Office Productivity
Managing Virtual Workers in Virtual Offices
Published December 9th, 2008 by Jennifer LeClaire
I read an article from Entrepreneur.com about virtual office management and effective communication. It said this: entrepreneurs who don’t catch up or keep up with the latest advances in technology and management are doomed to fall behind.
The article goes on to tout the benefits of a virtual office, defined as an office where employees may no longer be housed on site. Basically, the article is talking about a distributed workforce.
That distribution could be in home offices, shared offices, coworking arrangements, executive offices suites – any combination of office types that house the virtual workers, which could be spread across the state, the nation or the world.
What I found interesting about the Entrepreneur.com article, though, was not necessary the rehash of the pros and cons of the virtual office concept. That’s appreciated, but the caveats for entrepreneurs that are considering running a virtual office were especially telling.
Here’s a break down of the list. You’ll have to go the Entrepreneur article to read the rest, but I’ve inserted my comments under each point.
1. Hire the right people.
I was recently speaking with a colleague who has virtual employees. He discovered that one of them wasn’t managing her time well and had fallen behind on a major project. Now, he’s got to micromanage her – and she doesn’t like to be managed. Those aren’t the ideal employees types for a virtual office.
2. The virtual leader needs to have the utmost trust in new hires.
As my comments under point one illustrate, you need mature, passionate people. If you have to worry about what your virtual employees are doing, that means you are working on your business instead of in your business. If you have to double check everything that goes out the door, then you are in the same boat.
3. Even though virtual employees need to be self-reliant and self-directed, the effective virtual entrepreneur needs to set realistic benchmarks and check-in times.
This is a vital point. There still has to be accountability. Working with a collaborative tool, like WebEx or GoToMeeting, or even Google’s free collaboration tools, can help the virtual team stay on track.
4. Communication needs to be sufficient, frequent and intense enough to satisfy both the employer and the employee.
If you leave some virtual employees out there too long without checking in, you may be in for a rude awakening. Likewise, the virtual employee may begin to feel you aren’t interested or noticing their hard work and become de-motivated.
I encourage you to read the whole article at Entrepreneur.com if you have or are considering launching a virtual office. Remember, it’s more than just about office technology – it’s about people.
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Rob Zeus December 10th, 2008 at 6:33 am
All great points about virtual offices and virtual workers. With virtual offices, it’s important to have collaboration tools. I’d like to see an article that explores some of the players. I hear more about GoToMeeting and WebEx for virtual offices. I am wondering if there are others that are more affordable for the entrepreneur. Does anybody know? Even executive office suites where folks are working down the hall from each other are prime for these types of solutions to do meetings with vendors, etc.
Maggie Correta December 10th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I think the virtual office - serviced office industry is maturing to the point where these issues of labor are being more often explored. For all the talk of telecommuting, managing a virtual workforce, whether those are part-time staffers or strategically positioned full-time employees around the world, is a challenge. If the virtual employees aren’t up to snuff, then the virtual office will suffer. Even if the virtual workers are positioned in executive suites, which would seem to offer the more structure, the point here is that managing a distributed workforce takes a certain skill and style.