How To Train And Retain Your Virtual Employees?

Just like in-office employees, virtual employees also have the urge to stay connected with your organization, feel proud of its achievements, and interact with other employees. The theories of employee training and retention that work in the physical world hold true in the virtual world too. Proper training, clear guidelines, work procedures, expected performance levels, and employee benefits – if communicated properly – can go a long way in building a beneficial and long-lasting relationship with your virtual employees. Here are few steps that you can take to train and retain your employees:

• Trail period: Start with your virtual employee with a trial period where you can judge the style of working, capabilities, technology expertise, and training requirements.
• Induction and formal introduction with the key team members: This should ideally be a face-to-face meeting done through video conferencing.
• Extensive training: Your subject matter expert can provide online presentations and use e-learning tools to give formal training about your business processes and work involved.
• Setting expectations: Clear understanding of goals and work culture, amount of work required to be done by the virtual employee, communication/collaboration protocols, issue resolution, responsibilities, accountability, key performance indicators, and other business specific needs should be discussed and agreed upon.
• Building camaraderie: Encourage team involvement through frequent informal online meetings. You can also promote the use of social media for business so that the team members get to know each other better.
• Physical meetings: Face-to-face meetings must be held occasionally to maintain and build connections. Virtual workforce must be involved in corporate events, achievements, celebrations, and other activities.
• Incentives and career growth: Since virtual employees are judged by their productivity, incentives and benefits should be tied to their performance. Virtual employees must get career growth in your organization and a feeling of security.

When an agreeable connection is formed between your virtual employees and your organization, they are driven to perform better and work for growth. This sense of attachment helps in motivating and retaining virtual employees.