When your workforce is loyal, they’re not going to quit when things get tough. A loyal workforce will stick with you through hard times and will even offer to help.

The good news is, it’s not hard to earn that kind of loyalty, and if you’ve got a remote workforce you’ve got a head start. If you’re just starting to develop a remote workforce, you’re making a wise choice.

Remote workers are generally more loyal

Inc.com reported on an Owl Labs survey that questioned 1,200 workers in the U.S. between the ages of 22 and 65 to find out how happy remote workers are compared to onsite employees. Full-time remote workers were 22% happier than workers who never work remotely.

The reason for their happiness? Better work-life balance, better focus, less stress, and no commute. The survey also found employee loyalty increased in proportion to flexibility, and remote workers are happy to work longer hours.

If that sounds like the kind of team you’d like to have, here’s how to cultivate deeper loyalty from your remote workforce.

1. Streamline communications to include social connection

Remote workers don’t have the luxury of walking around an office to get to know their coworkers. The only way remote workers can connect is online. However, when remote employees are bogged down with work, there’s hardly any time for chit chat.

That can be changed with the right collaboration platform. For instance, the popular G Suite platform called Happeo supports collaboration by integrating company communications with a private social network for employees to connect on a personal level. As a private company intranet, Happeo also makes it easy to onboard new hires and distribute important messages where they’ll be easily seen.

If your company intranet is all work and no play, your remote employees won’t be as happy as they could be if they were allowed to take time to connect with the rest of the team on a personal level.

However you choose to streamline your communications, make sure to include social connection and let your team chit chat with each other. Those personal interactions will make people feel connected to the rest of the team, which will make them happier and therefore more likely to develop a deep loyalty.

2. Praise your workforce for what they do right

Your workforce will be happier and more likely to deepen their loyalty when they’re praised for their strengths and contributions to the team. With a remote workforce, it’s easy to forget this aspect of managing a team since you don’t see employees on a daily basis.

Remember to acknowledge each of your team members periodically and ask them how things are going. Find out if they’re struggling in any way, and see if you can find solutions for their concerns. This combined with praise will go a long way to cultivate a loyal team.

3. Reinforce the importance of teamwork

Working remotely can be an isolating experience. It’s easy for remote workers to feel isolated and work as if they are a one-person team. Do your best to remind workers that they are part of a team. Encourage regular communication with other employees in the same department throughout the day.

When your team members need to work together to accomplish a goal, set them up with daily or weekly required meetings over Zoom. Require these meetings even if all they do is touch base with their part of the project for five minutes.

Remote workers may work alone, but they can still collaborate online.

4. Give remote workers more freedom

Most remote workers are excellent at being self-directed. Some need to develop this skill. Give your remote workers more freedom and flexibility to get the work done in their own way. If they’re not quite self-directed yet, encourage them to get stronger and more confident in that area.

Remote workers are happiest when they have the freedom to choose when and how they work, of course, while keeping deadlines in mind. However, some people work better in the evenings while others work best in the early morning hours.

When remote employees are just learning to become self-directed, fostering independence is crucial. Give your workers as much freedom as you possibly can. Let them develop a routine that works for them and still helps them complete their work on time.

Return the loyalty to your team

When you’ve got a loyal team, return that loyalty every chance you get. Don’t be so quick to hand out write-ups. Communicate transparently and often. Your loyalty will be appreciated, too.

Given the increasing temperatures around the world, it is imperative that if you want to keep the interior of your commercial or residential property as cool as possible, you should maintain your air conditioning units. Indeed, air conditioning units can often be a significant investment while this technology can provide a fantastic way of keeping the interior of your building cool at all times, regardless of the temperature outside. As a result, you should be aware that cleaning your air conditioning units on a regular basis is imperative as a part of a maintenance regime. One of the simplest things that you can do if you need to carry out a clean of your air conditioning unit is to wash the air filters.

However, if you do not feel confident about undertaking the maintenance tasks for your air conditioning units, you should think about contacting a firm of air conditioning specialists. Furthermore, you should also be aware that if you need to replace your air conditioning unit, then a variety of products are available on the market.

A.           Maintain your air conditioning units

One of the simplest things that you can do to keep your air conditioning units working efficiently at all times is to carry out a regular maintenance plan. Indeed, by washing the air filters on a regular basis, you can ensure that the units are operating efficiently. However, if you discover that your air conditioning unit requires a significant clean, you should think about contacting a specialist as soon as possible. Furthermore, if you think your air conditioning unit needs to be replaced, then an A/C Dealer in your area will be able to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed choice about which air conditioning unit will be most appropriate for your needs.

B.           Reduce your electricity bills

Old air conditioning units are often less efficient than some of the latest models that are available on the market. As a result, if you want to reduce your energy bills, you should think about replacing the air conditioning units in your commercial or residential property as soon as possible. For more information about the various air conditioning units that are available on the market, you should think about consulting an online business directory that can provide you with all of the details you need.

C.           Prevent problems from occurring

Lastly, you should be aware that by thoroughly cleaning your air conditioning units on a regular basis, you can prevent serious problems from occurring. Indeed, if your air conditioning units are dirty, then they will be consuming a considerable amount of energy, while they will not be working efficiently and thus not cooling your property as intended.

• Maintain your air conditioning units
• Reduce your electricity bills by installing new air conditioning units
• Prevent problems from occurring by carrying out regular maintenance

Therefore, in conclusion, if you need to replace an air conditioning unit, then a variety of dealers are available while keeping your existing air conditioning units well serviced and cleaned at all times can help to improve their efficiency and potentially lower your energy bills.

