How to Build a Remote Team for Your Company in 2023

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It’s a luxury that many businesses in this modern-day era have of building a team entirely remote. While the pandemic seems to have hit the gas on remote working, forcing many companies to adapt to it without having done so before, for some businesses, it’s stuck.

Now, we’re living in a working environment that is hybrid and as a result, both new and existing companies on the market are looking to continue operating as a remote working company.

Despite this, the hybrid model is a preferred choice. A study by AT&T found that the hybrid work model has an expected growth of 42% in 2021 to 81% in 2024.

How do you build a remote team for your company? What benefits does it offer and what are the challenges that come with it? In this guide, you’ll learn everything there is to know when transitioning to a remote working company or alternatively, setting up one from scratch.

The benefits of remote teams

Why bother with a remote team? One of the major pulls towards this way of working is time. A business only has so much time in the day and a chunk of that time involves workers commuting to and from work.

Not only is it helpful to save your staff money on their travel costs but it allows businesses to set more flexible working hours that make more use of the working day.

Here are a few other advantages of remote working teams that may influence your company to make the move to remote working.

1. Reduces overhead costs

Remote working is a lot cheaper to set up, which is why many start-ups choose to work remotely, at least at first.

With remote working, a lot of overhead costs are reduced. There’s no need to pay any eye-watering leasing costs, no utility bills and even some insurances wouldn’t be required.

2. Happier workers mean better productivity

With happier workers, productivity levels are likely to be consistently high. Even for those who are workaholics, having a work-life balance is important. At-home or remote working in a coffee shop or co-working space makes staff members a lot more relaxed during their working day.

While that hinders some workers in their productivity levels, for the most part, they’re likely going to work harder for longer in a remote environment.

3. More longevity in employment

According to Owl Labs, companies who allow remote work, experience 25% less employee turnover. Having to hire or rehire staff positions is both a costly and time-consuming job.

The fewer employees leaving, the better. With remote working, you get longevity in their willingness to stay with the company for longer.

Tips for building a remote team for your business

Now that you know some of the benefits that come with remote working, how do you implement it successfully?

In this section, you’ll discover some top tips for building a remote team, whether it’s transitioning to this working style or starting up your business from its foundations.

1. Ask the right questions in interviews

When it comes to recruitment, it’s essential you’re recruiting carefully. While you may have video conferencing for interviews, there’s only so much you get from these virtual interviews. It’s different with in-person interviews where you are able to assess their body language and responses more accurately.

For any interviews that are conducted, make sure you’re asking the right questions. Tailor them to the specific job role you require and ensure you’ve set out a desired structure for your remote working team.

Every role you recruit is different too and may warrant specialised questions. For example, picking out the appropriate questions for c++ interviews will help you secure the best programming individual possible.

Rushing your recruitment is where mistakes get made. Within remote working, asking the right questions is essential to picking the correct candidate for the job. Get it wrong and you’ll end up with staff that doesn’t know what they’re doing and finds slacking to be an easy enough task.

To help when building a remote team, it’s worth investing in software to track your recruitment drive and the candidates involved. An ATS tool for recruiters is worth paying for in order to keep everything in one place.

These collaborative platforms are ideal for keeping track of the process as well as providing insight for all those involved in building the team.

2. Implement a mentoring program

Remote working has been around for some time now but it’s still in its infancy. For some of the younger generations, adapting to remote working might be easier because they’ve grown up with it readily available.

However, for some, navigating a remote working environment is challenging. That’s where a mentoring program comes in handy. The benefits of mentoring include:
• Improves communication skills
• Provides more self-confidence
• Better job satisfaction
• Fulfillment in the workplace

As a business, you could set up multiple mentoring programs so that every employee gets the opportunity to learn from those who have an abundance of experience to offer. Pair up mentees with others within the company or outsource the mentors if the talent isn’t available in-house.

With mentoring, it helps give them more insight needed to exceed in their role. The quality of work they’re likely to produce as a result is benefited from having a mentor in place.

3. Use the right software to communicate effectively

Communication is a big one and something that makes or breaks a company when it comes to remote working.

During the pandemic, a study looking at the communication habits of 61,000 Microsoft staff found that remote work was bad for communication between different teams.

It’s therefore important that your team is in-sync with one another when it comes to regular communication methods. Thankfully, there are plenty of software options out there to make communication easy.

Collaborative platforms like Slack and Trello are perfect for remote working because they allow staff to connect with any other staff member in real time.

Response times are likely to be more effective than via email correspondence and in situations where a staff member can’t call on the phone, they simply type back on their direct messages via these platforms.

Giving your employees the tools they need to do their job and communicate properly is key to setting up from the beginning.

4. Utilise time tracking and monitor work progress

One of the pinch points with building a remote team is time tracking and monitoring the work progress of each staff member. While most staff members are likely to work to their best ability, some may attempt to ride on the coattails of others.

Time-tracking applications are great for understanding how much work is being done by each employee and where productivity may be lacking. We’re only human at the end of the day and it’s highly unlikely that anyone is able to operate at 100% capacity every day from 9-5.

5. Invest in team development

Just like mentoring programs, investing in team development is important. Even remote workers benefit from development opportunities within their role. It’s no different than them being in the workplace and taking in-person courses.

Discuss with your remote workers what skills and knowledge they may be lacking and how this is improved upon through training. Invest a budget in team development so that every remote worker is given the opportunity to improve upon their current knowledge and skillset.

The challenges of managing a remote team

Nothing in life is ever sunshine and rainbows, so what challenges of managing a remote team, exist? There are multiple reasons why some leaders and business owners are hesitant to go fully remote and here’s why.

1. Lack of face-to-face interactions

The biggest disadvantage when managing a remote working team is that there are fewer face-to-face interactions. Sure, you’ve got digital interactions through video calls but there’s nothing quite like socialising in person.

This lack of interaction is tough for even the most introverted individuals. That’s why it’s important that you’re able to organise get-togethers in person. Whether that’s a team away day or a social occasion that isn’t related to work in particular.

2. Miscommunication

Miscommunication is a problem because when this happens, wires get crossed. That’s not good for productivity levels and nor is it useful for churning out high-quality work for clients and customers.

As mentioned, introducing the right software and tools, as well as checking in regularly as a manager, is important to keep communication a priority.

3. Low productivity levels

It sounds like we’re being contradictory here, as remote working improves productivity levels. However, it sometimes has quite the opposite effect. Some staff members may not have the capacity or self-discipline needed to work remotely.

That lack of productivity hinders the efforts of the company and in some cases, could lose clients and revenue for the business.

Find success and opportunity with a remote team in 2023

Whether you operate a fully remote team or create a hybrid working environment, success and opportunity are found in either. Building a remote team takes careful planning and time but with the right approach, it proves fruitful for all staff members who want to enjoy this way of working for the long term.

Author Bio

Natalie is a freelance writer with two years of experience in web page copywriting for businesses across many industries. She’s also an owner of two blog websites and a Youtube content creator.  Find her on LinkedIn.