Remote

How Remote Work Affects Employees’ Notion of Career Visibility

Maintaining Career Visibility in a Remote Work Setting

Visibility is an essential part of an employee’s run for better career success. It refers to being seen, recognized, and valued for your contributions to the company. 

Thus, the shift brought about by remote work has employees questioning how they can pursue career growth when they are not always within the sight of management.

Traditionally, in most organizations, remote employees are usually off the radar of the people that assess their work performance and advancement. 

While remote work is becoming a more popular workplace strategy, the shift in work culture is not an easy thing to grasp for both employees and leaders. There remains the idea (and maybe reality at some companies) that in-person interaction and on-site presence are crucial for employees to progress in their careers. 

People remain grounded in the idea that success does not easily come for individuals who head home to work. Even when the shift to remote work is due to COVID, many career-oriented employees feel that working in an office offers a competitive edge over those who choose to work remotely, or are sent to work from home by a corporate edict.

So how, then, can employers allay these workforce concerns when rolling out a remote work program? And how can employees, who’ve been sent home or have chosen a remote position, ensure that they are not out of sight and out of mind, adversely affecting their career trajectory?

As a consultancy that specializes in helping companies fine-tune their work from home programs, we, at Stegmeier Consulting Group (SCG), want to share some key thoughts on how to navigate the issue of career visibility in a remote workplace–so keep reading!

Role of Employers in Ensuring Remote Team Visibility

A smooth transition to remote work requires proper planning and support from employers, especially senior leaders. Every employee should understand the purpose and goal of implementing a work-from-home program.  

Establishing this understanding will minimize resistance from workers. This is important since a lot of them may have the fear that being assigned to work from home means they are less valuable.

Companies should understand that while there will be individuals who would prefer remote work and easily embrace this change, there will also be team members who may feel that it will only negatively impact their career trajectory. 

As a result, workers who are tasked to work at home without fully understanding the essence of the shift can become anxious and scared. 

If not addressed proactively, this can lead to a decrease in work quality, or worse, cause remote team members to scout for new job opportunities outside the organization.  Beyond including some substance around career visibility in the training you conduct to prepare employees for going remote, here are some key tips for what organizations should focus on to keep work from home employees engaged.

Communicate your plans and gather insights from employees

To avoid these unwanted scenarios, employers need to communicate and instill in their remote workers that they remain valuable members of the business. 

When going remote, be sure to keep employees in the loop as to why your company or their business unit is making the shift to working off-site. Team members can better adopt change when they understand the full business case. They should be made aware of the timing, and how these decisions will specifically affect how they work.

It also helps to conduct pulse checks through focus group discussions or surveys, to pinpoint how employees feel about the change, and what concerns they have regarding your organization’s remote workplace strategy.

This isn’t to say that sharing their concerns or ideas will shift course for your company (and you should state this, too), but rather that it is a good practice to be receptive to feedback from employees during times of change.  

This is important not just from the standpoint of allowing your future remote workers to have their voices heard, but also to be fully aware of the areas of resistance in the workforce. This will help your business act accordingly, and win over hesitant employees and leaders, for a smoother transition.

Establish Key Performance Indicators relevant to a work from home setting

In addition, a well-prepared succession plan with detailed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the remote setup should be discussed with team members who’ll be making the shift to remote work. It should also be discussed with their leaders, regardless if the managers affected will remain in an office setting, or also go remote.

There is immense value in work-from-home employees being able to see how managers will evaluate their efforts. This helps assure them that career growth is still possible, just as it would be in an office setting.

Be flexible in your approach to being flexible

Adjusting to a remote work arrangement is not something that can be achieved overnight. It takes careful planning to implement, and entails great changes for both the company and its employees. 

Thus, leaders need to accept that a shift to working from home may take a while to adjust to, for leaders and remote employees alike. Call for patience and understanding, as employees navigate a new life as remote workers. Issues will arise during the transition period, and your business should be flexible enough to deal with them.

Exercise best practices during remote meetings

There now exist various ways to connect online. However, this should be done in proper moderation and facilitation. Keep your remote workers involved in meetings they attend by asking questions and suggestions, and allowing them to get involved or lead projects. 

One tip we love to apply in order to keep remote team members engaged during conference calls or video meetings is to get in the habit of stating that person’s name before asking them a question or kicking things over to them. We’ve all been in meetings where your mind wanders.  It’s a natural occurrence, but one that can be accentuated by not being physically in the same room with your colleagues.  By mentioning a teammate’s name prior to them being put on the spot, remote employees have a chance to perk their ears up and really hone in on the conversation.

