Ever thought about how remote working might add value to your organisation before deciding it’s too risky? Then this article is for you.

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As businesses seek to maximise productivity levels and increase the morale of their workers, an increasing number are offering flexible-working options.

Allowing employees to work from home some or all of the time lets them eliminate a lengthy, costly and stressful commute and spend more time with loved ones. This can have a positive knock-on effect, both in terms of the volume and quality of work, and in their sentiment towards the organisation.

But some employers and team leaders appear reluctant to embrace flexible-working arrangements due to concerns over employee management. After getting used to having their team members physically present in the office, they may be uneasy about setting them loose to work in their own environment. But, providing organisations put systems, processes and policies in place to manage mobile workers, there are typically few, if any, negatives to this model of working.

Give employees independence

Business leaders need to consider the potential benefits of giving their workers greater autonomy and allowing them to work unsupervised at home.

A Stanford University study, published in February, revealed marked increases in performance after implementing mobile working. In that study, conducted with the huge Chinese travel agency Ctrip, call-centre employees were randomly assigned to work from home or in the office for nine months. The question, “How do you know they are working?” was answered with a 13 per cent performance increase from the home workers, plus an increase in work satisfaction and a lower turnover. The benefits of trust were so obvious that Ctrip has decided to give the option to all its 16,000 employees.

Communicate regularly

Developing continuous communication – whether by email, instant-messaging tools, video conferencing or over the phone – ensures home workers remain 'in the loop'. For example, Microsoft’s Lync allows workers to communicate through all these channels in a cohesive and streamlined manner.

This continuous communication can also allay any fears managers may have about workers being unleashed and free to do as they please during the working day. If employees are going to be operating away from the office, it’s important that they check in regularly and keep their boss up to date with what they’re doing.

Cloud-based collaboration services make it easier than ever for team members to share ideas, work on documents simultaneously and see what each other are doing.

The use of online tools ensures experiences, ideas and success and performance issues can still be shared, but without employees having to be physically present.

Set targets for mobile workers

Giving mobile workers additional independence can be a positive step – it allows employees the freedom to find the way of working that suits them best.

But it’s important that they are given clear targets, and that they have specified tasks to complete. If mobile workers are not given enough to do, it’s possible that other duties around the home, like cooking or cleaning, may distract them. Employees will always let you know if they are being given too much to do in the working day, but they are less likely to inform their boss about being underworked. So ensure home-based employees have enough to keep them busy. You won’t be able to see them physically working, but you can judge their progress by what actually gets done.

Schedule contact time

Unless your home workers are based in other cities, it makes sense to bring them into the office periodically for some contact time. This allows you to address any performance or management issues face to face, and also helps better integrate teams.

New employees may enjoy putting a face to a name and getting to know the people who they work with online every day, but have never met in person. Bringing mobile workers into the office also reinforces the fact that they remain part of the team, and that operating remotely is a privilege afforded to them by their employer.

Provide them with the technology they need

Working remotely can be incredibly rewarding and add many hours to your day, but can also be very frustrating when you are not supplied with the technology to enable a good remote-working experience. Invest in making their remote-working experience a productive and pleasant one.

Content sourced from Microsoft Australia. For more information visit http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/business/