How to Build A Virtual Workforce and Keep Them Engaged

In the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, many organizations now allow employees to work from home to perform regularly assigned tasks. Virtual communication technology brings people closer and allows employees and organizations to collaborate beyond geographical boundaries. However, the concept of remote working isn’t new. The growth of remote working began a few decades ago when technologies like computers, telephones, mobile phones, and internet connectivity became available and used in every organization. For this, making a virtual team has become crucial. If you have no idea how to make a virtual workforce and keep them engaged, this blog is for you.

How to Build a Virtual Workforce: 5 Steps

Generally, employees in a virtual workforce collaborate with their coworkers through a shared online communication platform, whether at the office premises or in a remote place. They would also be more efficient because they would have fewer interruptions and would not be stressed by the daily long trip to the office. Establishing a working atmosphere and avoiding possible complications associated with the virtual workforce will need some preparation. Below are the five steps you can consider while building a robust basis for a dynamic virtual force.

1. Evaluate and Assess

   Just like new business ventures, you should weigh and measure the potential benefits and drawbacks of establishing a virtual workforce. Would it be the best option for the company? If it does, which sections are appropriate? What are the possible benefits? What are the disadvantages? Your organization might not be sophisticated enough to afford a virtual workforce, so discuss with the top management and determine the risks and advantages of this approach to see whether it’s appropriate to meet your organization’s goal.

2. Choose the Right Technology
   

   Virtual workforce and remote working can only be fruitful if the organization uses appropriate communication, collaboration, and project management technology. It’s essential to compare various tools and software from renowned service providers. Some organizations may choose a centralized solution (like Microsoft Office 365) for virtual accessibility. Others may prefer to employ various tools from smaller vendors for specific and specialized business processes.

3. Test, then Deploy
   

   Try the proposed strategy with a small group of employees of a particular department before going company-wide with your virtual workforce. Analyze and take feedback from those employees so you can restructure and improve some of your work processes to adjust to this new working norm.

4. Set Clear Expectations
   

   Employees working from home or in remote locations should clearly understand the assigned tasks they are responsible for. While employees work in the office environment, their activities are often apparent, and they are frequently given additional functions as needed. On the other hand, the virtual workforce’s daily readings are less noticeable. So it is essential to check in with the virtual team daily to keep track of their assigned tasks, work progress, and provide guidance as needed.

5. Communicate and Collaborate
   

   Communication and collaboration are essential to managing any virtual workforce. Many communication software is available for the virtual crew and remote workers. Some may be more suitable and appropriate than long email chains. Instant messaging options such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, or enterprise-level video conferencing platforms like Convay, Zoom, Skype, etc. will allow immediate communication between coworkers and enhance the productivity and efficiency of your virtual workforce.

Benefits of Virtual Workforce

A virtual workforce could provide some advantages no matter the size of a business organization. Having a virtual workforce benefits financially for both the organization and its employees. Advantages for businesses come from reduced costs for commercial office space and other administrative charges. Employees who work virtually from a remote location can save valuable time, energy, and cost commuting to the office. 

With a video conferencing and collaboration platform, remote employees can attend client meetings, provide instant support or solve problems without leaving their workspace in a remote location. Employees are more likely to remain with organizations that allow people to work remotely and would be more committed to the organization that will enable them to work from home. Business operations and regular activities won’t be disrupted much during the pandemic or when employees work from convenient remote locations. 

Many companies are now managing a virtual workforce so that they can choose from the best-qualified applicants for a vacancy regardless of their location.

Transition to a Virtual Workforce

Though a virtual workforce has advantages and benefits, moving an entire organization to virtual is impossible. Here are a few strategies to consider

• Begin by allowing some staff to work from home a few days per week. 
• Make particular days obligatory to go and work from the office and settle issues better handled in face-to-face discussion.
• Allow virtual or work-from-home facilities only to employees who depend on fewer interactions with coworkers, clients, or vendors.

