Work Productivity Best Practices for Your Remote Team

There is a common debate about whether or not remote teams are more productive than employees working together in a traditional office setting. 

Based on a few recent studies, this debate might be put to rest once and for all. According to Apollo Technical, people who work from home are 47% more productive. 

Although this statistic is quite impressive, it does not mean productivity comes easy for every remote team. Productivity in a remote setting still requires awareness and training from senior leaders. 

A few simple tactics can help increase productivity when running a remote team. Let’s take a closer look. 

Productivity Best Practices for Your Remote Team

Reduce Interruptions

Interruptions are one of the most detrimental factors when it comes to productivity. 

According to Preply, internal business communication is the most efficient when done in bursts. It makes complete sense, as it is difficult for a remote team to be productive when they are constantly required to answer a barrage of internal communications. Teach your remote team that it is OK to silence their slack notifications for “heads-down” working time. 

Silencing slack notifications are just the tip of the iceberg regarding efficiency in internal business communication. 

To avoid meeting madness, be thoughtful about how many meetings you schedule on a given day. Is it necessary, or can it be done via another forum such as email, slack, or even a shared video recording? 

When video meetings occur, encourage your team to use tools like StackBrowser to help optimize and organize their tasks, set up views to save time, and maximize efficiency during the call. 

Stacking meetings on specific days can also help avoid disruptions throughout the week and encourage deep thinking sessions and high productivity, meeting-free days. 

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Bill Gates once said: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Teach your remote team that it is encouraged to work smarter and not harder. The best marketing books highlight this approach as a top-notch productivity hack for remote settings.

Let’s break it down even further. For example, if your content team spends multiple hours per day and struggles to create original images for blog posts and newsletters, they are working harder and not smarter. Encouraging them to take advantage of free graphic design resources for vector art and images for editing tasks such as background removal will help alleviate bottlenecks in this process. 

The tedious, mundane process of creating unique and colorful blog post images is improved. A simple solution such as Picsart is leveraging free online tools that are easy to access. Do not underestimate the power of online tools. 

By leveraging these tools, your remote team can reduce the time it takes to create custom designs while also improving the quality of the end product. It is an absolute win-win situation. So start taking control of your projects and tasks, even if an online tool only saves your team 20-30 minutes per day. 

Time is a non-renewable resource. Finding a more efficient way to do ordinary tasks will increase productivity, employee morale, and total output.

Document Standard Operating Procedures 

For remote operations, it is essential to have a detailed standard operating procedure and training materials readily available when onboarding new team members. 

It is imperative in a remote work environment because you do not have the luxury of stopping by a co-worker’s cubicle and watching over their shoulder as they demonstrate a task or procedure. 

The most efficient and productive way to scale and grow a remote team is through detailed documentation of policies and procedures. It helps new hires get up to speed quickly without bothering an existing employee. 

In a typical office setting, training employees is time-intensive and takes time away from both parties involved. It doesn’t have to be the case on a remote team. 

Investing time upfront in documenting standard operating procedures and training materials will pay dividends in the long run. 

For example, a new hire on the content marketing team can quickly reference the SOP to understand the necessary steps to take before submitting an article. The final step in the SOP is to run the blog post through a free plagiarism checker like Quetext to ensure they provide original content for approval. The new employee can be self-sufficient with step-by-step directions for each assigned task. 

An SOP helps the new hire achieve success without pulling any time away from your other employees who are likely working on large-scale items of higher importance. 

A Productive Remote Team

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for the best productivity practices. Every remote team is slightly different. 

However, these basic tactics will help lead you in the right direction. Better productivity practices do not have to be expensive or out of the ordinary. 

Think back to high school, where many students set their eyes on getting a full ride scholarship to college. To achieve this monumental goal, you need dedication, focus, and excellent time management. 

Running a remote team is no different. If you can instill these same practices in your team, you will see an increase in output, reduced turnover, and better business success for years to come. 

About the author:

Kelly Moser is the co-founder and editor at Home & Jet, a digital magazine for the modern era. She’s also an expert in freelance writing and content marketing for SaaS, Fintech, and ecommerce startups. 

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