11 Ways to Promote Productivity with Your Offshore Employees

‍

Working with offshore workers can be beneficial for your company but it can also be very tricky. Because how can you really ensure that they are productive if you can’t really see them working? Well, actually you can help your offshore team be more productive despite being miles away.

‍

Promoting a workplace where there is trust and giving your staff recognition and rewards can boost their productivity. You don’t need to micro-manage them or push them to the edge to get what you pay for. All you need to do is make them realise that their work and whatever they do is vital to the company’s growth.

‍

So here are some tips that you can use in order for you to help your employees stay productive at work.

‍

1. Provide thorough onboarding

‍

When hiring new employees, the onboarding process is the most important thing you need to take into consideration. You need to help them get settled in and avoid the confusion of what they need to do.

‍

Make sure that they get thorough training and orientation to fully grasp their responsibilities and duties. Orient them on the company's culture and processes. This will allow them to integrate more effortlessly into the organization and become more productive more from the get-go.

‍

Many employees report that they feel lost at the beginning of their jobs and don’t know what to do because they didn’t get proper onboarding. So, take time to walk them through so that they know what you need out of them.

‍

2. Promote an open-door policy and have clear communication channels

‍

If your hire feels confused about what he or she needs to do, then it’s most likely that he or she will lag about not knowing what to do next. Also, it is most likely that if an employee is afraid to communicate or talk to you, they may make mistakes in their outputs. To solve this problem, an open-door policy for communication must be put in place.

‍

Encourage an environment where offshore workers feel at ease approaching their managers or supervisors with queries, issues, or suggestions. To support efficient and transparent communication, create clear channels of contact, such as regular team meetings, video conferences, or instant messaging services. Be the one to ask about how they are doing and try to catch up with them.

‍

Don’t wait for them to approach you. Be proactive.

‍

3. Establish clear expectations

‍

Unclear expectations create confusion. Many times, expectations are not met because they were not established and communicated clearly from the onset of hiring your new staff.

‍

To solve avoid work from lagging and confusion, define the goals, objectives, and performance expectations for offshore staff. This will assist them to grasp what is expected of them and allow them to align their efforts accordingly. Give them scorecards and guidelines so that they know how they can work towards what is expected of them.

‍

4. Set realistic deadlines and priorities

‍

Unrealistic goals are the root of burnout, unproductivity, and resentment. Overloading your staff with unreachable deadlines and heavy priorities will make them feel tired and incapable. This feeling can push them to the edge and can backfire making them more unproductive.

‍

Set realistic timelines and effectively prioritise projects with your remote personnel. Put this in project management tools and software. This would give them a timeline to work with and know what they have to do in the future without feeling too pressed for time. Also, this ensures that employees understand what needs to be done and when lowering the likelihood of confusion or fatigue.

Discuss with your staff what needs to be done as you show it to them on the productivity tool or spreadsheet. This will help them know how quickly they need to work and also help them better understand the task because you have personally explained it to them.

‍

5. Foster a positive work environment

‍

A happy worker is a more productive worker. No one works well if they feel too under pressure or undervalued. So you have to make the effort to create a positive work environment for your staff. Talk to them like they are people. Have an interest in them as real people and just as employees. Also, greet them with a good morning or chat with them by and by. If they feel that you value them, they will work better for you.

‍

Make your offshore employees' working atmosphere positive and helpful. Encourage collaboration, acknowledge and respect their contributions, and create opportunities for professional development and progress.

‍

6. Offer necessary resources and support

‍

Having adequate support and the right tools can work wonders for your team members. Unattended to or not having what they need to work with can make them idle or worse, they can find it hard to do their work even if they want to.

‍

When it comes to the proper resources, you must prepare and anticipate what they need way before you hire them. Have the technology and platforms that can expedite their work. Having this in place can keep them productive and reduce task burnout.

‍

Also, if they face any issues or roadblocks, find a way to give them support and offer solutions. Don’t leave them hanging and ask them to resolve it by themselves.

‍

7. Recognise and reward achievements

‍

Cheer for your team. Even if they are far away, giving them the recognision for their efforts can help them feel valued. When you show them that they are integral to your company, they will feel a sense of ownership of their work and will perform better.

‍

Rewards also work well since time and memorial. Humans are programmed to work better when rewards are present. This can come in different forms such as incentives, bonuses, praises, and even promotions. Most of the time, a monetary incentive can create feelings of positivity and therefore be a precursor to productivity for your workers. So don’t scrimp on cash rewards.

‍

Now if your employee has been working for you for a long time, an appraisal and a promotion might be in place. Giving this form of incentive can help them to stay loyal to your company.

‍

8. Promote work-life balance

‍

If you are overworked, you don’t want to work, right? The same goes for your offshore workers. No one can be all work and not get grumpy or unproductive. If you think rest is a waste of time, then you’re wrong. Without rest, your staff will be unable to do their tasks well.

‍

Remember that their jobs are just jobs and not the center of their lives. Promote work-life balance among your team. Give them time offs and give them the right number of tasks. Don’t overwork them so that their productivity doesn’t suffer. Push them to take vacations and have a life outside of work. If you value their humanity and give them rest, they will be better workers in your company.

9. Give them autonomy and enable ownership

‍

No one wants to be micromanaged. No one. Give your offshore workers freedom in their job and allow them to take responsibility for their duties to empower them. This encourages accountability, involvement, and self-motivation, which boosts productivity. Don’t tell them how to work. You hired them because you knew they can do the work you gave them, remember that.

‍

Allow your workers to work with autonomy and then coach them after. If you want to give them guidance, do it before their task even starts. This would also save you the trouble of tiring yourself out.

‍

10. Provide feedback and have regular coaching sessions

‍

Regular feedback can help your team members know which areas they need to improve in and work on. Through proper coaching and consultations, you can guide your workers on how to hit their targets.

‍

Give your offshore workers honest feedback on how they performed, emphasizing their strengths and offering suggestions for development. Hold regular coaching meetings to discuss issues, establish goals, and offer direction for career advancement. Inform them of the proper steps to take to attain their goals.

‍

11. Create a sense of cohesion and promote team building

‍

Promote a sense of loyalty and belongingness among your hires by making them feel like a part of the big goal and picture. Despite geographical separation, encourage a sense of camaraderie among your overseas workers by setting up team-building exercises, virtual gatherings, or joint projects. Encourage teamwork between teams, and provide opportunities for them to communicate with and form connections with colleagues abroad.

‍

Don’t curtail it when your talents chitchat for a bit as long as it’s not disruptive to work A little banter goes a long way in fostering team spirit. The more they love their groupmates and work peers, the more they will do better at work.