Do you want to know how your remote team can be a threat to your business? If yes, check out these 7 ways your remote team can be a threat to your business.
More companies are using remote teams for the vast benefits remote workers can offer their organizations. Remote workers often cost less and are pleased to be working from home. However, no model is perfect and there are some situations where your remote team could, in fact, be a threat to your business. Here are seven ways that can happen, and how to avoid these issues.
7 Ways Your Remote Team Can Be a Threat to Your Business
1. Cultural and Language Barriers
One of the biggest advantages to forming a remote team is that location is no longer a limit. You can find quality professionals from all over the world who would love to work for you.
The downside, though, is that in such a globalized world, cultural and language barriers can be a real problem if you don’t know how to deal with them.
For example, it may be difficult to understand someone with a heavy accent or an employee from another culture may have habits and ways of treating customers you may find unacceptable.
Try to understand and meet employees halfway while still maintaining a high-quality standard.
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2. Not Understanding How To Establish An Effective Remote Team
Establishing a remote team in the first place is not the same as putting together an on-site team. Business leaders need to understand the unique aspects of hiring a remote team so they can put the right policies and people in place to have the best chances of success.
A good way to do this is to understand what things look like from a telecommuter’s perspective. Do some research to grasp how their work and communication methods differ from in-house employees and what remote employees are looking for in a job.
This understanding can put you in a much better position to hire the right people and have the most realistic expectations going into establishing a remote team.
3. Potential Breaches In Confidentiality
Remote workers may not have the same level of commitment that in-house employees have, and breaches of confidential information are possible.
This can be a particular issue with hired freelancers or third parties you do business with. To protect your business, have all workers sign relevant non-disclosure agreements and be clear in writing regarding what information they can and cannot share regarding the work they do for you and your clients.
This also ties into digital security issues. Most times, limiting access to confidential information may be the wisest course of action.
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4. Communication Failures
Because remote employees are not on-site, communication issues can become a much greater threat than they would otherwise be. Communication issues are so challenging for remote teams because of everyone’s relative isolation and autonomy.
Remote workers should stay in touch with the home office and with each other.
They may forget, they may experience a network outage, they may think something was not worth sharing. These occurrences could cause serious problems for your business. For example, two separate people contact the same client regarding the same thing, which can embarrass your company.
Employers can start by laying down clear policies about communication and leading by an example of what they expect. Programs such as Slack can help keep professional teams in the loop and functioning as a coherent unit no matter where they are in the world.
5. Cybersecurity Issues
Remote workers are reliant on technology to perform their jobs. As businesses continue to face potential cybersecurity threats on all fronts, their own remote teams may leave them vulnerable.
Remote workers are often a source of problems because they use their own devices, may not have adequate security software installed on their machines or may use devices for both work and personal use.
Companies need to address data security with their remote workers upfront and then as technological needs change. You can do this by having policies in place regarding cybersecurity standards.
These can include hiring IT staff to help set up security, requiring remote workers to use specific devices for work, having certain security features enabled, installing quality virus and malware prevention software, teaching them to avoid threats like public Wi-Fi, and more.
6. Productivity Problems
Productivity can become an issue because there are often considerable distractions at a person’s home and it may be more tempting for remote workers to procrastinate.
You can combat this problem by offering resources to your remote workers and encouraging good habits in them. For example, information on how to set up a home office or talk to their families about establishing office hours may be helpful.
While it is counterproductive to be checking in on them all the time, still do so occasionally to see what they’ve accomplished and if they need any help.
7. Not Treating Them Like Real Employees
It can be all too easy for employers to fall into the trap of feeling that remote workers are not employees of the company.
This is true if they are part-time or work on a contract basis, though it can be an issue even for full-time employees. But they are real employees and need to be treated with the same consideration and respect as anyone who works on-site.
8. Offer them congratulations on a job well done and encouragement when things get rough
Employers who do not do this often run into issues with remote employee attraction, retention, and loyalty. This can turn into a real threat to your business, both from a financial and moral standpoint. Unhappy employees are not likely to speak well of their employer to others, which can impact your ability to find good talent.
Remote teams can bring many benefits to your business, but there are many ways they can become a liability too.
Be prepared for these issues and take active steps to mitigate them. That way, your remote team can be much more of an asset to your business than a threat.