it’s important to make sure that everyone is on the same page about company goals and how each person fits into that vision. When you provide regular training for your team members, you can ensure that everyone understands what it takes for them to succeed within their roles as well as how their role fits into the bigger picture of the company’s success and failure.
It’s also important for managers of remote teams to remember that communication is key when working with virtual employees—both in terms of providing feedback on performance and communicating any information necessary for work tasks or projects. This means using tools such as Slack or Zoom —or even just having monthly meetings in person—to ensure there are no misunderstandings between managers and their teams when completing projects together.
Remote Employees can be Productive and Enthusiastic if the Right Steps are Taken
Remote employees are an easy way to hire new people without needing the overhead costs associated with maintaining a physical location. Hiring remote workers allows you to bring on more team members without having to worry about whether or not they’ll have somewhere to park their car when they come to work every morning.
Such employees need to feel connected to the company, so they need clear communication channels and ways to contribute without being in the office.
They should have an email address, phone number, or another way of reaching out if they have questions or concerns that need immediate attention. The employee should also have a dedicated team member who can answer questions, address concerns, and help with any problems that arise while working remotely.
The company should provide training materials in multiple formats (text, video) so that remote employees can learn how to do their job from anywhere in the world. Training materials should include instructions on how to use software programs used by the company as well as instructions for common tasks like filing paperwork or completing reports.
How Can Employers Help the Underperforming Remote Employees Perform Better?
Constant Feedback
One way that employers can help underperforming remote employees perform better is to coach and train them.
When you’re not in the same room, it’s hard to gauge how well your employee is doing. It’s easy to miss their body language and facial expressions—things that would tip you off if they were sitting across from you. That’s why it’s important for employers to provide constant feedback and guidance for remote workers.
Remote workers need regular feedback about their performance, so they know what needs improvement, and why. This is especially true if there are other people working on similar projects who are also remote. If your team is spread out across different states or countries, you may not have an opportunity to talk face-to-face very often, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay connected!
Mentor and Support them
The first step in helping an employee improve their performance is to identify the problem. If you notice that an employee is struggling, take time to talk with them about it. You may find that they have a specific task they’re struggling with, or maybe they’re just feeling burnt out. Either way, being able to identify the source of their struggles will make it easier to come up with a solution.
Once you know what the problem is, you can start looking for ways of solving it. If your employee needs more training or resources, offer them one-on-one coaching sessions where you can walk them through their issues together. If they need more time on the clock, consider working with them during off hours or giving them a project that only requires part-time attention so they can still work from home while being productive at work too!
Give them the Right Tools to Do their Job
One of the best ways employers can help underperforming remote employees perform better is by giving them the right tools to do their job.
This may seem obvious, but it’s actually pretty surprising how many companies don’t do this.
But when you think about it, there are so many tools out there that can make an employee’s life much easier—and make them much more productive as well. For example:
A time tracker software that tracks hours worked but also breaks down where your time goes each day so you can see where you’re spending most of your time (and maybe figure out how to get more done in less time).
An app that lets you keep track of what tasks need to get done and when they need to be completed.
Luckily, AttendanceBot offers all of those features. With it, remote workers can easily check in or out as the day begins or ends. In addition, they can track time spent on each of their tasks and manage their projects easily.
Give them the Right Resources
One way employers can help underperforming remote employees perform better is by giving them the right resources.
This is especially true when it comes to working remotely. While there are many benefits of working remotely, it also comes with its challenges. One of those challenges is that remote workers often lack the same level of support and resources as their co-workers who are at the office daily.
Employers can help by making sure that remote employees have access to all of the information they need to do their jobs well. This includes giving them access to company-wide documents, training materials, and internal communication channels so that they can access them from home or wherever else they may be working.
Create an Environment where they can Thrive
If you’re hiring a remote employee, make sure that you’re clear about what the role entails before bringing them on board. You don’t want to have an employee who feels overworked or undervalued because they weren’t told what they were signing up for in the first place.
It’s also important to have regular check-ins with your remote employees so that you can assess how well they’re doing and see if there are any issues or concerns that need addressing immediately. You should also be prepared with a plan of action if there are any problems that arise—this could include anything from training sessions or additional resources being provided, depending on the situation at hand.
Finally, make sure you set realistic expectations with your remote employees so that they know what it takes from them in order to succeed in their role at work!
How We Do It at Harmonize
At Harmonize, we believe in the power of remote work. We’re a completely remote company with team members spread across Asia and the United States. We communicate through Slack and Zoom/Google Meet, and we make sure to schedule time for our weekly team video calls.
Because we’re a remote business, managing time off and attendance can be tricky– but it doesn’t have to be! We use AttendanceBot, an app created by use for Slack and MS Teams. It helps us track time, manage shifts and leave requests for employees.
AttendanceBot is a great tool for managing the time of our employees who are working remotely or in different time zones. We can easily keep track of their working hours, leave requests, shift scheduling, and other needs through this tool.
We use its project management feature as a way to measure productivity. For instance, if we know that a project/task normally takes 4 hours and an employee takes 8, there is a possibility that the employee may be underperforming. Like that, the manager can then keep a closer eye on their output and see if this is a pattern or a one-off issue.
We hope this will help you to find the solution for underperforming remote employees.
