How To Manage Virtual Workforce

Virtual Workforce, the latest boon of the technology and globalization, has questioned the very nature of employer employee relationship structure across the world. The concept of virtual workforce is fast welcome by a section of employers and working people in many countries.

An organization’s workforce is said to be virtual when its employees are geographically dispersed, or operating through the differences of time, place and organisational boundaries. In simplified terms, the members of the virtual workforce work from places distant from their offices (their homes, office branches in different states or even different countries) and collaborate effectively even after not being in physical contact with each other.

The emergence of multinational companies, new and flat organisational structures have fuelled the growth of global and virtual workforce, and the changed the very nature of the employer-employee and business relationships. We attempt to look at all the issues related to the concept of virtual workforces in organisations.

Advantages of having virtual workforce;Virtual workforce is proving to be a blessing in disguise for the employees as well as the organisations.

Employees can work from anywhere. Anytime!Technology enabled virtual workforce has helped the organisations to resolve and reduce various HR problems by enabling the employees (especially the working women and the new mothers) to take benefit of the flexible working hours. Now the employees can work from their homes and other locations at their convenience.

Facilitates hiring the best talent irrespective of the location;
Virtual workforce has opened the doors of attracting best talent from anywhere in the world (i.e. eliminating the limitation of distance and the physical separation).

Time and cost savings;One of the most significant benefits to the organisations and the employees is the cost and the time savings resulting from less commutation. Many organisations have admitted of registering reduction in the employee absenteeism. Most importantly, virtual workforce in different countries or locations helps an organisation to compete in the global industry and strengthen its position.

The role of technology;It is only because of technology that the concept of virtual workforce came to existence and also became successful. Technology supports virtual workforce through the hardwares and softwares like mobile phones, laptops, modems, wireless communication links like LAN, WAN etc. the software include the e-mails, remote access softwares, video and tele-conferencing technologies etc.

Technology provides the connecting links to the virtual workforce. Technological tools like video-conferencing enable people to see and talk to each other being spread at different places around the world at a given point of time. It would be apt to say that technology provides and creates the virtual infrastructure and facilities for the virtual workforce.

Issues in virtual workforce;Where the virtual workforce is a blessing for all, the baggage also contains some serious issues to be dealt with, in order to successfully integrate and manage the concept with the organisation and achieve its objectives successfully. When the employees are not physically present at the office every day, one of the issues that crops up is of trust. Away from the management scrutiny and monitoring, and with the management having no control over the working hours and daily monitoring of employees, there is a need on the part of both the employer and the employee to have faith in and trust each other.

Miscommunication problems;In absence of the physical contact and face-to-face interaction, miscommunication is bound to occur. Due to people present in different parts of the world, bringing them together virtually at the same time and the difficulty in contacting each other due to any reason like technological faults, communication gap can creep in.

Managing virtual workforce;The virtual workforce can be dispersed across the country or even to the different continents. The biggest challenge of having virtual workforce is to engage, integrate and manage them in alignment to the organisational goals and objectives. Being away from the organisation, peers and the organisational environment can make the employees feel isolated or not –valued by the organisation. The employees miss the happenings or events in the organisation. Miscommunication problems also arise in the virtual workforce.

The organisation needs to have a complete system or structure in place to effectively manage the virtual workforce which should have the following components;
Training for the managers to mange the virtual workforce effectively and efficiently.

Technology should be put to its best possible use in managing the virtual workforce.
Incorporating trust in the employees and the organisation.
Ensuring proper communication between the organisation and the team.

Conclusion;Virtual workforce has become an integral and inseparable part of the corporate world today. It is a blessing for the organisation and the employees, but only if the organisation handles and manages the issue effectively and efficiently. Stating the expectations clearly to the employees, maintaining constant contact, proper communication channels, periodic meetings are few ways to handle the issue effectively and make it a success.

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