Tools and Techniques for Managing Virtual Workforce

To establish and manage a virtual workforce for an organization, you need some tools and technologies to communicate, share documents, hold meetings, manage projects, and track the work progress of activities. In most circumstances, those tools and services are inexpensive and freely available.

You may require the following tools and technology to manage your virtual workforce:

• Video conference platforms:  Choosing the right platform will help you arrange virtual meetings with team members and clients. Convey, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Skype, and Cisco Webex are platforms to hold meetings and share your screens for presentations. 
• File sharing and document storage: Using these tools, you can securely share and store important documents with your team or authorized users. Google Drive and Dropbox are some of the most popular services for this purpose.
• Document collaboration: These tools enable members of your virtual team to create, edit, view, and change information in real time so that everyone will be aware of the updates. Google Docs is one option for this functionality.
• Project Management: Basecamp and Microsoft Project are examples of tools that can help you organize, plan, manage, assign tasks, and track your organization’s projects.
• Scheduling: These tools make planning meetings with your virtual workforce easier. Google Calendar and Doodle are two options you may consider.

Ways to Boost Virtual Workforce’s Productivity

Suppose you are in the position of supervising a virtual workforce. In that case, you may have to change and adapt some approaches that may be appropriate and suitable only in the physical office environment. Here are some ways that will help to improve coordination and boost the productivity of your virtual workforce.

• Daily check-in meeting: Monitoring team members’ progress and performance while working remotely is often difficult. Virtual work management is as essential as employees working in physical space. It is also necessary to find an alternative to monitor your virtual workers’ activities without administering them at the micro-level. Checking in with your remote team daily could be an easy way to keep track of their work progress, assign tasks, and provide guidance as required.
• Conduct video conference: Remotely employees may often feel detached from teammates. Virtual video conferences could be a perfect solution to keep everyone together. Using a video conferencing platform like Convey will make remote employees feel more connected by allowing them to see and interact with their teammates. They can also share work progress or seek peer input and guidance. Don’t forget the dos and don’ts of video conferencing while connecting with coworkers.
• Maximize your mornings: You may prioritize and allocate essential tasks as it’s the most productive time for most people. Although your remote team members aren’t going to the office, please encourage them to adopt a work-oriented approach at the beginning of the day and start working at regular office time. You can accomplish this by holding a routine check-in meeting in the morning where you may discuss work progress, assign a new task, or provide feedback to the team.
• Use collaboration tools: Effective communication and collaboration are convenient when teammates work in the same physical space. Text messages, phone calls, and emails can be sufficient to maintain contact and keep everybody engaged and updated. But when the teammates are dispersed around several places and working from remote locations, managing projects and coordinating between the workforce needs to be more deliberate. Online collaboration tools help manage your virtual workforce. You can quickly and effectively keep track of work progress, connect with teammates, maintain work schedules, and ask or respond to queries from the same place.
• Restructure and reschedule: You may need to restructure some existing processes if your workforce is working remotely or outside the office for the first time. Take feedback from your teammates so that you can restructure some of your existing work processes to adjust to this new working norm. Being ready to restructure and reschedule daily work processes will boost your remote team’s productivity.
• Maintain communication: It’s expected that our minds may seek any excuse to delay performing the assigned tasks and enjoy relaxation when working remotely, where nobody can monitor whether we are working or not. To overcome this problem, keep in touch with your virtual team members. Create a chatroom or group in social messenger where everyone can discuss work progress, inform updates, or chat casually sometimes so that they feel a social connection. It encourages your team’s productivity and keeps them accountable, and they will feel more obliged to accomplish tasks on time.

Final Words

Even when the pandemic ends, the nature and work process are unlikely to revolve around what was before Covid-19. Building a virtual workforce will become more common in the new normal, and working remotely will become a part of our lifestyle. Business organizations need to use this time as a prototype for the future of the work process and determine the best, appropriate solutions to deal with the challenges that our digitally sophisticated world has brought us.