Expectations for Virtual Employees

Respectful, professional relationships provide the foundation for success with virtual employees. Soft skills make the difference. Setting clear expectations at the onset of the virtual relationship ensures employees know exactly what they need to do as a home-based employee.

Quality work is the expectation. Although this is always implied, calling it out explicitly helps employees realized this is the baseline. Complacency and minimum effort have no place in the regimen of virtual employees.

Independent thinking is valued. Without the frequency of casual interactions common in an office environment, a virtual worker must proactively stay relevant and visible by championing their unique perspectives. Independent thinking is a form of self-management where employees learn to resolve matters and find solutions on their own. If a work at home employee expects the leader to step in and do all the thinking on their behalf, the relationship is doomed.

Everyone contributes. Every employee should have some skin in the game beyond their core responsibilities. This helps to drive cohesiveness and engagement. These extracurricular responsibilities can be very simple—presenting in a team meeting, leading an activity, driving communications, or even working on a side project.

Lean on your team. When working from home, it is critical to leverage your team. Working from home does not mean working in a silo. Reach out to your team for support, collaborate with them often, bounce ideas off each other, and ask a lot of questions.

Initiative is a core value. Acting without being prompted is not only a key to success, but is an important expectation when working from home. This quality tends to fuel all the others, and is the characteristic by which meaningful results are accomplished.

Communicate frequently, openly, and proactively. If you feel like you are communicating enough, you almost certainly are not. If you feel like you have been communicating ad nauseam, you are probably just getting to the point where the message is starting to sink in.

Feedback is a gift—give and receive accordingly. Feedback is always important. For virtual employees, giving feedback is even more essential for ensuring each party in the relationship knows where they stand and what the expectations are.

Be prepared. Preparation ensures every interaction has value. Being ready for meetings, completing deliverables on time, and providing thoughtful responses to email drives success. This is an essential component to effective time management as well as driving results.

Each of these expectations should be proactively reviewed by the leader and employee when conducting regular one on one sessions together. This brings all these expectations to life by taking them from a conceptual framework to the daily competencies required for a successful home-based program.