The tide is turning, the wind is changing and the world of work is becoming all about one person with his / her computer, doing the job from whatever part of the world they happen to be in at the time. But how do you performance management your virtual employees?
For many companies, hiring virtual employees is the perfect solution financially. There is no need for office space, therefore no rent needs to be paid and no materials bought. Most virtual employees come with their own home-built office of lap-top, phone and other necessities, which means that there are no expenses to be paid for there either.
What’s more, it is becoming very common for first world country businesses to outsource their work to virtual employees living in places like Latin America or India because the employees come at a cheaper rate too.
So what’s the downfall? Why isn’t everyone hiring virtual employees? What isn’t the office space already a thing of the ancient past?
One simple reason…
Employers find it hard to manage their virtual employees and this is when the expert help and advice of the performance management specialists at KeenHire really comes in to play.
What are the most important tips to follow for successful performance management of virtual employees? There are far too many things about virtual employee management for the performance management specialists at KeenHire to cover here in this short post. For thorough support in this area and to find out about the various performance management ideas that we have at KeenHire to share with you and help make your work force function successfully, contact our performance management team directly.
However, we can share three simple performance management tips for the management of virtual employees with you in this post today which will help to at least begin sending you down the road of virtual employee workforce success. These three performance management tips are:
1. Be specific and methodical from the very beginning It is important that you are ready for your virtual employee before you employ them. They will be working from a place far away from you. You will not be able to introduce them to the way things work when you “see them in the office on the first Monday.” You will not be able to monitor them as things crop up.
A virtual employee is essentially alone in the world. They are out there working in a solitary environment and they can only do what it is that you ask them and produce what you want them to produce with the materials that you give them.
Therefore, performance management of virtual employees always works best when you are specific about what they will need to do and how they will be managed / monitored from the very beginning.
The KeenHire performance management experts have lots of performance management tools, ideas and systems that you can take advantage of at any time to make the management of your virtual employees that much easier.
Contact our performance management specialists directly for specific details about this area.
2. Provide processes which must be followed to the letter to ensure reporting systems encourage quality work to be delivered on time Virtual employees need processes to follow. Simple things such as a daily report that they must send in a certain format, a list of things that they plan to do in the next few working days, or perhaps a style of email format that they must follow when sending client information, for example, are systems that you must put into place to ensure you deliver excellent performance management.
Systems need to be simple, focused and quick to follow / realize. This is why the performance management experts at KeenHire spend lots of time investigating into the kinds of virtual employee management tools that your company could make use of to generate major improvement in this area.
Contact one of the performance management experts at KeenHire directly about the kind of work you are expecting your virtual employee to complete and we will be able to help you develop effective performance management systems to ensure that your employees deliver what you are looking for.
3. Invest time in management and professional development review every month instead of focusing on your deadlines One of the major errors that most employers make is that they are too focused on results and deadlines and getting the work from their employees and they focus less time and effort on performance management and review.
If your virtual employee feels happy, supported and clear about his / her job, the work will come in easier and better every single time. The performance management experts at KeenHire try to help employers see the importance of focusing on performance management and performance review as opposed to deadlines in the first few months particularly.
Invest your time in leading, directing, guiding and developing your virtual employee. If you can do this, they will learn quicker and develop quicker in their role too. Early investment in performance management will give you a more effective employee later on.