Remote workers are just like regular on-site employees: some are more self-disciplined than others.
While on-site, in a physical office setting, you have the opportunity to check up face to face with your team. But, when working remotely, it can be a little trickier to determine how well your team members are actually working.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide for managers: covering why remote workers need self-discipline, how to test for self-discipline in interviews, and tips for managing remote workers who are struggling with self-discipline.
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Why Remote Workers Need Self-Discipline
All people in the workforce need self-discipline: this goes without saying.
But there are also some unique challenges faced only by remote workers when it comes to self-discipline. As a manager of a remote team, you need to be aware of these challenges so you can spot them in advance.
Flexible working schedule
Many remote workers work to a flexible schedule; starting work when they feel they’re ‘switched on,’ whether it’s 9-11 am, then 3-6 pm, then 9-11 pm, or a hard sprint from 3 am to 10 am. While they may have regular hours where they are able to be contacted, the hours that they work on a daily basis may vary.
This can be a good thing, as it encourages people to work when they feel most productive. However, it can also be a bad thing if a remote team member isn’t feeling productive over the course of a number of days. If no code commits have been made by a developer in a while, then it’s time to check in and see what’s going on.
Read More: 14 Essential Work From Home Tips for a Successful Remote Experience
No one there to “keep an eye on them”
When employees are forced to work in an open-plan office a lot of them hate it. However, one of the benefits of open-plan offices is that it forces workers to be accountable for what’s on their screen — no browsing Amazon for hours on end!
When workers have the ability to work from home, there’s no one there to keep an eye on them. That means that they can go back to sleep, open and close the fridge as many times as they like hoping something new will appear, get distracted plucking leg hairs, or accidentally fall into a YouTube black hole.
The figures speak for themselves, with 45.5% of workers reporting distraction as a downside of remote work in the Avast Business 2018 Mobile Workforce Report.
The ability to switch/take off is ever-present
For remote workers without fixed working hours, the ability to just blow off work at the suggestion of a fun offer (going to the beach, going for a beer, going shopping, going out for coffee…) can be irresistibly alluring.
Whether it’s the chance on a sunny day to take on a favorite activity, socialization, or one-off events like a sale or movie premiere, flexible working hours mean these activities are all possible at any time. Working from home can increase procrastination. In fact, 40.5% of workers reported procrastination as a downside of remote work in the Avast report mentioned above.
Remote workers with a rubber arm may well find themselves with a backlog of work after taking up too many alternative activities during their regular working hours. This is particularly true if your remote worker is currently traveling — where there are new things to explore.
Overwork and burnout
The flip side of the coin from taking too much time out of the workday is that it’s also easy for remote workers to accidentally (or purposefully) overwork. Whether it’s achieving a flow state and forgetting to take a break for hours, or invisibly drowning under a wave of overtime during a crunch, not taking time away from work is a real possibility.
Remote workers faced with overwork, whether self-inflicted or not, can easily suffer from burnout and its associated health risks. Because of it, productivity decreases.
Read More: Remote Work Glossary: 50+ Words and Phrases on WFH & Virtual Careers
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How To “Test For” Self-Discipline During Interviews
Now that you know some of the main reasons that remote workers need self-discipline, the question arises: how can you tell who has it?
Try these ideas to test out a candidate’s self-discipline skills.
What was your previous remote work timetable or workflow?
Remote workers that have been in the game a while will be able to give you a good idea of their regular working hours and communication times.
For example, a worker may tell you they like to work a fixed schedule all week but take Wednesdays and Fridays off and are available at other times except Wednesdays and Fridays. Others may say they work a flexible schedule of a couple of hours to a full working day all days of the week, then take days off when they please so long as there are no urgent issues.
Some candidates may give a range of different answers depending on each of their previous jobs. So long as the candidate is able to give solid, confident answers here, they should pass the test.
Read More: Is Your Developer Ready for Remote Work? 14 Key Interview Questions
What self-organizational tools or techniques did you use?
Self-discipline becomes a lot more manageable with the right toolset. While your own organizational tools for projects, such as Jira and work timers may be used within a project, a truly disciplined candidate will likely have their own set of organizational tools, too.
This might be online or offline processes like a daily planner, task lists, reminders and alarms, and personal Kanban boards. Your prospective remote worker should be able to describe these tools and techniques to you easily, without having to search their memory for too long.
What are your side projects, clubs, hobbies, etc.?
While you might not be particularly interested in whether your candidate coaches junior basketball on Thursdays, is doing up an old car, or plays Dungeons and Dragons every week, these types of activities show that a candidate can be reliable and work towards other goals – both indicators of self-discipline.
Can you tell me about the length of your previous contracts? Have you been rehired by other remote employers?
Typically, if a candidate is a reliable, good worker, then other employers will want to keep them on if they have the workload available.
However, bear in mind that while the length of contracts or rehiring of candidates may be a good indicator of self-discipline, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, after a job is done then it’s done: there are plenty of one-off job opportunities.
How long have you worked remotely?
