Before the pandemic, three-quarters of working Americans did not work remotely at all, and only 6% primarily did remote work. In 2020, COVID-19 forced almost over one-third of all workers to shift to work at home when they would not have done so otherwise.
In 2022, 16% of companies in the world will be 100% remote!
26% of U.S. employees work remotely, as of 2022. There are expected to be 36.2 million American employees working remotely by 2025. 40% of workers believe that they've been more productive while working at home during the pandemic, as opposed to the office.
We need not brag about the growing trend of remote teams, virtual teams, or global teams. The trend has become a long-term part of corporate. But what lies ahead of us is making it as efficient as work-in-office, and that’s exactly the game-changer for remote teams’ managers. If we stick to the old ones, this game would probably not work!
Hence we must choose the right factors. Before we start, we have this long-time pending question to hit!
Is Team Performance = Team Productivity Only?
If yes, then what do you consider productivity as, and what are the factors that impact productivity?
If not, what are other factors that determine the success of a remote team?
Well, the answer according to us is, yes! Productivity is of paramount importance but there are many indirect factors that impact remote or offshore team members productivity. Let us see a research study that indicates what parameters affect remote team performance and to what extent.
Don’t worry! We are not discussing the factors at length as by now they have been redundantly stated. What would we like to pay attention to is how to monitor and measure these with the right parameters in the mind?
Here are a few points from us and how they matter to keep in check the above factors!
1. Keeping Attrition Rate Low
See that your remote team members are not leaving or being replaced frequently. The higher the retention rate, the better is the growth and adaptability of the team.
This will ensure that you don’t have to repeat training for the new employee and let him take time to learn it. There may be instances where a replaced employee finds it difficult to cope up with the accelerated growth of the team.
With the pivotal team members, it becomes easier to drive growth. This is because they know why and what is behind the process or policy being set up.
Also, hiring, onboarding, and training a new employee is a resource-consuming process!
2. Direct Collaboration with Team Members
A globally distributed team, remote or offshore team faces work culture, and language barriers more often. For this, it becomes important to set up good collaboration practices.
Instead of communicating from manager to manager, team members must be also a part of the collaboration process.
This helps team members to keep an open dialogue and understand ‘hidden aspects of other’s work culture’ in a better way.
One-on-one collaboration between team members helps to create a strong sense of teamwork and inclusivity.
3. Regular Offline Meetings
Going remote doesn’t have to mean that your team members never see each other!
If not once a month, it is probably a good idea to meet up before the start of work quarters.
But that as well becomes a challenge in a globally distributed team. We suggest meeting at least once a year to understand and discuss the yearly goals, what changes the team should look forward to, and of course to meet as a team.
Remote or offshore team members need to meet each other to be on the same page and clearly understand the mission and vision of the project.
4. Measuring the Right KPIs for Quality
Setting up clear expectations and agreeable to an employee is a must to monitor and maintain the quality and efficiency.
It will help you to keep track of individual work and how it has contributed to teamwork.
Once the expectations are set, it will be easy to keep a quality check on the deliverables.
Here’s where KPIs play an important role in tracking the quality.
A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets.
Click here to download the free template to track KPIs for software project roles.
About Braves
Braves helps global technology companies incubate their dedicated offshore development teams in India. The team in India is an extension of the onshore team and works collaboratively to achieve their goals.
With 17+ years of experience in technology recruitment in the US and India, we know how to build a team of high performers. Our fully managed operations model along with people driven policies has helped clients scale their teams with a high employee retention rate of 85%.
Get in touch with us to find out more.
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