As Telecommuting Rises, Here’s How to Keep Tabs on1 Your Team遠程辦公下的團隊管理方略

文/丹妮爾·薩布里納 譯/郝福合

By Danielle Sabrina

As Telecommuting Rises, Here’s How to Keep Tabs on1Your Team遠程辦公下的團隊管理方略

文/丹妮爾·薩布里納 譯/郝福合

ByDanielle Sabrina

According to a recent Gallup poll,telecommuting is on the rise. Over one-third of all American workers are now doing so from the comfort of their home, a local café, or a mobile office2mobile office移動辦公室。乘坐汽車等交通工具時，使用手機或筆記本電腦等進行辦公稱為移動辦公，而用來移動辦公的交通工具即為移動辦公室。. As more and more companies get smart to the benefits of keeping a remote staff (reduced cost,greater efficiency, access to global talent),this trend will likely increase.

[2] Technology is facilitating telecommuting and making the physical office a thing of the past. We can sign off3sign off認可，同意。approvals from our smartphones,pitch in4pitch in 參與，合作。on Slack5一款團隊協作交流軟件，將分散信息予以整合，以實現信息共享。from the subway and teleconference over Skype6一款網絡即時通訊軟件，具有視頻聊天、語音對話、文件傳送、文字聊天等功能。, rather than taking an expensive flight to a longdistance meeting.

近期一項蓋洛普民意測驗顯示，遠程辦公日益興起。現有超過三分之一的美國職員在家中、鄰近的咖啡館或移動辦公室遠程辦公。隨著遠程辦公的優勢得到越來越多公司的認可（降低成本，提高效率，獲得全球范圍的人才），該趨勢有望繼續發展。

[2]科技正為遠程辦公提供便利，同時逐漸淘汰實體辦公室。我們可使用智能手機批準事項，在地鐵上借助Slack軟件協同工作，通過Skype參加電話會議，而不必乘坐費用不菲的航班遠途參會。

[3] The rapid growth of marketplace companies, like Taskrabbit7跑腿兔，美國一個提供臨時工服務的在線平臺。and Upwork8美國一個自由職業平臺。, further fuels the trend. In fact,according to a 2016 study from Harvard,the average American would take an 8 percent pay cut just to work from home!

[4] Yet not everyone is happy about the rise in telecommuting. Sending their staff out into the blue yonder9into the blue yonder到未知的遠方，常作into the wild/wide blue yonder。該短語初見于1939年由羅伯特·麥克阿瑟·克勞福德（Robert MacArthur Crawford）創作的歌曲《陸軍航空隊歌》（Army Air Corps），后成為美國空軍軍歌，改名為《美國空軍》（The U.S. Air Force）。歌曲首句寫道：“Off we go into the wild blue yonder, climbing high into the sun.”（我們飛向藍色遠方，升向高空，沖向太陽。）can strike panic in the hearts of controlling managers. According to Founder &CEO of Flexjobs10美國一家求職網站，為求職者提供遠程辦公、自由職業、兼職工作等就業信息。, Sara Sutton Fell,many companies are still scared of telecommuting for three main reasons:

1. It’s unmanageable

2. It’s only beneficial to employees

3. It’s unknown territory

[3] Taskrabbit和Upwork之類的求職公司迅速發展，為這一趨勢推波助瀾。據2016年哈佛大學的一項研究，實際上，美國人一般愿減薪8%，只為在家辦公！

[4] 但并非所有人都樂見遠程辦公的興起。讓員工異地辦公會令控制型的管理者驚慌失措。按照在線網絡兼職平臺Flexjobs的創始人和首席執行官薩拉·薩頓·費爾的說法，許多公司仍對遠程辦公心存恐慌，原因有三：

1. 管理困難

2. 僅雇員受益

3. 此為未知領域

[5] These fears are understandable to a bricks and mortar11bricks and mortar房產，實體產業。company used to an office environment where they can see their employees. But, as more and more tech startups spring up on shoestring12shoestring用錢極少的。budgets, Millennial13千禧傳媒，美國一家移動網絡廣告公司。managers are finding just the opposite to be true. Telecommuting is highly manageable. It’s more beneficial to the company than the employee, and it’s fast becoming the new normal.

