The Colour Works guide to managing homeworkers during the coronavirus outbreak

While none of us knows how long the coronavirus outbreak will last, it’s clear that unprecedented numbers of people will be working from home for the foreseeable future. Aside from the logistical problems that it will create, many leaders will have little or no experience of managing homeworkers and virtual teams, so here’s our 5-step guide to help you navigate your way through that process.

1. Trust

One way or another, trust is an issue that will have to be faced and dealt with if home working is to be effective. “Can I trust people working from home to pull their weight?” It’s a perfectly reasonable question, but in reality, what choice have you got? Even with established measurement systems in place, we’re pretty much left with a simple act of human faith to believe what we probably know to be true anyway – of course, people will do their best.

And let’s not forget that trust is a two-way street. People working from home will have their own concerns, like whether they’ll still have a job in two weeks or three months’ time and whether management are being completely straight with them. Now more than ever, we all need to bring our full selves to the situation as much as we’re able and trusting and being trusted will sit right at the core of that.

2. Openness and Honesty

As a rule, the more open and honest we are in our communications the more information will flow back and forth and the less people will suffer from uncertainty and anxiety. We can expect people to speculate a lot over the coming months about pay, the bottom line, the business and their jobs. While all questions will not have a definitive answer, it’s vital that the best answer we have is made available to everyone.

Back in the mid-1990s, a sizable American Express office in the United States achieved record levels of employee satisfaction while it was being shut down and most of the staff were being made redundant. The senior leadership team achieved this by being totally transparent throughout the months-long process about what was happening, why, when and to whom. The information was often painful to hear for those it affected, but it was mightily appreciated by them, nonetheless.

3. Communication

Working from home will be unfamiliar for many and there’s a real need to be clear about how it’s going to work … what the plan is (such as it is right now!), how it’s going to happen, who’s doing what. This doesn’t necessarily have to be about detail so much as giving people a very clear picture of where they’re headed, what they need to achieve and what support will be available to them.

Lengthy, info-packed emails tend not to be well received unless they’re detailed instructions – better to keep written communication short and to the point to reinforce central issues. 

Conference calls are an obvious way to connect with home workers once they’re in situ, but they need to be well managed to ensure they’re effective. A 2012 study by Siemens into virtual teams found that 75% of team members were frustrated by their colleagues’ disrespectful behaviour on calls – arriving late, leaving early, answering emails and often just not being fully present. Following agreed meeting protocols is a must.

4. Human Connection

Social isolation can be a very real problem for any home worker, and this will only be more acute while we’re in a lockdown situation. Dedicating a good chunk of time to let the team check-in with each other on a personal level is so worthwhile – a quick round-robin of how everyone’s feeling, how the family’s doing, where we might be struggling, or what raised our spirits and made us laugh lately. Don’t underestimate the importance of social chat as a quick and easy way to re-establish human connections and reinforce team bonding.

Getting up close and personal with one another won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, of course, but it doesn’t need to get deep and emotional! That said, if any of the team does want a more intimate chat, then virtual coffee breaks with trusted colleagues are a great idea, as is setting up a WhatsApp or Facebook group to let people swap information with one another quickly and easily.

Listen to our podcast for more tips on well-being and resilience.

5. Micromanaging vs Supporting

It can be difficult to strike the right balance between overmanaging and undermanaging people when they’re working from home. A very useful maxim to follow is to check in with people rather than check up on them. If we’re checking up on people, there’s a serious risk we fall into micromanaging them, with all the associated problems that can generate, such as resentment and loss of initiative, responsibility and accountability. When we check-in with people, though, we make it clear we’re a resource to support them and that we’re ready to do whatever we can to remove barriers that are blocking their progress and effectiveness.

Whether it’s an IT problem, lack of information, confusion about priorities or anything else that’s getting in the way, your time as a manager will be far better spent resolving troublesome issues, so the team can function to the very best of its ability. One important point here – as a manager, there’s no need to do this all on your own – identify subject matter experts in your team or the wider business who can form a support network for the most likely, frequent and critical problems home workers might face.

“Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”  ~Stephen R. Covey