How to Keep Your Remote Workers Close

How to Keep Your Remote Workers Close Work-life balance, or flexibility, is a highly desired work option for millennials. So, if you want to extract from this valuable talent pool, offering them telecommuting can be a great recruiting tool. But what happens after you’ve recruited your ideal candidate and they’ve settled into their new jobs at a remote locations? Unfortunately, for some companies remote becomes “out-of-sight and out-of-mind”.  Unless you require frequent on site visits, remote employees can easily become “those guys that work from home”. A lot has been written aimed at telecommuting workers to help them maintain their visibility when working off site. It is a common concern of remote workers that telecommuting will cause them to be overlooked for promotions or bonuses, or to be excluded from important team decisions. They struggle to find ways to keep themselves in their employers minds so that telecommuting doesnt result in career suicide. It is important for telecommuters to make efforts to stay connected. But it’s only fair that employers accept some responsibility for helping them stay connected, as well. It can be easy to think that allowing employees to telecommute is gratifying enough for them, and then forget that they have the same needs your on-site employees have (for recognition, for community, etc.) If this is the case, dont be surprised if you see a decline in morale and loyalty from your remote workers. Why not ask yourself the following questions: Do I reward my on-site staff for exceptional performance? Do I create activities to help my on site employees feeling like they are a team? Do I make myself readily available to my on site employees when they need me? Then why would I do any thing less for my virtual or remote employees? True, managing remote staff does come with unique challenges. Obviously remote workers cant gather in the lunch room or around the water cooler to exchange ideas and small talk. Further, depending on just how remote in location they are, virtual staff may not even be able to attend a company holiday party. However, there are ways you can ensure that your remote workers stay closely connected and feel they are part of the “we” in a team: 1) What can I do for you? For starters, ask remote workers what it is they need. Do they need more communication with you? Although one of the requirements for working remotely usually is the ability to work independently, virtual workers still need human instruction and reassurance from time to time. Make it possible for them to get this, either through a special e-mail or online group that they know you will check at a specified time each day or week. Or, perhaps you could give them weekly scheduled phone time or Skype chat. 2) “A” for effort: Virtual workers are humans who need encouragement and feedback. Note their progress throughout the process of their work as well as the end results. Welcome updates on projects so that they feel noticed. You dont want to make them to feel like youre scrutinizing them, but let them know that you acknowledge they are working hard even when a project isnt yet completed. RELATED:  How to Set AND Achieve Your Personal  Goals 3) It’s a special day! Remember important occasions. A birthday card sent via snail mail is rare these days, even with close friends. Yet this is an inexpensive and very meaningful way to give remote workers a huge boost. How about a congratulatory e-mail noting the anniversary of their employment with the company? And that holiday party they cant attend? Then a gift, a bonus, and a voice message will go a long way in helping them feel a part of the celebration. 4) Is anybody out there? Are your virtual workers able to regularly connect with on-site employees? Investing in video conferencing tools is no longer a luxury, its a must. Communicating with their peers solely by e-mail not only lends to crossed signals, but it is inefficient. Make it possible for all your staff to get together at one time, regardless of their locations. Conclusions: So, you might ask, what do I get out of nurturing my remote employees? Besides remote work being better for your bottom line, you’ll have staff who feel valued and love their jobs. That means you’ll have employees who perform well not only for a paycheck, but because they care about what they do and for whom they do it. You cant ask for a better team than that. What initiatives have you taken to help your remote employees feel connected and part of the team? Author: Pamela La Gioia works for  www.teleworkrecruiting.com?  and  has been researching telecommuting and remote work issues since 1993, before the concept was even cool.