As with any job, people will generally get better at it with more experience. This generally means that the longer a candidate has been a remote worker, the better they will know their working routine and how to keep clients satisfied.
Read More: How to Conduct a Remote Technical Interview Successfully
Tips For Managing Remote Workers Who Are Struggling With Self-Discipline
Put money towards co-working space fees
Remember how we mentioned that workers may need eyes over their shoulder — but not necessarily at all times? Many remote workers like to work part of their time alone, in an isolated space, and part of their time around other people.
Have extra funds available for your workers that can go towards coworking space fees, or even Starbucks vouchers or weekly coffee funds for coffee shop working. You can also take a look at virtual coworking solutions, which we cover a little later.
Encourage the use of organizational tools and apps
Set up a digital space where you and your workers can share the organizational tools and apps that you all use to stay organized.
Recently, we also mentioned (in our article How to do Remote Team Building for Engineering Teams) how Buffer employees share their schedule planning and goals — including the apps they use to track their performance in their personal lives.
Encourage use of these, and even share how you set them up for optimal flow that takes minimal time.
Read More: Understanding Remote Team Personalities Gets Your Messages Heard
Do regular check-ins
For remote workers who don’t seem to be doing enough work or staying on top of things, a simple nudge can often be enough to get them going again.
Depending on the circumstances, this could be contact as a simple check-in daily, every few days, every week, or simply when you can see they aren’t tracking regularly (or as regularly as other team members).
During your 1:1 meetings with the remote worker, ask them if they’re facing any blockers, and what you can do to help remove these.
Set deadlines for small tasks
Deadlines that simply cover large parts of a project are prime ground for those who are good at procrastination to leave everything until the last minute. This is never a good idea in software development as it usually means that something is skimped on — which usually turns out to be testing.
Instead, use the Agile approach and work towards small tasks, goals, or modules in small time-based increments – i.e. sprints in Agile. Small chunks are better at keeping workers on track but do require planning at the beginning of a sprint.
While goals may not always be achieved within a sprint this is okay and is also a statistic that can be tracked. You will soon see who is good at estimating the time taken to do tasks — and those who are not, too.
Read More: How to Build and Maintain a Distributed Software Engineering Team
Promote healthy-living initiatives
If you notice that someone’s schedule seems all over the place, erratic and unpredictable, then they are usually:
- That type of person in the first place (which is fine so long as they are getting their work done to your standards),
- Having personal issues, or
- Poor at time management
All these situations may benefit from healthy living initiatives. Encouraging your employees to become healthier through exercise, diet, meditation, etc. can help smooth erratic behaviors and/or may make them more self-aware.
Apps like Insight Timer for meditation and Strava for cycling and running can help achieve goals, track them over time, and even let you compare results with your peers.
Be aware of remote worker burnout
People sometimes complain about remote workers going AWOL on their projects. This can be due to a number of reasons: the worker becoming scared they won’t be able to deliver what they promised, an actual emergency or personal crisis, or simply being burnt out.
Being aware of the signs of remote worker burnout before they up and quit on you — or go AWOL — can help prevent you from getting left in the lurch and scrambling to find a new developer quickly. These signs may include:
- Reduced communication
- Increased sick days
- Decreased work output
- Change in tone of communications
- Change in quality of work
You can help by letting these employees know you support them and you have an open ear to their problems. Finding out the crux of the issue, then taking steps to help rectify the situation (like allowing them to take leave, reduce their hours, migrate/rotate duties, etc.) can help.
Read More: How to Manage a Distributed Software Development Team
Building Your Engineering Processes To Encourage Self-Discipline
Log in and log out when working
Knowing how many (and which) hours each team member has clocked in a week can give you a good indicator of their patterns of work – and help to spot if they might need a helping hand in the self-discipline department.
Some companies also implement a screen capture feature so you can see what they were working on at each time. This may be particularly useful for new employees on probation — but overall, if your hiring and recruitment process is strong, you should have trustworthy remote employees anyway!
Virtual coworking
Make virtual coworking a part of your weekly activities. Have a channel open where your remote team can have a partner to pair up with, “watching over their shoulder” during a work session.
There are also software applications where you can do this with strangers (without them seeing the screen) if your team doesn’t work the same schedule, such as focusmate, for example.
Regular reporting
It might seem like it goes without saying, but regular reporting between employees and managers is critical to keeping employees on track (and boosting their self-discipline).
Rather than a cursory weekly 1:1 with each employee, spend time with each worker to do a bit of personal chat. See what they’re working on, understand any troubles they might be facing, and learn about the tools they’re interested in.
While it can be time-consuming, it gives you a better idea of how your team is actually going.
Read More: Hiring In-House vs Remote Developers: Cost & Competitive Advantages
Hire A Self-Disciplined Remote Worker With Arc
Our business offers a marketplace where you can find vetted, first-class remote developers who aren’t just experienced developers — but experienced in working remotely, with the self-discipline to keep your project on track.
The developers on Arc go through a strict process to become part of our community — so you can be assured of quality. Whether you’d like to hire one remote developer or a team of distributed software engineers, sign up to find the right fit for your project.
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 450,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
