In response to the uncertainties presented by Covid-19, many companies and businesses in Nigeria have asked their employees to work remotely. With Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States on lockdown, it can be said that a quarter (if not more) of Nigerian active workforce already working from home. Many companies situated in this States in Nigeria has implemented some form of policies to ensure their staff stay safe at home and still able to work remotely, at least part of the time, these new policies leave many employees — and their managers — working out of the office and separated from each other for the first time. 

Although it is always preferable to establish clear remote-work policies and training in advance, in times of crisis or other rapidly changing circumstances, this level of preparation may not  have been feasible in the case of Covid-19. Fortunately, there are specific, research-based steps that managers can take without great effort to improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees, even when there is little time to prepare. 

Good Idea 

It’s a good idea that you’re thinking of starting with a Remote Team. Just make sure when you do this transition to a remote work job time and effort, both. At whatever level of preparation you found yourself, here are guide for Managers and Business Owners starting/implementing a remote working team.   

A Guide for Starting 

Below are some specific guile lines for starting a remote team:  

  1. Get the right tools for your team to communicate, collaborate and present. 

  1. The timings for your team should be flexible and fixed (for meetings & collaborations with each other) 

  1. Make sure you have someone to handle the management remotely: Over slack. Everything can be done and managed over slack, trust me. The management person/team can make reminders, take-make updates individually and make sure all the work has been completed within this same day or in the next day 1st half. 

  1. Start off by telling your fellow teammates to first make a plan and make sure they do have a designated workspace where ever they’re working. 

  1. You can start by slowing the process of transition to avoid any haphazard and start small. Once a week at first and keep progressing. 

  1. You can also start with all at once remote working. But be prepared with all solutions to upcoming problems beforehand. 

  1. Make sure the tasks you have for your startup can be done remotely. You have to start with this first. There are jobs which may be challenging to be doing fully remote. 

  1. Identify the people who could help you build this team. Remote work is not for everyone. You have to find people who can do stuff without being micromanaged. 

  1. Figure out the right tools that you need to use (for communication, collaboration, project management and even time tracking). 

  1. Attend conferences, events and communities that will help you start and even grow your remote team — e.g. The Running Remote Conference is the biggest one in the world (lots of stuff to learn). 

  1. You just have to start. 🙂 A lot of the stuff you will learn is along the way. 

Well, we know it’s not easy to decide, neither pretty cool to find experienced, highly skilled personnel to hire as your remote team workers. But you can transfer the headaches of your selection and hiring process to experienced consultant to help you in this. You can contact of Talents Acquisition Team at McTimothy Associates Consultants to help you.