Managing remote workers? It takes more than latest apps

NEW YORK — Nicolas Vandenberghe’s company has 42 staffers scattered among 36 cities in 15 countries. As technology makes it possible for people to be in constant touch while working remotely, businesses like Chili Piper are becoming the norm.

“We have Zoom, Slack, and a myriad of other collaborative tools — do we really need the in-person water cooler meetings?” asks Vandenberghe, whose business makes software to help companies manage meetings. Vandenberghe himself is continually remote, splitting his time between Brooklyn, Los Angeles and France.

Whether it means a parent working from home while caring for a sick child, a staffer who logs into a company computer daily from a coffee shop or an entire law firm that operates online, remote working is gaining momentum at small businesses. Technology that makes communication and meetings easy is a big factor in the growth of remote working, but so is the shrinking labor pool that accompanies an unemployment rate below 4% for over a year. Many companies no longer look for help close to their home base.

It’s hard to find definitive statistics on how many people work remotely. Gallup’s most recent survey in 2016 showed that 43% of employees worked remotely in at least some capacity; that was up 4 percentage points from 2012.

But even as remote working grows, business owners find managing offsite staffers involves more than giving them the latest technology. Communication, for example, can’t be left solely to videoconferencing and messaging apps like Slack. Three of Jazmine Valencia’s seven staffers are in her Los Angeles office, three are in New York and one is in Chicago. Her company, JV Agency, does marketing for the music industry. Valencia’s remote staffers can feel left out when the onsite team discusses issues.

“I have to over-communicate and make sure everyone is on the same page. This might mean more one-on-ones, more calls and sometimes just being constantly emailing or private messaging the remote team,” Valencia says. “I need to give them a sense of security.”

Owners say a remote operation can’t work without trust between a boss and staffers, especially because it can be difficult for an owner to know what an employee is doing during a workday.

“People have this idea that if you have a remote team, they won’t work,” says Emma Rose Cohen, CEO of Final Straw, a maker of reusable straws that has a hub in Seattle. “It’s the opposite — if you hire the right people, they’re self-starters, and self-starters are often people who work too much.”

One reason why employees take remote jobs is their bosses give them flextime; they can make their own hours, take time off for children’s activities or to go to the gym or walk the dog. That perk can help a small business attract and retain staffers.

But remote work is a bad fit for some employees because it often is isolating; staffers can feel disconnected and even alienated from co-workers. That can be countered to some extent through messaging channels that allow everyone to chime in on a fun discussion.

Some owners find remote work can have a stifling effect on a team’s creativity — there are no light-bulb moments as staffers pass each other in the hallway, no riffing in a meeting, no break room chats that are unexpectedly productive.

Saili Gosula has a remote administrative staffer and several on-site employees at her Synergy HomeCare franchise in San Mateo, California, and all of her caregivers work out in the field.

Gosula has some of the same issues as owners whose work is computerbased; she does a lot of communicating and informing, trying to be sure that all her office staff is on the same page.

“We talk to them often, ask them how it’s going,” Gosula says. “We ask them questions every time we interact with them.”

JEFF CHIU/AP Saili Gosula, executive director of SYNERGY HomeCare of San Mateo, has a remote staffer at her franchise.