With rapid development of internet technology and telecommunication, virtual offices are gaining momentum. All types and sizes of companies, particularly small businesses and start-ups, are leveraging the advantages of creating a virtual workforce across the country or across the globe. Many small and medium businesses are utilizing virtual workforce for a variety of tasks like back-office support, marketing and sales, CRM, HRM, payroll management, accounts and finance, legal advice, web development, and a lot more. The advantages are many – flexible options, lower cost of ownership, minimal investment on infrastructure, and a reach that allows you to employ even hard-to-find professionals. But with all the advantages come a lot of challenges too that you must overcome to make your virtual workforce add to your profits.
Most entrepreneurs having a virtual workforce continuously find themselves struggling with issues of communication, trust, work control, productivity and accountability. Here are some points to ponder if you wish to make your virtual workforce more efficient.
#1: Clear definition of objectives and performance indicators Knowledge of what they must achieve A major problem occurs if the virtual workforce is unclear about your organizational objectives and do not know how their work is being benchmarked or judged. Before you get into a virtual engagement you must document all the organizational goals that you wish to achieve through it, key performance indicators, and service levels. Your virtual employees must understand all the points and get a sense of responsibility towards the work that they have to do.
#2: Close monitoring and ongoing training Making them grow with your organization You would want your virtual workforce to become more productive over time and work with minimal supervision. For this, performance must be monitored systematically and training and support should be provided frequently. This is even more important at the onset of the engagement. Unless you provide sufficient knowledge and information about how your organization works, you cannot expect a virtual employee to perform to the optimum level.
#3: Effective communication and collaboration Keeping them on the same page One of the key factors behind a successful virtual workforce is having a solid system for collaboration and communication. With your office employees you have the liberty of having a greater level of interaction which is quite limited in the case of virtual employees, so how do you ensure that there is total transparency and there is no communication gap? You may deploy online collaboration tools and online work spaces for easy collaboration of documents and ideas. Websites like www.weboffice.com and www.hyperoffice.com offer online collaboration services that help you manage your business on the web in an integrated, centralized place, while keeping everyone connected. You can share documents, calendars, data, memos, etc; have online meetings; collaborate messages; and work together in real-time. There are a multitude of online collaboration tools and downloadable applications available for project management, document sharing, and virtual communication – with little investment you can implement these technologies to your advantage.
#4: Developing trustworthy relationships Making them feel connected Having a virtual workforce does not mean that your virtual staff members are any less than your real employees who come to office daily. You must ensure that they feel equally connected with your organization and are continuously motivated to jointly work for your overall organizational growth. You may do this by keeping them informed about all major organizational decisions and importance of their role in achieving the objectives, rewarding them for good performance, involving them in organizational activities, offering training, paying on time, and meeting them in person whenever possible. You should aim to develop trust so that you can rely on them for important tasks.
#5: Consolidation Finding a single partner for multiple virtual services You might have virtual employees for all non-core business tasks, or you might have picked only a few activities for your virtual employees. It helps if you find a single partner who could provide you with a combination of professional and managed virtual services, so that you can collaborate easily and get things done through a single source instead of managing multiple providers. This saves you many hours of hassle, reduces your cost, and also ensures that a variety of work gets done exactly in the way you want. With a single point of contact for tens or hundreds of virtual employees, you can make your virtual workforce management task a thousand times simpler.
All the best!
Managing Your Virtual Workforce Effectively - To learn more about this author, visit Gourab Nanda's Website.
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