How to get remote employees to actually do their jobs so that I don't have to make them come in the office?

[Anonymous]

I am a small business owner and a single mom, and like the rest of the world, I love the shift to remote work. Here's my problem: a lot of my employees are just not getting their work done this way unless they are being micromanaged.

I REALLY want us all to be able to function effectively remotely - it's good for them and it's good for me! But I can't afford to keep these people working remotely if they aren't doing their job. It's going to drive us all back into the office, and I'm trying so hard to avoid that.

So I have a couple of questions:

1. Is this something I can hire for? If you are someone who takes remote work seriously and actually puts forth your full effort, how would I be able to determine the difference between you and someone else in an interview setting? I literally do not know what to ask in an interview to figure this out, because everyone would say they are fully productive at home but my own experience is that most of them are not. Maybe 2/3 as productive on average. Some even less.

2. If I can't figure it out during hiring, how do I incentivize otherwise-good employees to just do their work at home and not get wrapped up in the day to day of being home, with childcare, repair people, going out to lunch with friends, etc? How much micromanaging is reasonable? Can I ask for a daily report of tasks completed? Again, this is not something I want to be doing - at all - but I don't know what else to do at this point.

3. Any other advice you can give me? In a small business setting, this is something that becomes noticeable very quickly and it leads to a lot of resentment between the employees doing their work and the ones who are slacking. Not to mention my own resentment - I am paying these people out of my own pocket and I am often sacrificing time with my children to finish their work because they can't get it done.

[Anonymous]

This is difficult to answer with more details. What is the job, and how do you measure productivity when in office? What is the deliverable that has. not been delivered? Are you getting complaints that staff is not responding? Are these longtime staff or newbies?

[Anonymous]

How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

Exactly this.

[Anonymous]

Agree with above, how do you measure productivity? If they need to be micromanaged (in person or remote) that’s the real problem. I would talk to the individuals not performing and put them on notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

Exactly this.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Op what kind of business is it? Wish we could connect. I've been director of operations at a small business for 6 years, working at home the entire time, and I'm looking for something new.

Otherwise, do you have specific KPIs laid out that you can compare year over year during reviews? Do you have an employee handbook with the very obvious things like they should have childcare full time? I can't tell you how many have asked my why my DH and I have our kids in full time childcare out of the house when we both WFH...uh because we are working...

[Anonymous]

OP here - 16:41, I don't want to out myself too much because it's very niche. But I'd love to chat with you. Do you have an email address?

[Anonymous]

If you can define what an employee needs to complete, and by when, then the person can structure his/her time and report to you.
When I had to travel abroad to adopt a child, I had the most wonderful supervisor who said as long as he knew exactly what was I was doing, and if my projects were on schedule, he would support me with uptight management that wanted your butt in the chair. I emailed him every day with status reports--I was so grateful. (And more productive than I would have been in the office, even though my hours were wacko). Some projects fell behind, and they would have even if I'd been in the office. We had a huge, public status chart with our projects and detailed descriptions of where things were.
After I returned, people said they were glad that chart went away. But you could think of instituting one --it's like micromanaging, but publicly. Threats can work ("unless XYZ project is completed by the March deadline, we'll have to come into the office to finish it") and so can carrots ("if we finish this project by the end of the month--two weeks before the client expects it--I'll give you an extra paid day off" or whatever.) It CAN work! If it doesn't, you have to warn people and start interviewing new people who will work on site.

[Anonymous]

I run a highly efficient team but it’s not easy and took a lot of work to get here.

-we have a project tracker that everyone works off of.
-we have milestone goals that they must meet monthly. If they aren’t met monthly- PIP
-we meet 2x a week to go over any problems in a team setting and I offer help to get them to their goals.
-recognize them for their hard work. I don’t mean monetarily. It’s depressing to put forth the work and no one sees it.

But yeah- putting the rotten apple ones on PIPs is critical. Otherwise everyone else gets jealous of the slacker and everyone’s work decreases. Once you have a highly efficient team, they all take so much pride in their combined work. My team all loves meeting the larger organization goals.

[Anonymous]

It really comes down to you, not them. Obviously you need employees that have experience working remotely—but ask them how familiar they are with the programs and management tools you use, ask them how they would achieve and deliver a specific project, ask what steps they would take to do x y or x. You’ll find people who know how to work that way, remote or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

I think this is a good step. However, it’s important to frame work from home as a benefit and not something to take for granted—much like a bonus.

Tell everyone that they can apply for work from home at the start of the quarter. It will be approved or denied based on performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

I think this is a good step. However, it’s important to frame work from home as a benefit and not something to take for granted—much like a bonus.

Tell everyone that they can apply for work from home at the start of the quarter. It will be approved or denied based on performance.

No way. Just hire the remote team, set expectations and be prepared to fire people if they aren’t delivering.

Why on earth do you people have such a hard time with this??? Being in the office makes no damn difference—people that don’t work at home, don’t work any better in the office, and I don’t have time to hold their hands.

[Anonymous]

I'll echo the others in asking how you're measuring productivity, and how you know there's a problem. Are people not responsive? Not delivering? Or is is possible your objectives are not well defined? Not blaming you but vague goals are bad for everyone.

You need defined goals, that are broken up into smaller goals, that are made up of tasks. Either you build this structure, or assign an employee to be project manager and do it. The tasks should have delivery dates and employees should keep you informed as to progress.

You should also have weekly checkins with staff - either individually, or if you have a big staff then with small teams instead of individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you handle a problematic employee who wasn't meeting expectations if they were fully in the office?

Do the same thing with remote employees.

The remote work isn't the problem. They are not doing their work without being micromanaged-- THAT is the problem. Put them on a PIP if needed. If they can't handle the job then you let them go and find someone who can. Leave the remote aspect out of it because at the end of the day, it's irrelevant.

I think this is a good step. However, it’s important to frame work from home as a benefit and not something to take for granted—much like a bonus.

Tell everyone that they can apply for work from home at the start of the quarter. It will be approved or denied based on performance.

No way. Just hire the remote team, set expectations and be prepared to fire people if they aren’t delivering.

Why on earth do you people have such a hard time with this??? Being in the office makes no damn difference—people that don’t work at home, don’t work any better in the office, and I don’t have time to hold their hands.

+100