Supporting remote working practices
This practical resource provides information and best practice for recruiting and managing remote workers in Queensland.
This guide:
- explains the difference between 'fully remote' and 'flexible' working arrangements
- provides an overview on managing fully remote employees, and includes tools and resources
- explores the challenges of working remotely, and provides tools and techniques to address those challenges
- includes survey responses and solutions to remote working issues identified by Queensland businesses.
Defining remote work
Your feedback
We welcome your feedback about this remote working information. Complete our short survey to help us improve the information for you and all Queensland businesses.
'Fully remote' working is:
- work completed outside the workplace
- often called working from home, remote working or telecommuting
- allowing employees to complete tasks and projects at home without the daily commute to work
- negotiated between the employer and employee, and aims to provide work/life balance.
Types of fully remote working
Fully remote employees carry out their duties entirely outside the traditional workplace environment. This model is characterised by:
- home-based working – work is completed using employer-provided resources and an employee's home internet service
- location independence – employees may have approval to work full-time from remote locations which gives them geographic flexibility
- organisational structures – supports remote working and ensures effective communication and productivity regardless of where employees are located
- job or role suitability – certain types of jobs can be completed entirely online without attending the workplace (e.g. digital marketing, web design, software development, call centres).
Hybrid or flexible working
Unlike fully remote work which is completed entirely away from the workplace, hybrid or flexible work arrangements offers a more adaptable approach by blending remote work with traditional workplace arrangements. This model is characterised by:
- flexible job arrangements – employee works from home on certain days and attends the workplace on other days, as negotiated between the employer and employee
- transition flexibility – employees in office-based roles can shift to flexible work arrangements, depending on their role's adaptability to remote work.
Read more about flexible working, including:
- Managing flexible working arrangements
- Workplace flexibility – to support diverse and innovative workforces
- Workplace flexibility toolkit – guidance material for managers and workers.
Benefits of fully remote working
Employer benefits
Increased productivity – employees:
- like working remotely as they are often more productive, and may be willing to work longer hours as they won't need to commute to the workplace
- may put in more effort and complete tasks more efficiently which leads to better outcomes for your business
- provide business continuity
- have less need to travel to the workplace.
Incentives – offering remote work arrangements can be an additional incentive which may boost individual employee performance.
Cost savings – employing a full or partially remote team could substantially reduce overhead costs (e.g. hiring/purchasing office furniture, equipment, supplies, reduce lease/rent).
Happier workers:
- have higher job satisfaction and engagement, resulting in greater staff retention rates
- are more connected and committed to the team which can enhance business growth.
Increased job satisfaction – employees with flexible working options are more likely to:
- endorse their employer
- demonstrate loyalty
- contribute extra effort when needed.
Attraction and retention of knowledge, skills, and experience:
- offering flexible work can help to reduce staff turnover and retain valuable employee expertise and knowledge
- can attract a broader, more diverse talent pool and build a robust future talent pool.
Employee benefits
Cost and time efficiency:
- significantly reduce or eliminate commuting time
- reduces work-related expenses (e.g. lunches/snacks, clothing, public transport, parking fees).
Balanced work and personal life:
- improve work/life balance
- provides benefits for workers with family responsibilities or disabilities (and dependents with disabilities), and helps to manage life's demands more effectively.
Wellbeing and mental health – improved mental health and well-being is linked to employee autonomy and flexibility provided by remote or flexible work arrangements.
Attractive, supportive working environment – employers who offer remote or flexible work demonstrate their commitment to evolving work trends and employee wellbeing, making them more attractive to current and prospective employees.
Remote working practices, techniques and resources
Your feedback
We welcome your feedback about this remote working information. Complete our short survey to help us improve the information for you and all Queensland businesses.
Effectively managing remote working in your business requires a blend of clear communication, appropriate technology, regular reviews, and a culture of trust and support. By following these practices, you can ensure your remote working arrangements are productive, efficient, and beneficial for both the business and your employees.
Follow these 6 remote working practices.
