How to Build Trust Between Remote and Office Workers
Employees working from remote locations are getting to be pretty common. More and more people are loving the flexibility it offers, but it is not embraced by everyone, especially the employees in the office that don’t have any contact with their work-at-home counterparts.
Working remotely can create emotions of jealousy, fear, and suspicion in those that remain in the office. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we consider what it takes to trust someone in general, we can see that the principles are the same whether the person is physically present or not. Building trust comes down to building a relationship. If we know how to foster relationships, can build trust with remote co-workers.
How to Build Trust With the Remote Worker
- Look inward – Do you believe people are basically trustworthy? If you don’t and you find yourself skeptical of people in general, you will be even more suspicious of your remote employees and coworkers.
- Form a picture – What does it look like to work remotely and how much work is reasonable to expect from one of your employees? When you see someone working each day in person, you might not even think about the amount of work they produce – they’re working and that’s what counts. With remote employees you need to look at it a little differently. Try to get a clear picture of your expectations. How many finished projects are reasonable expect by the end of the week?
- Talk on the phone – Communication is paramount in trust. Email and text is impersonal so getting on the phone or video chat is critical for both sensing the other person’s intentions and getting a briefing on progress.
- Document tasks – You don’t have to monitor your remote worker’s every move and, in fact you shouldn’t, but since you can’t actually see them work, you should be able to see at least a list of things they’ve worked on and maybe even the time during which they worked. Using an online time tracking software helps keep remote workers visible to their supervisors.
How to Be Trusted as the Remote Worker
Asking people to trust you when you’re not at the office is a big deal. If a remote worker wants to be trusted by his boss or coworkers, he’s going to have to put some work into making sure he’s not sitting in a black box somewhere. You can’t expect much from a relationship if you aren’t actively involved in it. Well, work relationships are relationships and the same basic tenets apply.
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Be transparent
– If you’re transparent about your daily activities, your boss and coworkers won’t have much to point their fingers at. Keeping them regularly updated will bring them closer to you, which gives more opportunity for trust.
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Be predictable
– If you can be online and available at certain times of day, coworkers will be able to form a better picture of you working. If you’re unavailable often when you’re expected to be working, coworkers or management may think you’re not really working.
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Do what you say you’re going to do
– If you pick up a project, complete it. It’s harder for your office counterparts to see the challenges you run into that might delay your work so completing projects when you say you will leaves less room for suspicion.
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Be competent
– This may go without saying but the more capable a worker is, the better they will work out as a remote employee. If you can’t get things done on your own or you take a long time to complete projects, working from home may not be for you.
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Be consistent in the timing of your responses
– When people try to reach you, you don’t necessarily have to drop everything to take their call or respond to their text but do be consistent in your timing. If it always takes you a day to reply, that’s fine, but if you sometimes reply in an hour, sometimes a minute, and other times after a full day or week, people might be suspicious of those longer intervals.
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Talk on the phone –
This requirement goes both ways. It doesn’t matter who initiates it, but if face to face meetings aren’t frequent, talking on the phone must be.
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Volunteer to take on new projects
– By volunteering for tasks, you’re showing people that you can get things done. This is what they want to know, that you’re working. Taking jobs as they come up, if you have the time, is proof that you’re working and willing to work.
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Make collaboration easy
– Remote coworkers need to discuss projects and ideas too. Getting on a chat program, using screen sharing software, online note taking collaboration tools, and so many other tools that are available these days are essential to make remote work a success.