Creating a Culture of trust and productivity in Distributed Teams

There are many things a workplace can do to assure it is creating a lasting structure based on culture, trust, productivity created. That being said, I'm going to just give you the five most important ones.

1. Take a look at your on-boarding process. The first few weeks or months of any company will set the tone for any new hire. This holds even more true for remote workers. They have a hard time digesting company information in the same way a traditional worker would, so having a good onboard process is essential to maintain culture and productivity. Encourage employees to have virtual hangouts even. Anything to show the good the company has to offer to those who might begin to feel otherwise. 

2. Set clear objectives. Making sure that all task and goals that are assigned to remote workers are aligned with the companies overall goal. Having weekly meetings will hold everyone accountable since they will know what they need to have done or have started by the midterm of each week. Monitoring your employees in this manner will prevent anyone from having an unreasonable excuse for their lack of quality work.

3. Use the right tools and programs. Adopt software and tools that will make it seamless to communicate and share with remote workers or workers who are traveling often. Communication tools like Telegram, Slack, or GroupMe are often used in workplaces to get quicker responses from a single person or a division of a company. Then there are project management tools that allow you to manage task and view the scope of the project along with the progress. Finally you could even implement more advanced technology such as "Meeting Owl". Meeting Owl is 360 degree conferencing camera that auto shifts to the person speaking.

4. Lastly and certainly not the least important, have fun. This is a concept that many people ignore in a workplace. In person contact goes a long way. Your workplace becomes your second home because that is where you spend half your day. People develop strong bonds that make their days more enjoyable. If you do not have that sense of comradery it will make it hard to go into a job everyday or even want to work for people that you feel have no concern for you and your life outside of work.