[6] Sean Hopwood, President of Day Translations—a company that manages all its translation services online—started his business with a website and a will.In a few short years, he took his oneman band to a fixed team of over fifty,with a further network of thousands of freelance14freelance自由職業的。translators and interpreters.

[7] He shares: “It can be hard to manage a team of people from different cultural backgrounds, working on different shifts in different time zones.But there are many ways you can keep tabs on your team and use world locations to your benefit.”

[8] Day Translations takes advantage of world time zones to provide continued 24/7 support for anyone in any country. “We also believe that having a diverse team of people who can bring new ideas to the table15bring sth to the table提供有益的想法、建議等。has

made us even stronger,” he adds.

[5]對慣于在辦公環境下監督員工的實體公司而言，這些擔憂可以理解。但是，隨著越來越多的科技創業公司憑借低成本紛紛涌現，Millennial的管理者們發現情況恰好相反。遠程辦公極易管理；比之雇員，公司受益更多；且正迅速成為新常態。

[6] Day Translations是一家實行全部業務在線管理的翻譯公司。總裁肖恩·霍普伍德當初從一個網站起步，滿懷激情地開始創業。在短短數年之內，從單槍匹馬發展到一支逾五十人的固定團隊，更有一個由數千名口筆譯自由譯者組成的人員網絡。

[7]他分享道：“員工文化背景不同，時區和工作班次有別，這樣的團隊管理起來或許存在難度。不過，有很多方法可以管理團隊，利用世界的不同地域為自己服務。”

[8] Day Translations翻譯公司利用世界的不同時區，為來自所有國家的所有客戶提供全天候持續服務。“我們同時認為，擁有一個多元化團隊增強了我們的實力，因為團隊成員

可提供新創意。”肖恩·霍普伍德補充道。

[9] If you’re thinking about introducing telecommuting to your company, or running your entire outfit16outfit團隊，一班人馬。online, here’s how to keep tabs on your team.

Communication is everything

[10] If you’re worried about not being able to manage your distanced employees, you haven’t been paying attention. There are already a million apps, software, progress trackers and instant chats that will let you do that.Many companies use Skype or G-Chat17谷歌的一個即時聊天系統。as their means of speaking over the web. But keep in mind that endless online chatting and pinging18ping發送（電子郵件、手機短信）。your employees at all hours will only serve to slow down productivity.

[11] You may find it easier to trade out19trade out 出賣。lengthy emails for a project management software that lets you glance the status of all initiatives at any given moment. Don’t get solely dependent on using these communication methods, though.Working from home can be isolating,so it’s important to meet regularly with your remote employees.

[9]如果你正考慮在自家公司實現遠程辦公，或在線管理全班人馬，以下即是相應的團隊管理要略。

交流至上

[10]如果擔心無法管理遠在異地的員工，那是因為你一直未曾留意。已有數以百萬計的應用程序、軟件、進度跟蹤工具、即時聊天工具可助你完成管理工作。許多公司使用Skype或G-Chat作為網絡通話工具。不過要記住，若沒完沒了地在線聊天，不分時間地給員工發送郵件或短信，只會降低工效。

[11]你或許發覺放棄冗長的電子郵件，轉而使用項目管理軟件更方便，后者可讓你隨時對所有行動計劃的進度一目了然。但是，也不要一味依賴這些通訊工具。在家辦公會有孤立之感，因此有必要與身在遠方的員工定期會面。

[12]通過Skype、谷歌文檔交流，或者有母語并非英文的團隊成員，“語氣”就很容易被誤解。

[12] It’s easy for the “tone of voice”to be misinterpreted when it’s written down on Skype, typed into a Google doc20谷歌文檔，由谷歌研發的在線辦公軟件。, or you have team members whose first language isn’t English.

