How to Build Strong Remote Teams: An Integrated Guide

Key Takeaways

• Remote work is transforming the business landscape. Expanding abroad allows businesses to access a wider pool of skilled talent, offering increased flexibility and the ability to scale business operations rapidly.

• To build strong remote teams, businesses need to implement strategies and tools that foster remote team collaboration.

• While the world of remote work is full of opportunity, building a strong remote workforce can be challenging. To navigate global talent expansion effectively, businesses must be aware of the impact that time zone differences, lack of face-to-face interaction and inefficient talent onboarding can have on remote team success.

• Remote work settings can lead to loneliness and disengaged team members, and  leaders need to make a conscious effort to implement strategies and tools to promote improved employee engagement, build trust and support cross-team collaboration.

Expert Panel Explores Strategies for Building Strong Remote Teams

Remote work is here to stay - and as the trend continues to gain momentum, the strength of a company's remote workforce can directly impact upward growth and business success. Businesses looking to expand their talent pool to global markets need to carefully navigate team building with a deep understanding of the cultural nuances, time zone differences, and flexibility practices that come with remote team management.

To support businesses looking to build a strong remote workforce, Playroll, a renowned global Employer of Record hosted an insightful webinar in collaboration with industry experts, Luke Fisher from Mo, Maimoona Sadi from Opteamize, and Louis Demeroulakos, Partnership Manager at Playroll. Panelists discussed the importance of building strong remote teams to drive organisational success, sharing expert insights and proven strategies that businesses can implement within their teams.

How Remote Work is Transforming the Business Landscape

Remote work is reshaping conventional business practices prompting businesses to reconsider their hiring practices. Businesses are venturing beyond in-country hiring to explore the diverse pool of skilled talent the global marketplace has to offer and with this comes a wide range of benefits - let's explore them in more detail.

• A richer pool of talent: One of the primary benefits of remote work is its ability to open up a broader pool of talent for organizations. Businesses can now expand their talent search beyond their borders, accessing skilled professionals that might not be available locally and allowing them to hire fit-for-purpose talent anywhere in the world.

• Versatility and scalability: Businesses that need to adapt quickly to market and project demands can easily upsize and downsize their teams with a remote workforce.

• Diversity and inclusion: Hiring international employees with unique cultural backgrounds and experiences, can drive business innovation, boost creativity, and unlock fresh perspectives on complex business problems.

• Cost-effective talent: Companies that are headquartered in higher-cost geographical locations, can optimise their talent acquisition costs by hiring highly skilled talent in lower-costs regions.

The Challenge of Remote team Management

While the shift to remote can unlock multiple benefits, remote team management is not without its challenges. Businesses looking to expand their workforce globally should be aware of these 4 keys challenges:

1. Navigating time zone differences. Managing team members in different geographical locations leads to time zone differences, which may impact cross-team collaboration and effective team synchronisation. Scheduling meetings to align cross-functionally can become overwhelming and ineffective if not managed effectively.
2. Lack of physical presence. With improper management, the lack of face-to-face interaction readily available within in-office settings can strip team members of the close connections needed to build strong working relationships, potentially leading to feelings of isolation and detachment. Businesses looking to build a remote workforce should be aware of this potential hurdle before embarking on expansive global hiring projects.
3. Effective onboarding and training. Onboarding international employees can be a challenging task without effective and well-structured onboarding processes. Helping new remote employees easily understand their roles and responsibilities and assimilate into a global team requires robust onboarding and training programmes.
4. Team building and cross-functional collaboration. Before considering the global talent marketplace, businesses should prepare to implement proactive team building programmes. Maintaining team cohesion and camaraderie within remote settings requires a more intentional approach to team building that often involves elevating the frequency of team-building initiatives.

4 Expert Tips to Master the Art of Remote Teamwork

Despite the complexity of managing and scaling a remote workforce, business leaders and HR teams can successfully alleviate these challenges by implementing 4 key approaches - let's dive into them:

1. Foster a culture of trust. As a business expands, building trust becomes the cornerstone for success and the foundation of effective remote team management. With a more dispersed workforce, the interaction patterns that would normally play out in an on-office setting are missing and virtual meetings are easily deprived of the meaningful connection that supports psychological safety. Business leaders and HR professionals need to lean on methods that create space for their employees to table problems and actively engage. Implementing small changes to interaction habits like ensuring remote employees turn their cameras on and actively engage in conversation during virtual meetings can go a long way in building trusting relationships.
2. Create a compelling remote team culture. While remote work can be a compelling method for global expansion, the cultural hub that manifests between meetings in an in-office setting, like the informalities of an impromptu coffee chat, are missing. Businesses can intentionally introduce more "Informal moments" in remote teams like virtual social events, remote team-building exercises, and engaging online activities. ‍
3. Establish clear expectations. It is commonplace for messages to get lost in translation when working in remote settings. With team members dispersed across different locations and the introduction of varying time zones, misinterpretations are bound to occur. This can lead to missed deadlines and potentially decreased team productivity, which is why it is important for HR professionals and business leaders to establish clear expectations regarding productivity, deadlines, and communication, to ensure that all team members are accountable and can deliver their best. By implementing effective communication channels, regular engagement and discussions, and encouraging feedback and input, businesses can set their remote teams up to thrive.
4. ‍Facilitate remote team collaboration. To build cohesion and foster better team collaboration, business leaders and HR professionals need to make communication resources available such as video conferencing tools, instant messaging platforms and email to simplify communication that helps support cross-team collaboration.‍

Discussing the challenge of team collaboration, Louis Demetroulakos, Partnership Manager at Playroll, provided valuable insights on improving team cohesion in remote settings. "Managing a remote team requires more structure. A clear team charter, outlining communication methods, conflict resolution, and meeting schedules, gives the team clarity and prevents meeting fatigue."

How Playroll Can Help Transform Your Remote Workforce

• Launch new Markets fast. Playroll helps your business bypass the challenging parts of global hiring, like navigating local tax regulations and labour laws in over 180 countries so you can effortlessly expand your workforce to new markets in days, not weeks.

• Efficiently onboard remote employees, with streamlined onboarding processes, and transparent team tracking capabilities that let you know where your employees are in their onboarding journey.

• Spend less time on payroll. With Playroll's easy-to-use platform, you can effortlessly pay your global workforce in their local currencies, on time, every time.

• Offer competitive and local benefits. Playroll simplifies the process of managing a global team. Employers can compliantly meet local requirements and offer competitive benefits that help talent feel valued and motivated to grow your business.