Working remotely is a growing trend that can be great for both the company and employees. It CAN save you time and money.
But working remotely is a bit challenging.
Even if that means that you aren’t choosing your employees based on where they live, but on their skills, you need to find a way to build a strong relationship between coworkers.
The good thing is that there are no limitations based on where they can work as long as the team is productive.
But making a productive team is not an easy task, right?
What are the challenges with remote work?
Being out of the loop - If all interactions are happening via email or Skype, it’s not easy to follow information. Anything can lead to misunderstandings and it’s hard to work if you don’t have an idea how well you are doing your job.
Time zone differences - Your team has to be flexible when it comes to working hours. The timezone difference implies that you can't always rely on your team members. They aren’t always available to answer a question or solve a problem, so your team has to make an arrangement about working hours.
Lack of human interaction - It’s great to have a piece of quiet, but we are human beings who want to communicate with each other. Being in the same place for too long all by yourself can demotivate employees and make them introverts.
You can see that these are real challenges for a remote team. Luckily, you can find a solution on an internal blog.
So, take a look at the benefits of the internal blog that will bring change to your remote team.
Boost productivity with the content on the internal blog
Fewer distractions lead to faster work. In-person communication can be longer than you may expect and thus lower productivity. When you have all the information neatly organized and classified on the internal blog, you can escape answering the same questions your colleagues tend to ask.
Having all the information on one place for anyone to read can be especially useful when your colleagues work in a different time zone. If you have some questions for a colleague, you can first check to see if this information is already available and avoid collaboration delays.
The internal blog cuts down on distracting conversations and makes you write about everything you have done. If you do so, no one will disrupt you in the middle of your work. That’s why the internal blog is a real-time saver for a remote team.
Manage cultural differences
People from different countries have different beliefs about responsibility, openness, hierarchy, and work in general. You might believe that we can easily work with anyone from any culture but sometimes these cultural differences can pose serious challenges that disable good communication and understanding.
People from some countries are strictly business-oriented, while others are very social and believe in building long-term relationships. Not everyone is open to discussion. Not everyone can openly share concerns and doubts with their colleagues or management.
On the internal blog, you can show how the opinion of your employees and colleagues are appreciated no matter the cultural differences.
With the internal blog, you can create an atmosphere in which people are interested in getting to know each other and learn about different cultures.
Use the blog to open discussions about interesting cultural values, different working habits, the best working environment in other countries, and more. As a result, you will be able to make an agreement that works for everyone.
Organize knowledge and database with a company’s wiki
You want to show your employees that you value their skills and knowledge, right? As it is important to have all information in one place, build a business knowledge directory where everyone can write or edit posts about different topics and share their knowledge.
You can power the text with hyperlinks, add documents and guidelines, or any information that is important for the company.
With BlogIn, you can easily create and edit the company’s wiki, which employees can access anytime.
Bring the remote team closer by sharing the company culture
Even if you don’t work in the same office as your team, it doesn’t mean that you all shouldn’t respect and live the company’s values. Your team should be on the same page. Use the internal blog to share the company culture and show employees the company’s goals and vision.
What are the company’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together? These things can bring people closer, so don’t let these answers stay just “on paper”.
Bring people together by starting discussions about your current culture, encouraging specific behavior, or making a healthy daily routine.
Make room for relaxation
When you work in a remote team, you can’t enjoy certain after-hour activities or easily chat with your colleagues on a lunch break. In short, you can’t get to know them as easily as you would if you were sharing the same physical work environment.
Sometimes the lack of human interaction can be bad for the team. Make room for casual topics on your internal blog, as this is the place where employees should share their interests freely and spontaneously.
If you are looking for an internal blog, BlogIn can help.
We believe it’s important to use tools that will help you to take care of your team, even if you don’t work in the same office.
Take your time to get to know our internal blog and decide how you can use it to create benefits for your remote team.