1. Set clear expectations
Clarify remote working requirements
When remote employees are physically distant and working independently, it's critical to clarify performance requirements and expectations to make sure your business continues to operate smoothly.
Employees will need to:
- understand what is expected of them in a fully remote working environment
- know how and when to communicate with their team and managers
- know how to manage any challenges that may arise.
Developing and accessing documentation
Employers should:
- work with employees to develop a remote working policy that outlines shared responsibilities and expectations
- host this information on an accessible online database so employees can access them as needed
- consider using cloud based platforms and storage options for the business.
Read more about:
- developing a flexible work policy
- key features of a flexible working policy and download the employee application form (adapt to your requirements)
- what questions to ask when considering remote working arrangements
- developing business policies, processes and procedures
- cloud computing for business.
Outline communication expectations
When developing your remote working policy:
- define and record how you will contact your employees (i.e. the frequency, method and timing)
- add this to your remote working policy's communications plan (i.e. develop a communications plan to work in conjunction with your policy)
- communicate these expectations to new employees during their onboarding/induction session
- develop processes for existing employees who are transitioning to working remotely
- save your remote working policy/communications plan in an accessible online location and advise everyone involved. Also include in each employee's performance agreement plan.
- remember to regularly review and update your remote working policy and communications plan (e.g. when circumstances change, annually).
- clearly define the expected outputs and performance goals for your remote workers in their individual performance agreement.
Define performance expectations
- Clearly define the expected outputs and performance goals for your remote workers in their performance agreement plan.
- Consider implementing a results-based framework where an employee's performance is measured based on transparent criteria and quantifiable results:
- performance criteria should be designed with employees and serve as a guide towards your business's objectives
- develop a performance agreement plan based on the results-based framework and have all parties acknowledge it by signing the document.
- Monitor remote employees' work regularly based on the established criteria and provide feedback on their performance – update their performance agreement as required.
- Complete the Fair Work Ombudsman's Managing performance online course and use the performance agreement template to promote employee good performance and address any under performance identified.
Resources and tools
- Learn more about managing employee performance.
- Refer to 3. Managing employee performance for more information and resources.
Results based framework
Use a Results based Framework (RBF) management tool to identify, measure, and monitor the outcomes and impacts of a program or project.
Learn more about the framework:
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The framework includes:
- goals – overall objective or desired outcome of the program/project
- objectives – specific and measurable outcomes that contribute to achieving the goal
- outputs – tangible deliverables or products of the program/project
- activities – actions or tasks undertaken to produce the outputs
- indicators – quantitative or qualitative measures used to assess progress and achievement
- targets – specific and realistic levels of achievement to be reached within a defined timeframe
- monitoring and evaluation – regular collection of data and assessment to track progress towards objectives, identify challenges, and inform decision-making.
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Bob, who is managing remote employees, creates a digital marketing campaign for his business. His framework includes:
- goal - increase online sales by 20% within 6 months
- objectives
- increase website traffic by 30%
- improve conversion rate by 10%
- outputs
- optimise website content
- engaging social media posts
- target online advertisements
- activities
- conduct market research to identify target audience and keywords
- develop keyword-rich website content
- create social media content calendar
- launch online advertising campaigns
- indicators
- measure website traffic using Google analytics
- measure conversion rate by tracking online sales and leads generated
- targets
- increase website traffic by 30% within 3 months
- improve conversion rate by 10% within 6 months
- monitoring and evaluation
- regularly track website analytics to measure the increase in traffic
- monitor online sales and leads generated to assess the impact on conversion rate
- conduct surveys or gather feedback from customers regarding their experience with the campaign.
By setting specific objectives, tracking relevant indicators, and regularly evaluating the campaign's performance, Bob can ensure that his remote worker is achieving the desired outcomes and making progress towards the overall goal of increasing online sales for his business.
2. Use technology
Digital technology is critical for working with remote teams. Both employers and employees need to have access to suitable digital tools to help maximise efficiency, communication and visibility in the remote work environment.
Using the right tools to work remotely
Consider the following tools.
