Remote hybrid working is now fully embedded in a lot of organisations. With that said, managing performance from afar brings its own set of challenges.
If you have fewer in-person interactions, then this can make it more difficult for you to measure progress, and you may also find that it is not as easy to spot issues early. This guide will provide you with some of the best practices so you can conduct appraisals with your remote staff while helping you to support your business in a fair and meaningful way.
Challenges of Remote Appraisals
Appraisals are about more than ticking boxes; they are a chance for you to try and set goals, while allowing you to raise concerns. When teams work remotely, they’re not as likely to be given feedback or to even ask for it.
A main reason behind this is that there is simply no opportunity to have a quick chat. On top of this, there are also technological barriers. Poor connections or not being familiar with video tools can easily undermine decisions. This, combined with employee isolation, can make employees feel somewhat detached from company culture.
How to Set Remote Performance Reviews
Set Measurable Objectives
Remote reviews tend to work best when the expectations are transparent. You need to try and agree on the SMART goals that you want to set, and you also need to try and link them to remote KPIs if you can. This could be deadlines, or it could even be things like quality metrics and client satisfaction.
If you want to help yourself, then you need to look up the basics of appraisals, including performance appraisals, so you can make sure you are following a set structure every time.
Schedule Ahead of Time
It’s imperative that you give your team a chance to prepare by sending out a calendar invite and by preparing the agenda two weeks before the review is due to take place. If you can do this, then you can allow them to reflect on their achievements, as well as their challenges and their developmental needs.
Use Good Tech
As an employer, you also need to make sure that you are using good tech for your reviews. Video meetings are so important if you want to be able to build trust and if you want your team to pick up on your non-verbal cues. Test your platform and make sure that every team member has a quiet place to do the interview or review.
Structure Your Feedback
Another thing you need to do is try and structure your feedback properly. Using the SBI model is good here, as you can structure your feedback while making sure that it aligns with your team.
Make sure that you balance your constructive points with recognition. If you bombarded your team with criticism, this could lead to low morale and poor performance, so be sure to keep that in mind.
If you need some help with challenging conversations, then one thing you can do is try and make sure that you conduct disciplinary meetings to address any points that you may feel need to be brought up, so it can be done in a positive manor.
Two-Way Conversations
Encourage open dialogue by trying to ask open questions if you can. You need to talk to your team about the achievements that they happen to be most proud of, and you also need to make sure that you are asking them how HR can support them remotely. This, combined with asking your team about the skills that they would be interested in developing, is a good way for you to get to where you want to be.
Address Their Wellbeing
It’s so important that you treat your employees with respect and that you take note of the boundaries that have been blurred between the home and work environments.
Take the time to check in with employees to make sure that their stress levels aren’t getting too high and show that you are committed to supporting them within their working environment. This is a great way for you to implement retention strategies, and it also allows you to ensure you always have a motivated workforce.
Follow Up
Following up with an action plan is important. You need to talk about training needs, agreed objectives, and even review dates, so you can make sure that everything is as it should be.
If you want some help with the legalities of managing a remote team, then we at Premier Legal can help. Our experts can help you with every aspect of employee management, and we can also help you navigate underperformance, staff engagement, and appraisal policies. If you want to find out more, please get in touch with us today.
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Author
sarahrobinson@premier-legal.co.uk
Sarah Robinson is the Managing Partner and has specialised exclusively in employment law since qualifying as a solicitor in 1996.
Sarah has considerable experience of representing clients in many different industry sectors including insurance and financial services, corporate finance, technology, legal services, automotive, hotel and catering and media as well as the public sector.
Areas of particular interest include restrictive covenants, TUPE and advising in relation to discrimination.