If there’s one thing the pandemic taught entrepreneurs these past few years, it’s that having a fully remote team is feasible across different sectors and industries. While digital nomads have been around for a while, traditional roles used to be stuck to the office—but not anymore.

Given the lockdown restrictions, employers had to switch to virtual arrangements and allow staff to work from home. An Airtasker survey reveals that online professionals lost only 27 minutes per day compared to 37 minutes of office workers. This means a lot of employees are more productive when virtual.

Enjoy remote work perks

Although going remote may not have been your choice, you eventually have to decide whether or not to keep your workers online. Let’s take a look at the multiple advantages of shifting to a fully virtual workforce.

Reduced overhead expenses

By eliminating your need for office space, you also save on furnishings, cleaning services, utilities, and even equipment. This may not mean much for smaller enterprises but it still has a significant impact on the company’s budget.

Higher potential for scaling

An organisation that doesn’t rely on a certain location is capable of growing without having to move to larger office spaces. By removing physical limitations, a remote infrastructure enables you to scale your workforce quickly and efficiently without worry about additional equipment or space.

Added location flexibility

When you’re no longer dependent on location, you’re able to reach a wider pool of talents. This is important when you’re hiring for more technical positions. You may hire a Filipino freelancer, for instance, who has the exact kind of skills or experience that you’re looking for.

Boosted worker satisfaction

A study by FlexJobs shows that over 60% of global workers will look for a new role if they’re unable to continue working remotely. Plus, around 87% of the respondents said that being able to remain virtual improves their work-life balance. Both of these factors contribute to the overall satisfaction rates of employees.

Solve remote work problems

While there are numerous benefits to a virtual team, understand that there comes a point for dealing with remote work challenges too. Be aware of the following pitfalls and the viable solutions to remote team issues.

Poor task prioritisation

Online professionals must be self-motivated in order to manage their time properly. This is because they don’t have managers to constantly supervise their tasks or organise their schedules. Their flexible shifts and far-away managers make this especially challenging.

How to manage tasks better:

• Limit the amount of tasks they must finish per day. Stick to having 1 huge assignment then 3 medium and 5 small tasks per day to prevent them from focusing only on time-wasting tasks.
• Ask them to finish the most important task first. The biggest assignment is often the one people procrastinate the most on so set the deadline for these on the first half of their shift.
• Teach them to manage their energy levels as well. When hiring Filipino remote workers, don’t expect them to have the same highs and lows since some are night owls while others are early birds.
• Have them use distraction-limiting applications. If you decided to hire a Filipino VA for social media management, it’s easy for them to get distracted by the feed so use time tracking and site blocking.

Feelings of loneliness

If your new hire VA in the Philippines doesn’t have companions at home when they’re working, they’re more likely to feel isolated. Even with internet access and communication tools like Facebook Messenger, they might still develop cabin fever from being alone in the same place at long periods of time.

How to combat loneliness:

• Provide spaces outside of their home to work at. As your recent hire freelancer in the Philippines may tell you, there are countless co-working spaces and coffee shops they may also work at so they feel they’re still a part of society.
• Include social breaks in their working schedules. As their manager or employer, take the initiative for them to mingle with others by having them attend industry conventions and other events.
• Give them opportunities to network with peers. If it’s not possible for them to meet with colleagues physically, sign them up for virtual conferences where they may learn new things for work.

Too much overtime work

One reason why many companies are against virtual work is the fear of employees slacking off without physical supervision. The truth is that your fresh hire virtual assistant in the Philippines is more likely to overwork because work-life boundaries are blurred.

How to prevent overworking:

• Remind them to take a break or two within the day. Some workers get laser-focused on tasks that they even forget to eat lunch so message your team to go on their lunch or coffee breaks when you can.
• Require them to establish physical boundaries. This means that the moment you hire remote staff in the Philippines, you require them to have a home office setup outside of their bedroom or kitchen.
• Allow them to turn off notifications when not working. Don’t expect your workers to reply within minutes especially when they’ve logged off or have yet to login for the day.

Plethora of distractions

While your team might avoid having co-workers dropping by their desk to chat, they get interrupted by pets whining for food, children asking for cuddles, delivery persons needing their signatures, and the like. They might even get distracted by the amount of laundry or cleaning they have to do too.

How to limit interruptions:

• Help them arrange for childcare if possible. If your employee is looking for a nanny for their kids, help them ask around for recommendations to speed up the process.
• Give them consistent schedules for work. As much as you can, don’t change their schedules so often so their loved ones don’t get confused when they may be disturbed or not.
• Set up a signal they may use for emergencies. When you’re in the middle of a meeting, they might chat you a certain word so you know that they have an urgent matter and need to step out for a bit.

Exhausting candidate search

Finding the right people to add to your team is another challenge you need to face. Access to a wider talent pool may expose you to more unqualified applicants or crafty procrastinators. When you’re used to physical hiring methods, it’s harder to spot the bad candidates online since you have to adjust to new tools.

How to hire right:

• Schedule virtual interviews over Zoom or Skype. It’s better to know what an applicant looks like to check their body language, hand gestures, and tics so you have a more detailed impression of them.
• Be strategic when crafting surveys or questionnaires. Filter out the unqualified candidates early on by having everyone answer customised surveys made to uncover their skills and knowledge.
• Provide a good candidate or hiring experience. You attract better quality applicants when you have a good reputation among job seekers plus you can keep in touch with good candidates who you might hire for another role in the future.

Hire a Filipino virtual assistant now!

When you think about it, these challenges can be handled more comfortably if you hire reliable VAs from Remote Workmate. We are an offshore staffing firm connected to many skilled virtual assistants in the Philippines. We conduct the initial screenings, interviews, and orientations for our clients too.