Everyones competitive. The first step is to admit it

Everyones competitive. The first step is to admit it My sons cello teacher is dying. This is the third time shes had cancer, so this week is my sons last lesson with her. He has grown to love her. He cried during a lesson a few weeks ago and she said, Its okay. Everyone dies. Now lets work on  Saint-Saens. You need it for the master class. So my son cries now only at home.  And we talk about how so many people are sad that shes dying and what if everyone wanted to cry and tell her how much they will miss her during their lessons? Shed be listening to people cry all day long, but she just wants to keep teaching. Before you become thrilled with my newfound empathy, let me admit that while she is trying to stop his crying, I am worrying  about what will happen to my son when he does not have a cello teacher. A therapist once told me  that therapy is successful  when you internalize the therapists voice and just do the whole therapy session in your head without going to therapy. So, for example, I want to tell my husband he is a moron for saying he has done the dishes even when he has not washed pots or pans or glassesonly the plates. Then I hear the therapist say, What do you want to accomplish by telling him hes a moron? And Ill say, I want to make him feel as bad as I feel. Will that make you feel better? No. Itll just make him feel bad. Would you like him to do the pots and pans and glasses when he does the dishes? I can do that conversation in my head to stop myself from throwing a glass at him. So I do the same thing here:   I want to tell you that my son had the very best cello teacher for young kids. And you will say, Oh, Im sure there are other good ones. Then I will get frustrated that you are arguing with me about cello teachers. Of course I know more than you because I spend my life steeped in statistics and qualitative analysis about ten-year-olds learning Tarantella. You will ask why I think I have to control everything. I will say I want the best for him. You will say the best would be me not being so uptight. So the teacher told us to go to a cello teacher at a university for the summer who is great at getting kids into Julliard. And look, Im taking a risk here, telling you what I worry about, okay? So dont jump all over me. Getting into Juilliard is not something I worry about. All the kids  in my sons program  got in this year who wanted to get in. What I worry about is if my son is going to be a soloist, he has to be so great that he wont even need to go to Juilliard. He has to have won international contests or something by that age. Its embarrassing to admit I think like that. Why am I so wrapped up in his life? Ive become insanely competitive and strategic and Im second-guessing everything. So we go to this new teacher, and the teacher says he is not going to do competitions with my son. Which makes no sense to me because my son  loves the pressure. He loves performing. He loves winning. But the teacher says cello is not about winning. Cello is about making beautiful music, he says. I say nothing. He says, Preparing for competitions is like teaching to the test. Do you know what I mean by that? Oh my god. Does he know I write  a whole blog on this topic where I scream at  parents about how teaching to the test  is stupid because its not how the real world works? I want to tell him cello  is different. You have to win competitions in order to win soloist invitations. And my son wants the terrible life of a soloist: always competing, always traveling, living in a series of hotels, eating canapés at meet-and-greets. Another person tells me, Thats such a terrible life. Its not even about the music anymore. Its about performing. But thats what my son wants. To perform. If he didnt have cello hed do something else that was still performing. I can hear the therapist telling me to let my kid live his life. Ive coached a lot of youa  gajillion of youand the root of every coaching session is feeling some sort of competition. Looking at what someone else got for themselves and wanting it. Thinking you should be doing something that you are not doing. Feeling like you are not doing enough. Wanting to do what you have not done. Yet. I have never coached someone who is non-competitive and I dont believe that person exists. Even a yoga teachershe wants to give speeches because influencing one class at a time isnt big enough for her. Or the coach who wants to tell people not to give up because hes scared he gave up already and he wants to feel important. The woman who is just with the kids when everyone around her seems to have a part-time job, and the twenty-three year old who is hotter than everyone else, or the twenty-five-year-old making more money than everyone else. We compete over what we value. And everyone values something. Which brings me to myself and cello. I want to be a parent who navigates the cello world impeccably. But at the top of the cello world is a small group of parents (mothers) who are untouchable when it comes to getting their kids what they need. These moms make the Tiger Mom look like a bunny. And I dont know if I can keep up. Which is how I know that no matter how much you pull out of the rat race, no matter how much you lean out or lean in you cant get away from that feeling like you wish you had more. I think its only natural. And the people who say they dont feel it are the people who are most out of touch with what they value. If I were dying, I think I would keep going just like the cello teacher keeps going. Cello teachers compete by getting students to play the best they can. I would compete by steering my kids as carefully as possible so that when I am gone, they are on track to get what they want. Because thats what I want. And thats what the teacher did when she sent us to the next teacher. She sent us in the right direction. But Im not sure the teacher is right for my son. And I think the truth is that I  cant compete through someone elses life. Thats what you would tell me if  you were my therapist. Youd say I cant control my sons life and theres not really much I can  do that will determine whether he goes on to have a career as a soloist. We can only control what happens in our own life. I am focusing so much energy on the world of competitive musicians. But I cant compete there. I am in the world of mothers. Thats where I have to compete. And competitive mothering is so humiliating because mothering should not be about competing.