All of your business experience, including the advice you’ve accumulated from mentors and peers throughout your career, has made one truth abundantly clear: People are the lifeblood of a successful company. If you invest in the right people, you can make almost any idea work. Furthermore, by hiring the right individuals for your business, you can become more hands-off and shift your energy to bigger and better things.

But what happens when your business becomes so reliant on one person or employee that the future of the company rests on their shoulders? This is what business experts and consultants refer to as “key person dependency.” And if you don’t address this issue, it has the potential to erode your business from the inside out.

The Problem With Key Person Dependency

There’s nothing wrong with relying on your employees to run your business. After all, that’s what you pay them to do. Trust, delegation, and responsibility are all core tenets of a healthy relationship between management and staff. But when you become overly reliant on key persons, it crosses the line from healthy to potentially-destructive.

The problem with key person dependency isn’t necessarily the dependency. (There’s nothing wrong with depending on people.) The biggest issue is what happens if that person takes an extended leave of absence, leaves for another job, or decides to branch out and start a rival business.

It’s normal to miss a good employee when they leave. You can expect to see a drop-off in performance and results. However, if the person’s departure leaves you with gaping holes that nobody else has the skills or knowledge to address, this is problematic. In situations like this, the entire company’s future hangs on the decisions of a single person. It’s not a good place to be.

Who is Your Key Person?

The first step is to identify who your key persons are. Not all key persons are managers, executives, or leaders. They can work in any area of the business, including nontechnical domains. Here are some identifying characteristics:

A key person is someone everyone else goes to when they have a question or an issue about something.

A key person has usually been in their job for a long time and has delivered proven, superior performance time and time again.

A key person either has the knowledge to accomplish specific tasks or knows precisely where to find it. They understand the big picture, rather than just one step in the larger process.

Almost every business has at least one key person – though some have multiple key persons. Identifying them is the first step in reducing your dependency on them.

4 Ways to Lower Key Person Dependency

Have a specific employee or person in mind? Here are some ways you can lower your dependency on that key person:

1. Invest in Widespread Training

The key person isn’t the problem. The issue is that you don’t have other people who can step up in this individual’s absence. Rather than dumb down the key person, your focus should be on elevating everyone else. You can do this by investing in widespread training that specifically addresses the shortcomings you’re most worried about.

2. Develop a Knowledge Management System

Key persons typically have both knowledge and skill. But if you want to reduce dependency, you need to start with the former. Developing a knowledge management system that captures information and organizes it in such a way that it can be easily accessed and distributed is a good start.

Not only will this reduce your dependency, but it’ll also improve your company’s productivity. (According to a McKinsey Global Institute Report, a good knowledge management system can reduce information search time by 35 percent and enhance productivity by as much as 25 percent.)

3. Have Your Key Person Systematize

Always require key persons to document and record what they’re doing. By having them turn their actions into systems, you have something concrete to leverage in the future. And when the time eventually comes to replace your key person, you simply have to find a skilled individual who can follow the systems that are already in place.

4. Require Mandatory Leave

Many large companies require their key persons to take mandatory leave every year (typically somewhere between two to four weeks). Aside from allowing these individuals to refresh and recharge, mandatory leave forces the business to operate in their absence. This not only exposes shortcomings, but it also requires other employees to step up and learn new skills. Perhaps you should adopt a similar strategy in your own business.

Looking Toward the Future

Having skilled and reliable people on your team is always a good thing. The secret is to never rely too much on a single person. By lowering dependency and focusing on systems, you can stabilize your company today and pave the way for a stronger future.

Hiring talent is an intensive and costly process.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost of hiring a new employee was $4,425 in 2017. That amount is backed up by the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California at Berkeley, which pegged the cost of replacing an employee for all categories of workers at $4,000

More than 80 percent of employee turnover can be traced back to poor hiring choices, according to the Harvard Business Review. Indeed, most experts agree that a bad hire can cost the company significantly more than the cost of that employee’s salary. So, taking steps to avoid these costly hiring faux pas from the outset is important.

But no matter the cost, every company will need to hire an employee at some point, whether because of a recent vacancy or to fill an entirely new position. The ability to hire good talent is key to success. Fortunately, there are many resources for finding new employees and there is rarely a shortage of people looking for work.

However, certain types of positions are more difficult to fill – especially those positions at the top of the company. In situations like this, it often makes more sense to reach out to an executive search firm. 

You don’t need to look far for success stories from executive search firms. Chartwell Partners helped NexBank hire its new CFO, for example. 

Companies need to find the perfect fit for whatever role they’re trying to fill. And adequate simply isn’t good enough. You need to find someone great. Hiring top-performing talent is what executive search firms specialize in.

Additionally, the need to commit internal resources toward finding a high profile candidate can hold that company back from growing in other ways. Time is money and lost opportunities. An executive search firm can handle the job search while business leaders concentrate on day-to-day operations, building partnerships, and managing existing employee relations.

You won’t always be able to fill an important role from inside the current company ranks. Executive roles are often beyond internal expertise. It may be a matter of all of your very capable employees being too important to move out of their current positions. Or your internal team may not be able to define the parameters of the job and recruit the appropriate talent. If that’s the case, it’s time to look outside of the company.

Many companies are competing to hire the most talented professionals. By devoting capital, resources, and time on finding the right fit, you may end up costing your company more than you need to. For many companies, it may make sense to hire someone to dig through the talent pool and find the exact right fit for the position and the company as a whole. If that’s the case, consider hiring an executive search firm.