Beyond that, it’s important to remember that just because team members are at home does not mean they’re incapable of spearheading tasks or leading meetings. Keep them just as involved as in-office workers are, and treat their presence normally as you would your on-site employees.

This may require a bit of extra mental focus for leaders of remote employees to purposefully involve their work from home team members, but it’s a critical piece of ensuring these off-site workers don’t fall through the cracks.

Gain feedback via exit interviews

No matter how prepared your business is in transitioning employees to a remote office setup, there will be instances where employees choose to jump ship. Integrate remote work-related inquiries during exit interviews of remote employees and gather as much information from departing employees to gain additional insights on how to improve your remote team operations. 

While not every remote employee that leaves your company will be doing so because of issues with your remote workplace strategy, especially if you’ve done a good job planning and rolling out the program, chances are you’ll still collect some interesting tidbits to help you refine your company’s approach to employees working from home.  Oftentimes feedback will be beneficial for managers of these remote team members, especially if this is their first time leading off-site employees.

The larger your organization is, the more critical this step is to ensuring your remote workplace strategy is still conducive to how your company operates. 

With a partner, such as SCG, who has expertise in data gathering and analysis, along with a deep understanding of modern workstyles, your company can truly systemize the process for continuous improvement of your workplace strategy.  

By aligning with an independent third party to conduct exit interviews, you can be assured that departing remote team members will be speaking candidly about their experience. This, in turn, enables your company to better understand the areas that fell short in terms of making your organization a place where that employee felt they could thrive long term. 

Provide learning opportunities for your remote employees

Another way to instill opportunities for career development in your employees’ mindset is to open chances for learning and growth through webinars and other online learning platforms. This gives them the motivation to work in equal capacity with co-workers and makes them feel more at ease about advancing their career, even when working remotely.

How Employees Can Increase Career Visibility Even When Working from Home

As an employee assigned for remote work, it is important for you to put in the same effort as the company, in terms of embracing a remote work environment.  Here are some tips for how remote workers can stay visible and strive towards advancing their career options.

Effective communication as a remote worker can help with visibility

One way to make up for your physical absence is through constant communication with your leaders and peers. Update supervisors of your tasks, and remember that it is better to over-communicate than to simply assume that they would know what you are doing.

Learn to use the proper communication channels, depending on the kind of message you want to convey — send emails where due, or set video calls when necessary.

Refrain from frequent calls that could only cause burnout, but at the same time, do not use emails to update on important and urgent matters where a call or IM may be more appropriate.

Consider knowing the proper way to communicate in a remote setting as an added skill set that you should showcase to your employers in order to increase your visibility. Being always seen may not always be the answer to making your value visible. Everything should be strategic, including your communication means.

Of course, reach out to your peers too. Do not focus on making a good impression solely on your managers, but also make a conscious effort to stay in touch with your coworkers, whether they be working remotely like you, or are assigned to work in the office. 

Document your wins and be your own biggest advocate for career advancement

It is also important to keep track of your own performance. There are several project management tools that can help you document what you have accomplished, what you are working on, and your upcoming tasks. 

Keeping a record of your performance will serve as your ammunition during performance reviews. You can present in detail how you have managed your schedule, and produced the required output. 

Do not rely on your manager to record your achievements for you. The remote setup teaches us to be more conscious of how we do our work. Independently recording your achievements is not only for showing your managers what you have done, but is also a reminder to yourself of your progress. 

You have been given a different level of confidence and trust, as you’ve been assigned to work remotely. This level of independence does not end with your work alone, but it also taps into your personal growth as a career person. 

Show your company that you have what it takes to excel in your field, no matter where you work. 

Understanding and embracing your role for the company is vital, and being confident that you can work and perform through these changes, is the greatest way you can prove that you have what it takes to climb the corporate ladder.

Achieving a Well Executed Remote Workplace Strategy with SCG

Going through all these changes requires proper planning. With SCG’s years of experience in helping companies understand and create tailor-fitted strategies for any type of workplace change, a smoother transition with lesser resistance from employees can be achieved. Your employees need to be heard and those insights can be vital to the success of your remote team program. In turn, your company’s goals should be well communicated to your workers. Professional facilitation throughout the process is necessary, and we will be glad to help you get there. Fill out the form below and connect with us.