How the role
of HR has changed
while managing
remote employees 

As remote work becomes the norm for many companies, there’s never been a more important or opportune time for Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) teams to closely collaborate while managing remote employees. Working together, HR and IT leaders can and should influence the design and execution of their company’s strategy for enabling the remote workforce to remain productive, engaged and secure. 

The HR policies and IT solutions a company puts into place when it embraces remote work can potentially mean the difference between enjoying ongoing success or being unable to effectively compete. As such, HR and IT should not operate in a vacuum; together, these two teams must make an effort to truly understand the needs of their many stakeholders while effectively managing remote employees.

Remote work is clearly here to stay, with Forbes reporting that 25% of all professional jobs will be remote by the end of 2022, and it’s important to note how the role of HR has changed. Crafting a successful remote work program relies on a company weaving together four critical capabilities and activities:

This ongoing effort is needed to bring key stakeholders – remote employees, in-office-employees, managers, HR and IT leaders, cybersecurity teams and the Legal department, among others – to the same planning table. Documenting and synthesizing the unique perspectives, needs and expectations of key stakeholders (through a working group or corporate governance subcommittee) is an important step when developing a company’s remote work technology strategy. Studies show that most technology initiatives fail due to poor stakeholder engagement -- and creating an effective remote work strategy relies heavily on the right technology.

Employees and managers must clearly understand what’s expected of them as they move into managing remote employees and remote teams, and pre-pandemic HR policies should be thoroughly reviewed and revised to address the new landscape of hybrid work. Every policy – from how performance reviews are executed to how employees gain recognition and promotion – must be adapted to the realities of remote work. Importantly, technology and cybersecurity teams should be consulted to ensure remote work policies are informed by these teams’ specific charters (data protection, network performance, cost control) and that HR policies about safe and appropriate IT usage can be enforced. (Nearly 48 percent of companies surveyed in the 2022 Verizon Mobile Security Index report do not have an Acceptable Use Policy for corporate-IT assets.)

Moving to an environment that supports remote work is not a single event with a defined “project completion date;” it’s a journey that will transform almost every aspect of the business. For HR professionals, close collaboration with internal communications teams can ensure that internal messaging focuses on remote employee engagement, retention and inclusion, as well as policy awareness and compliance. The internal communications team is uniquely positioned to facilitate an ongoing dialogue between management and employees about the cultural and operational transition to a hybrid work environment.

Simply throwing a myriad of technology solutions at remote workers can lead to employee confusion and “platform fatigue,” as well as unnecessary IT management complexity and cost. Through governance structures and in consultation with employees and managers alike, identify and document the unique capability requirements that remote workers in specific roles have: not all collaboration platforms, for example, have the same security controls in place, and some remote workers may be in roles that have more demanding requirements for data protection that some of their peers. Some remote workers may be in roles that require highly-reliable, dedicated internet connectivity to achieve customer-facing Service Level Agreements, which means they shouldn’t be sharing personal, consumer-grade internet connections with other members of the household. A proven provider of remote work solutions, like Verizon, can help a company overcome these challenges.

Human Resource teams have specific objectives when supporting a company that is implementing or formalizing a remote work plan. Automated tools designed for HR have helped to optimize HR functions and advances in technology have helped HR achieve its objectives. These objectives include:

• Talent acquisition and retention: The competition for skilled workers has never been more intense, and offering remote work arrangements can prove a competitive advantage in hiring. Nearly 97 percent of employees surveyed in a recent FlexJob study said they want to work remotely at least some of the time, and 57 percent said they’d consider quitting their jobs if they were not allowed to work remotely some of the time. Providing remote workers with the enterprise-grade tools they need to work effectively – like wireless business internet from Verizon -- can make the difference in hiring and retaining top talent.
  
• Onboarding and reliable connectivity: A key element of a successful onboarding experience for a new remote worker is the ease with which they can first get connected to the online resources they need to get the job done. When a company turns to a proven partner to provide and oversee the deployment and management of company-issued routers, modems and connectivity plans for remote use, it can greatly improve the onboarding process and simplify IT management and end-user support.
  
• Employee engagement: Far-flung employees want and need to seamlessly connect with their peers, their managers, and their customers no matter where they’re located, and advanced online collaboration tools and platforms make this possible. From virtual whiteboards and teleconferencing for collaboration to online “all-hands” meetings and online training for employee engagement and development, unified communications services like BlueJeans from Verizon offer the capabilities that support employee engagement.
  
• Compliance: Without the technology that enables compliance with company policies and certain state and federal laws, managing remote employees and alternative remote work arrangements can create many headaches for HR, security and legal departments. When a company works with a managed service provider, cybersecurity controls like data encryption, user- and device-authentication and mobile threat defense can be consistently applied to the equipment used by remote workers. And IT teams can help HR and Legal leaders ensure that complicated payroll tax laws are adhered to by implementing certain monitoring and reporting tools that determine which state a remote employee is working from, and how frequently.