Sustaining Success

The initial transition towards a virtual setting presents the opportunity to reflect on both the assumed issues that have already occurred during the transition and any issues related to the new virtual workplace that may arise. Employee Solutions must acknowledge the potential threats to operating a HR firm in a virtual workplace. Potential issues related to transitioning to a virtual workplace include, the need to monitor employees behavior with clients, unsuitable virtual working conditions, the need for a work-life balance, lack of trust, and ethical issues leading to a lack of employee production. Within this section you will find examples of how we can prevent these potential problems from interrupting our virtual workplace, and safeguards for further problems that may arise in the future.

The Long-Term Challenges with Shifting Towards a Virtual Workplace

Surveillance over employees

With the unknowns of a virtual workplace, it can be unknown what an employees work-setup may be, and their willingness to dedicate the required hours to their job
At Employee Solutions we deal with sensitive HR matters that are very important for our clients in regards to employee-employer relations. Our goal is to maintain surveillance over our employees to maintain our esteemed level of satisfaction for our clients. We hope to be able to oversee our employees from a distance, but are worried a virtual workplace will change our ability to oversee our employees production

Work-Life balance

The setting for virtual workplaces varies, but a virtual workplace allows for the fusion of work and life but may prevent the separation of the two
Whether an employee works from home or a coffee shop, it’s important for both the employee and the company that they practice separating their workplace from their living space. Internal HR issues may arise due to the inclusion of home life into the workplace

Unsuitable Virtual Working Conditions – The Digital Divide

There is a strong emphasis on being “virtual” in the virtual workplace. Working remotely requires access to technology, and it is important that the technology can be accessed with ease
Access to fast internet, proper technology, is critical to a virtual team’s success.
Apart from access to internet, it is also crucial that employees have the necessary technology to adequately conduct their jobs. In most cases this means a fast, modern computer and access to monitors

Trust, Ethical Issues and Organizational Culture

Organizational culture plays an important role in employee efficiency in the workplace. Without ties to the in-person culture of the organization, employees may struggle to find the same ethical reasoning that motivated them to be an efficient in-person employee
The organizational culture that leadership and employees have curated at the Employee Solutions HQ will be important to convey to the virtual workplace in order to keep a cohesive organization

Strategies for Creating Trust and Balance in the Virtual Workplace

Implementation of Zoom into the weekly schedule

In order to create trust among employees and their management, weekly meetings will be held between virtual teams and their management. These meetings will create trust within virtual teams and not only serve as a “check-in” but also help facilitate collaboration between employees. Collaboration helps solve work related questions that may be a result of working in a virtual setting. These "check-in" meetings will not provide clarity and updates to management on employee progress, but also give virtual workers a chance to engage with each other on non-work topics, hopefully furthering their working relationship.

Providing/Requiring Adequete Technology

For employees that are shifting to a virtual workplace, we must provide them with the adequate technology for conducting their work. In most cases this means providing them with updated computers, work phones if necessary, and computer monitors. This will help reduce the digital divide that is common between virtual and in-person workplaces, and help bridge the gap between home and work with the creation of the at-home office. This will both be seen as a perk for new virtual employees, and an investment from the company into their virtual workforce (which helps procure organizational culture)

Company-Wide Managmenet Led Meetings

Trust goes both ways. If management needs strategies to create trust among their virtual workplaces, it is important that they provide the same for their employees. Monthly required company-wide meetings will allow for the upper management to give an update on how the company is doing, new projects/initiatives that are being created, and a check-in on what they have been dedicating their time to. These meetings will help employees view their management as strong leaders, which will motivate them to use their time ethically and efficiently in the virtual workplace

Fail-Proofing our Virtual Workplace Strategies

What if an employee fails to provide adequate updates during a "check-in" meeting?

Despite the need for work updates from our virtual employees, we want to maintain a healthy relationship between their work and our perception of them as an employee. Until it becomes a problem (missing multiple straight check-in meetings), employees will have the opportunity to provide an update on their work on a weekly basis. This will reduce stress for employees who are facing deadlines with clients and may not have the time to attend or participate in a team meeting. However, this will not limit the importance of these weekly meetings, it will still be crucial for the success of the virtual team to collaborate with each other via zoom.

What if employees have technology related issues?

If employees are having problems accessing the employer-provided technology, we have our IT team ready to call employees facing technology related issues. Working remotely cannot allow for frequent technology issues, and if internet/wifi problems persist, the company can provide high powered routers to increase internet capability. It is important to get our employees in front of our clients to help solve their pressing issues.

What if we can't instill organizational culture into the remote workplace?

Organizational culture is the basis for cultivating trust and ethics in our employees. Instilling our organizational culture in our virtual employees will not be as quick of a process as it is for in-person workers. But if we are unable to convey our culture to them virtually, then we will shift to our yearly in-person company-wide events to help shape their perception of our organization. These events will occur once a year, and will surround an activity that attracts our virtual employees to come to Employee Solutions HQ and participate with the rest of the organization. An idea for this event would be a "Field Day', a day full of leadership games and activities to help cultivate organizational culture, and help improve employee relationships.