[13] So, instead of assuming your workers are slacking off21slack off松懈，懈怠。and watching television rather than working on your presentation, make sure you clear the air22clear the air消除誤會（或緊張、猜疑）氣氛，澄清。. Hold brief but regular meetings to hash out23hash out通過充分討論解決（或決定）。any doubts. It’s also good for employee morale. Ask them how they are before you launch into a long list of tasks.

[14] According to The Muse24繆斯網，美國一家求職網站。, one of the most important questions you can ask to keep your employees loyal is“How was your weekend?” It may seem insignificant, but it shows that you care about their overall happiness and that they exist outside of working hours.

Create trust

[15] Creating an environment of trust might sound easy, but it’s actually one of the hardest things for leaders to do when managing a remote team. After all, how do you keep tabs on everyone when they work a different shift from you? How do you know that they aren’t at a soccer game instead of a client meeting?

[16] Says Hopwood: “You can never be completely sure, but you have to measure the results and have a little faith. At the end of the day when there’s a pile of work to be done and some people aren’t hitting targets, you’ll know it’s not working out.” Results speak for themselves, so instead of losing sleep over your employee productivity, check on their success.

[13]因此，與其猜疑雇員在怠工，在看電視，而沒有為你準備演示文稿，不如定期召開短會，通過商討消除誤會，化解疑慮。這對提升員工士氣也有幫助。不要急于大量派活兒，要先送上問候。

[14]按照繆斯網的說法，為保持員工忠誠度，可送上的重要問候之一便是：“周末過得如何？”這句話看似無足輕重，卻顯示出對員工整體幸福度的關心，表明管理者對員工工作時間以外生活的關心。

建立信任

[15]營造一個充滿信任的氛圍或許聽來容易，但對于管理遠程團隊的領導者而言，實則是最難的任務之一。畢竟大家的工作時間都與你不同，如何管理？何以知道他們不在看足球賽，而是去參加客戶會議了？

[16]霍普伍德說道：“你永遠都不可能有十足把握，不過你需要衡量業績，給予員工一些信任。如果一天下來，留下一堆事項有待完成，有些人未達目標，你就清楚工作進展不佳。”業績說明一切，故不必為擔心員工的工效而失眠，而要核定成果。

Hold people accountable25 accountable對（自己的決定、行為）負有責任。

[17] Hold people accountable by setting goals and making sure they’re realistic. Be transparent, hold regular progress meetings and discuss the best ways of reaching targets. Try to get all your workers together on one platform,whichever works best for you. When all team members can see what the other one is working on, they’ll have a clearer sense of the bigger picture. They’ll be held accountable for their tasks and less likely to slack off, when they know they’re being tracked.

[18] Remember that it may take some time before you can establish mutual trust with your employees on the web. If you’re just launching an online startup,you’ll have faster access to market than a bricks and mortar setup. But that doesn’t mean you’ll get the team dynamic or working processes right off the bat26right off the bat一下子，馬上。. Keep tabs on your team without suffocating them. Measure their work through progress meetings and targets and think about the cost savings you’re making in this win-win situation.

各負其責

[17]通過確立切實可行的目標，讓大家各負其責。要有透明度，定期召開進度會議，探討實現目標的最佳方案。設法將全體員工聚集在同一個最適合自己公司的平臺之上。如果所有團隊成員都能看到他人在從事的工作，就會對較為宏觀的局面有更清晰的認識。知道自己的工作進度受到追蹤，他們就會各負其責，不太容易懈怠。

[18]請記住，在網上與員工建立互信需要時日。如果你經營的是一家剛起步的網絡創業公司，打入市場的速度會快于實體創業公司。然而，這并不意味著你立時就會擁有團隊動力或掌握工作流程。要對團隊加以管理而不要使員工感到壓抑。要通過召開進度會議、確立目標來衡量業績，并考慮在這種共贏的情況之下所節省出的成本。

1 keep tabs on 密切注意，嚴密監視。