Grad schemes open for business

Grad schemes open for business Im going to add a strong caveat to this post by stating quite clearly that graduate schemes are only one option to consider.  For some students they are tailor made, for others its a case of square peg/round hole. So, when I tell you that some graduate schemes are already open for applications, its not intended trigger alarm.consider it more of a public service announcement! If youre not interested in the highly competitive graduate schemes, it doesnt matter anyway and if you are, well its better to know and plan accordingly. Why do they open so early? Well for a start, its not all. We sent a quick email to some of our graduate recruiters to get to the bottom of rumours about early applications and the response has been mixed. Theres insufficient evidence of an general shift towards mid-summer openings. Im going to stick my neck out here and say that most 2014 grad schemes will open for business from September or even October onwards. But, there are exceptions and its good to know who they are and why they feel its worth starting the recruitment process ahead of the game. Some companies/firms have very high application volume and it gives their recruitment team(s) the opportunity to start reviewing (and yes, selecting) suitable candidates early on. Despite some some comments and blogs Ive read to the contrary, many of the big players still manually process applications. Dont assume all of them use applicant tracking software. It can allow for swift and efficient selection, with one or two firms taking candidates from application to interview in 4 weeks. For the really keen and super organised candidate, the prospect of starting their final year with an offer in hand must seem pretty tempting. Some schemes fill very quickly, and you may pay the penalty if you decide to wait. If youre thinking of applying to Teach First as a humanities or primary participant, the sooner the better. Applications for Teach First opened on 14th June and Ollie Longworth, our Senior Officer for Graduate Recruitment at Teach First had this to say: Teach First recruits on a rolling basis and we close applications when we find candidates who meet our subject and competency requirements. Because of this, early applications are advisable and we encourage candidates to speak to a member of the Graduate Recruitment team for advice and guidance before submitting an application.   Should I apply now? Yes.and no. Ok, that may not seem terribly helpful but I think the honest answer is it depends.  If youre clear about your career direction, have thoroughly researched and I do mean thoroughly both sector and company, have sufficient evidence to ace the competency questions and the time to invest in a really polished application, then yes. After all, you wont gain anything from deferring for a few months and if youre a strong applicant, youve everything to play for. On the other hand, you might have some really exciting things lined up for this summer that will help you evidence your skills and suitability for graduate roles (or internships). Waiting a month or two could make all the difference to the quality of your application and its unlikely that youll miss the boat by submitting your application in October, not July! Research is critical to your success you cant afford to wing it.  As Darren Page, Regional Campus Manager for Deloitte notes: Good research before completing your application is the timely part of any application process do this properly. If you have contacts who’ve experienced working at the firm, get in touch with them and ask them what it’s really like! View materials on websites, attend events if they’re on offer, so you’re 100% confident that you’re making the right career choice for you And the scores on the doors. This is the bit youre really interested in: whos open for business? Well, not many at the moment as you can see from the list. That said, a good number are opening their grad schemes from September so dont get too complacent. Use any downtime you might have over the summer to think about what you can offer and how youll evidence this. Start drafting examples for those dreaded competency questions. Youll be glad you did when term starts! Teach First open now KPMG 1st July Deloitte 1st July Accenture recruiting all year round JP Morgan last week August/1st week September UBS  5th August Goldman Sachs early/mid August Morgan Stanley late August ATASS early September John Lewis September Deutsche Bank 1st September HSBC 1st September ICAP  1st September Standard Chartered  1st September Marks Spencer October BDO September December Moelis tbc * The above refers to graduate schemes only. Check company websites for internship dates. In a nutshell: dont panic. Use this information to guide and inform your application strategy, dont click send before youre ready. Apply in haste, repent at leisure.