Tips for Managing Remote Employees

Set Clear Expectations

Ensure you have clear expectations from those you work with online. The more prepared they are, the better they can continue operations. It’s critical to be deliberate about setting up work from home guidelines. Outline work hours, lunch hours, turnaround time for responding to emails and deadlines for assigned tasks. Determine what each team member will be working on each week. Set a communications plan: emails are the main vehicle for communication. Texts can be used for urgent matters, and there should be no calls outside of work hours (barring emergencies).  The out of office message should be utilized to direct work flow if someone is unavailable.

Be Strategic and Communicate

Think through upcoming events and projects, and assign tasks to ensure their timely completion. Determine what events need to be cancelled, postponed or moved to an online format. Communicate these effectively in writing. 

Also, you might consider using a project management tool that assigns and tracks tasks needed to complete a project.  The manager sets the tasks that are required and who completes them and is able to follow up on progress using the tool.  Ensure that you update listservs and contact information. Forward calls from office phone to an alternative phone. Guidelines for doing so can be found at https://cuit.columbia.edu/netphone. 

Create a communications plan for students, student casuals, faculty, adjuncts, administrators, and 2110 employees. Plan to send communication to key stakeholders letting them know what to expect regarding operations in the coming days, maybe weeks.  

Engage Regularly

Schedule daily team check-ins at the start of the work day via Zoom or phone to set priorities for the day’s work. Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with direct reports to stay current on their progress and provide feedback. Encourage team members to communicate with each other (set up calls, zoom, chats) when working remotely to lessen feelings of isolation.

Provide Training on Tools and Resources

Ensure staff is trained on how to access and use the tools and resources available to them, such as Zoom, Google calendar, project management tools, and the shared drive. 

Be Available

When managing remote employees, it is important that you are available for questions and inquiries per your communications guidelines.

Stay Focused on Goals, Not Activity

It is important to manage your own expectations and stay focused on goals when supervising a remote workforce. Concentrate on what is being accomplished. If we are meeting our established goals, we should continue on that path. If not, we need to look into the situation further to understand if we need to adjust goal setting to reflect desired expectation and result. 

Monitor Absences via TLAM

Track all paid time-off (PTO - Vacation, Personal, Sick, NYC Sick) in TLAM, accessible via my.columbia.edu and scrolling to the bottom of the page. You will also receive system generated emails when requests are submitted  by your team with links to view. Please review and approve in a timely fashion.