What Kind of Mindset Should a Remote Worker Have?

Mindset is important regardless of what someone is doing, but it plays an especially important part in the workplace. This only becomes more true when that workplace is distributed, and work is actually done in the worker’s home.

Let’s go into the kind of perspective you want to encourage in your team as they utilize remote work.

A Positive and Resilient Mindset will Help Your Team and Company Alike

Just a few years ago, the University of Zurich released a study wherein the attitude people had going into remote work had measurable impacts on the outcomes they experienced. Specifically, the researchers were attempting to measure how much impact a more black-and-white viewpoint on whether or not an individual can be successful while working remotely has on their productivity.

As it turns out, there’s a very strong correlation between whether or not people feel remote work is an inherent capability or an acquired skill and their ability to work remotely. By polling 113 knowledge-based workers each week over a period of five weeks, the study showed that the perspective each worker had regarding remote work had a direct impact on their productivity. 

In essence, a worker’s attitude toward remote work served as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Similarly, it is important to remember that—while a lot of remote work can be done to benefit the employee—a lot of remote work may be done out of necessity. Just look at the events of a few years ago for a prime example of such circumstances. In these cases, it is important that your team is also able to be resilient in the face of these matters. Not only does resilience make it easier to respond to these stressors, but it also makes it easier for us to solve problems, work with others, and be productive in various situations.

You Want to Foster Positive Remote Work Habits in Your Team

Resilience and positivity are soft skills you want your employees to have. So, how can you help them develop them?

Build Trust

This is really a two-way street. You and your employees need to mutually trust each other not to take advantage of the situation—you need to trust them not to slack off, and they need to trust you not to blur the line between work and home and expect more of them as a result.

To create this trust, your expectations and goals must be communicated clearly, and you need to understand how your employee expects remote work to play out.

Enable Your Team to Work

If you want your employees to work successfully, they will have to trust that the tools you have provided them will be there for them. We’ve all felt the frustration that comes from trying to accomplish things with tools that aren’t doing the job we need them to do. Just like your remote workers need you to support them, they also need you to support the technology they rely on.

Encourage Communication

We’ve all seen the value that communication offers businesses and the employees that make them up in the office, so it should come as no surprise that communication needs to be equally prioritized in a distributed workplace. It can be too easy for remote employees to be forgotten or isolated, especially if it isn’t an organization-wide thing. Both you and your employees need to take the initiative to reach out and involve everyone in the workplace.

We’re Here to Help

We mentioned that your team needs to be able to rely on their technology, regardless of where they are working. If this is a hurdle to you fully utilizing remote work and enjoying its benefits, Preferred is here to help. Our managed services allow us to ensure a business’ technology is operational and optimized for its needs, regardless of whether it is being used in the office, remotely, or in a hybrid environment. We can even help you manage that aspect.

Give us a call to learn more at 708-781-7110.