6 Tips for Managing Remote Employees: How To Cultivate an Environment Where You Can Thrive
- Feb 3
- 4 min read
Remote work is no longer a temporary solution or a workplace trend. For many businesses, it is now a permanent way of operating.
While remote working offers flexibility and access to a wider talent pool, it also presents new challenges for employers. Maintaining productivity, supporting employee wellbeing, and keeping teams connected all require a more intentional approach when people are no longer sharing a physical workspace. Successfully managing remote teams is not about recreating office routines at home. It is about setting clear expectations, building trust, encouraging communication, and creating systems that support people wherever they work from.
In this guide, we explore practical tips to help employers manage remote employees effectively and create a remote working environment where teams can stay engaged, motivated, and productive.
Embrace Change
Acknowledge that remote working is a skill that many employees are still developing. While some people may overwork, others may feel isolated, disengaged, or less motivated.
Take time to understand how each individual is adapting. Encourage open conversations and actively listen to what support people need. Leading remote teams successfully requires emotional awareness, flexibility, and empathy from managers.
Set Expectations Early
Define how remote work will operate for your team as early as possible. Treating remote work exactly like office based work often leads to frustration and reduced focus.
Clarify what success looks like, which tools should be used, how communication should happen, and how often team members should connect. When expectations are clear, employees can settle into routines faster and perform with greater confidence.
Establish Structure for Remote Work
Create a structure that helps employees stay focused and productive. Remote work benefits from routines that replace the natural rhythm of the office.
Encourage consistent start times, regular breaks, planned lunch periods, and clear finishing times. Simple habits such as starting the day with a short walk or stepping away from screens during breaks can support both performance and wellbeing.
Identify Distractions and Create Solutions
Ask employees to assess their home working environment honestly and identify anything that regularly breaks their focus.
Common distractions include social media, household noise, or pets. Practical solutions might include website blocking tools, noise management, or using walks as scheduled breaks. Addressing distractions directly leads to better long term habits and improved productivity.
Protect Boundaries
Encourage employees to define a dedicated workspace and keep work contained within that area. Avoid allowing work to spread into personal spaces such as kitchens or bedrooms.
Clear boundaries with others in the household are just as important. Setting expectations around working hours helps reduce interruptions and supports focus, while still allowing flexibility and balance.
Prioritise Face-to-Face Connection
Recognise that people are social by nature and that remote work reduces everyday interaction. Without effort, this can affect morale, engagement, and communication quality.
Use video calls to maintain human connection. Platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Slack, and FaceTime allow teams to connect more naturally. Even short video conversations can replace long email threads and strengthen working relationships.
Regular face to face interaction, even when virtual, is essential for building trust and keeping remote teams connected.
How to Create a Remote Working Policy
Start by defining who the policy applies to and whether remote work is fully remote, hybrid, or role dependent. Clear guidance from the outset helps avoid confusion and ensures fairness across teams.
Next, outline working hours and availability. While flexibility is often a key benefit of remote work, employees should understand core hours, response time expectations, and how collaboration will work across the business.
Your policy should also cover communication and technology. Specify which tools are used for day to day communication, video meetings, project management, and document sharing so everyone knows where work happens and how to stay connected.
Address performance and accountability by focusing on outcomes rather than hours worked. Clear goals, KPIs, and regular check-ins help managers support remote employees without micromanaging.
Finally, include guidance on health, wellbeing, and data security. Encourage safe and ergonomic home working setups, outline responsibilities around confidentiality, and reinforce the importance of maintaining boundaries between work and personal life.
How to Launch Remote Working Successfully
To succeed in remote working, employers and employees alike must accept that it represents a fundamental shift in how we work. Those who adapt, communicate clearly, and lead with empathy will build stronger, more resilient teams. Those who expect remote work to mirror office-based work without change may struggle.
Creating a Shared Meetup Space for Remote Teams in Dublin
While remote work offers flexibility, teams still benefit greatly from coming together in person. Having access to a professional meeting room setup in Dublin allows remote and hybrid teams to reconnect, collaborate, and strengthen relationships without committing to a full time office.
Flexible meetup spaces give businesses the freedom to host team days, workshops,
training sessions, and client meetings in a central, well connected location. At Iconic Offices, these spaces are designed to support productive collaboration, with high quality meeting rooms, reliable technology, and a professional setting that makes in person time more impactful.
For remote employees, these meetups help reinforce company culture, improve communication, and create a stronger sense of belonging. For employers, they offer a practical way to maintain collaboration and engagement while preserving the flexibility of a remote working model.
By building regular in person meetups into a remote work strategy, businesses can strengthen connections, support performance, and keep teams aligned even when working apart.
Looking for Space to Bring Your Remote Team Together?
Even fully remote teams benefit from coming together in person from time to time. Whether it is for team meetups, planning sessions, training, or client meetings, having access to a professional workspace can strengthen connection and collaboration.
If you are exploring flexible office spaces in Dublin where your remote team can meet, connect, and work productively, speak with a workspace consultant to find a solution that suits your business needs.
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