Globally, the gig economy has exploded. Large and small businesses alike are looking for virtual assistants and remote workers in many different capacities.

Virtual workforces offer many benefits. Global Workplace Analytics also found that virtual teams can increase employee motivation, productivity, satisfaction, and even happiness. Remote workers can also be a cost-saving tool for businesses, saving them well over $10,000 annually.

How do you effectively manage a remote agency?

It is important to recognize that remote worker hiring has become an increasingly common practice in different industries. Below are some of the unique issues that virtual teams face and solutions. These common problems will help motivate employees of your agency and allow you to enjoy the benefits of remote workers.

Effective communication is key to remote team building activities.

This is one of the many challenges that remote workers face. Poor communication can lead to many complications in companies, especially when it comes to managerial positions.

Managers are responsible for providing clear direction to their employees regarding any project or task. They must be skilled in communicating and explaining strategies.

A well-functioning, transparent, and closely knit team is built on streamlined communication. Remote workers are particularly susceptible to this. If you don’t have the right tools, it can be very difficult to coordinate different strategies, goals, and milestones for virtual teams.

It can negatively impact your overall progress and also affect employee motivation. Remote employees will feel more isolated and disconnected from their team. This can cause a drop in morale.

These are some of the possible solutions that you could implement

• Integrating top-quality, corporate communication tools and software is the first thing you should do. It is the best way to solve problems. This can be done by creating a two-way communication channel using a powerful instant messaging app.

• You must be responsive to any communication channel you use with remote employees. It doesn’t matter which communication channel you choose, it is important to promptly and professionally respond to employees’ questions, concerns, grievances and ideas. As you would treat your in-house employees, treat remote workers the same way.

• You should also clarify the KPIs of each remote worker, their job descriptions, roles, and expectations. These details are vital as they don’t have access to any other information. They will not be working in your office.

For more tips, you can also view HubSpot this video about working productively with remote workers.

Problems in managing scheduling – the best tips for managing remote teams

Virtual employees can increase productivity and maximize potential. Managers need to take steps to minimize inefficiencies in their virtual workforce. It can be frustratingly difficult to manage remote workers in different time zones around the world.

If you are able to hire virtual employees from the same area or demographic, it is easy to set the standard for how many hours they will work.

This can prove to be quite a challenge if remote workers are involved. If you’re not prepared, it can be difficult to coordinate tasks and get timely reports and updates.

These are some of the possible solutions that you could implement

• When calling a virtual employee meeting ensure that it is set up at a time that everyone can work. This could mean that the virtual employees are at the beginning of their day and others at the end.

• You can get creative if the time difference is a problem when scheduling tasks. Instead of calling for meetings, pre-record video calls for employees who are unable to attend. This is a great way to communicate important information, tasks, milestones and business reviews.

• Ask for feedback via email from remote employees. This gives workers the opportunity to give feedback via email, even if they are unable to attend your virtual meeting.

Barriers in language and culture – ways to encourage team-building ideas

It can be difficult to manage a small number of remote workers around the globe. These problems can be more than just related to work. They can also include cultural and language rifts.

Even the smallest differences in culture can cause a feud between employees from different ethnicities. It is important to understand how they classify their tasks, what they consider successful, and other details.

It is crucial for business managers that they are able to navigate these waters transparently to fully and fairly reap the benefits of remote workers.

These are some of the possible solutions that you could implement

• You must schedule equal opportunity team building activities for remote employees. Give them the chance to voice their opinions and share their cultural and ethnic experiences. Cultural misunderstandings can lead to many problems.

• You should invest in building deep relationships and building trust with remote employees. It is important to make your remote employees feel like they are part of the company.

Monitoring and evaluating the performance of virtual employees – using the best remote team management tools

Monitoring and tracking the performance of virtual employees is another challenge. It is important to make sure that remote employees manage their work efficiently and effectively. It is important to ensure that remote employees are performing their tasks in accordance with company standards.

Two types of remote workers perform well in their jobs: those who must complete their work on-time and those who need to work and manage their tasks according to the hours they are given by their company.

If you don’t have the right tools, it can be frustrating and difficult to track virtual employee performance.

These are some of the possible solutions that you could implement

• To ensure that remote workers perform as scheduled, it is important to establish transparent communication channels between you, the customer, and the employee. This is especially important for virtual employees who are responsible for customer relations. You will know whether or not a customer is satisfied by the services they receive if you have good communication channels.

• One caveat to managing virtual teams is that you won’t know exactly how your team is doing their work. This is why it is important to be clear about what you expect. It is important to clearly communicate to each employee what you expect them to do, how they will schedule, and so forth.

• To make things easy and trackable, integrate the use of excellent virtual team management apps and the most useful collaboration tools.