Imagine you are a new employee at a time when many are starting their careers remotely. Where is the remote work handbook? Are employees ready for remote work processes? How do they feel about their remote working habits?
Maybe you felt a little insecure and didn’t know how to fit in when you started your first job. Maybe you don’t know who to ask word question or seek support – or even how or what to ask, in the first place? After a while, you get a feel for how things work in your business and who you can question within the organization.
Where is the team’s manual for remote working?
Imagine you are a new employee at a time when many are starting their careers remotely. Your job is to code, write, or do a new internship. How do you handle your schedule with college, study and work? Who will help you navigate this new form of time management? Hopefully, if you’re an employer, parent, or mentor, you’ll know how to guide this newcomer.
But as a young employee just starting out – how would you understand the office culture if you’ve never worked?
Interpersonal problems
It’s hard for first-timers to stay motivated, especially if their boss calls only occasionally but rarely sees them. Your superiors and their co-workers are not as approachable as they are when you’re at the office every day – or if you’ve been in a past relationship (before COVID) as a full-time employee.
Finding the knowledge these new workers need will take more effort and time than has been tackled before.
Many company policies, procedures, and referral programs provide guidance but lack cultural awareness. New remote employees can be overwhelmed and have questions, but hesitate to ask. New employees and their employers often believe that an individual should solve problems independently and avoid drawing attention to themselves. Some businesses don’t realize that things have changed in the last few years and that new protocols need to be adopted.
Change channel to remote work
Managers should discover daily check-ins with new remote employees.
An onslaught of messages and responsibilities throughout the day may not give a new hire a sense of belonging. Consider a mix of email, phone chat, video meeting, and online collaboration portal.
Encourage questions and use erroneous questions as learning opportunities. Consider offering a “virtual friend” who will informally support the new member of your team along with virtual coaching. Always think about your new employee’s career growth – and specify possible career paths and milestones. Teaching about career paths and learning will help new team members feel a glimmer of hope.
Offer to work part-time in the office or on-site if your less-experienced employees can fit the schedule. According to PwC, a third of workers aged 18-24 only prefer to work outside one day a week, and only a fifth of respondents agree.
Engaging and developing relationships is great – but organizational knowledge may be best shared by higher-level teams.
Working with remote work
For example, consider the case of Emily, who started out as an IT apprentice for an international horticulture company during the pandemic. Initially, she hid her mentor online, and his team calls and meetings helped her troubleshoot IT problems. She was in the office for a few days before Covid-19 was forced to close.
Emily admitted she was threatened at first. “I was afraid I would make a mistake or delete a file from the company, but my team is amazing. If I have questions, I can easily reach someone remotely.”
Within four months, she was working alone, becoming more confident and adept at helping employees face their IT challenges. Emily excels at her work thanks to her management and team support, her ongoing studies in IT and her motivation for personal growth.
But this kind of achievement may not be shared by others working remotely for the first time.
Awareness and Health when working remotely
During Covid-19, researchers studied teleworking to see how it affects job performance, job happiness, and employees’ physical and mental health. The researchers found interesting data. You can find their commentary in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Research Plan The implementation has been thorough. The main thing that subjects said helped them adjust to their new work schedule was how widely people accepted them. Isolation of remote work and conflict with family and work commitments are the main issues preventing the growth and adaptation of new team members.
The new hires who are best able to adjust are those with prior remote work experience and therefore the expertise. Those who start their first full-time job and have never worked remotely will not be as successful.
Recommendations to make remote work less stressful for new hires: Improve teamwork by teaching everyone at the same level and at the same time – and provide a mentor.
Help new employees work remotely – especially if they’re young
Discuss communication with colleagues and superiors together. Train employees on how to use the database to manage tasks and solve basic IT problems.
Include remote workers in creating remote work schedules and in-office staff schedules – review remote work initiatives and get your integration team to help.
Look for a “charge agent” who will mentor and train new remote employees. Collaborate with other organizations in your network or field to share best practices.
In terms of mentoring, the virtual trend is likely to continue even after all employees return to the office. Virtual mentors can help employees feel appreciated, acknowledged, and empowered to do their best work. Some past practices for office protocol will never be the same again – so get to know each other and encourage innovation in your team.
Making your work programs accessible requires learning communities, practice communities, and staff resource groups. Providing these services remotely is practically unprecedented and challenging. But these practices are becoming normalized in many businesses and organizations since the pandemic.
Rewards and recognition for working remotely
Consider rewarding and recognizing remote workers who demonstrate initiative and creativity. Additionally, explicitly cultivate soft skills in new hires by understanding the need for human interaction to develop these talents.
Giving new hires some early wins can help develop confidence. Let them co-host a meeting or provide a topic of interest to the company. Any leadership opportunities you offer will begin to build trust and credibility among the new employee’s peers.
When you’re working with a new employee or member of your team — especially if they’re in college or working part-time — conflicts over your schedule are much less common.
Your current new hires will help you rewrite the handbook for your future remote employees.
Eliminate the dilemma by using two years of Covid-19 experience to welcome new employees from everywhere – and help them become creative and effective.
Image credit: Cottonbro; Bark; Thank you!
This article was originally published this.