Technology, use:
- laptops
- tablets
- smartphones
- secure remote access to work systems.
Communication platforms, use:
- video conferencing and instant messaging (e.g. Microsoft Teams)
- email and shared electronic calendars (e.g. Microsoft Outlook)
- note taking software to store, distribute notes and information (e.g. One Note, Microsoft Word Online).
Project management software to create and distribute tasks, monitor, visualise, and communicate team and members’ performance regularly (e.g. Jira)
Accessible online databases to digitally store data securely and make accessible to workers. Consider using document sharing/cloud storage services (e.g. Microsoft OneDrive, cloud storage solutions).
Cyber security – ensure you have an appropriate level of security when using communication tools and online services. Provide basic cyber security training to managers and remote workers through workshops or online resources.
Tools and resources
- Find technology tools that support remote working – Australian Government.
- Read about how to stay safe online – Australian Government.
- Learn about online risks and IT security, including cyber security, legal obligations for online businesses, IT threats and managing information technology risk.
- Use our digital health check to assess your digital strengths and identify new opportunities.
- Learn more about digital business and IT.
- Read more about cyber security and protecting your online business activities.
3. Manage employee performance
In contrast to office-based work, employers need to adopt new ways to monitor and manage the performance of remote teams.
Performance monitoring
Employers should:
- plan what method of performance monitoring will be used and communicate this to remote workers
- keep track of employee's task progress and outputs regularly (e.g. hold daily stand-up meetings, use project management software, conduct quality audits of employee delivered products and services)
- avoid micro-managing remote employees (e.g. using invasive methods such as mouse or eye trackers, frequently checking on non-critical work) as this can adversely affect employee performance and reduce trust in you and your business.
Tools and resources
- Complete the Fair Work Ombudsman's Managing performance online course and use the performance agreement template to promote employee good performance and address under performance.
- Use technology tools (e.g. cloud storage) to review deliverables, leave comments, share files etc.
- Refer to 2. Use technology for more tools and resources.
Performance reviews
Employees working remotely should be reviewed regularly to ensure they continue to meet the business and the employee's needs. You can do this by:
- scheduling remote working arrangement reviews regularly (e.g. 3 or 6 monthly) to discuss the arrangement and make necessary adjustments
- noting any issues that arise and discuss with the worker at their next review
- discussing the arrangement during their yearly performance development plan.
Resources and tools
Learn more about:
- how to review remote working arrangements
- managing staff performance including preparing/conducting staff reviews and dealing with underperformance
- managing performance and warnings and managing employee performance – Fair Work Ombudsman
- staff satisfaction, engagement and retention
- how to find technology tools that support remote working – Australian Government.
4. Improve communication
In a remote working team, traditional communication is challenging because of the physical separation. You will need to adapt to a new remote working environment by selecting and using the right online platforms.
Learn how to develop a digital strategy and introduce new technologies.
Identify communication platforms
- Identify what your communication requirements are and then match those to the best platforms, including email, face-to-face and video conferencing.
- Find technology tools that support remote working – Australian Government
- Refer to 2. Use technology for more communication tools and resources.
Provide communication training
Provide training to enhance team members' communication skills in a remote work environment
- hold brainstorming sessions, conduct skill gap analysis and use performance reviews to identify communication gaps in your business
- use free online resources to train your employees.
Resources and tools
- Take remote working communication online courses from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning).
- Read more about training and developing staff.
- Find out about workforce planning, including skill gap analysis.
Hold effective team meetings
- Adaptable meeting formats – use a mix of face-to-face and digital meeting technologies to include all team members, regardless of their location.
- Define meeting protocols – establish clear meeting purposes, define roles and predefine your meeting protocols, for example:
- develop and distribute your meeting agenda 24-hours before the meeting is due to start
- set behaviour expectations from attendees (e.g. no interrupting, use the 'raise hand' online function, follow the agenda)
- allow your managers (or assign a team member) to control the direction of meetings, time management, and meeting length to maintain efficiency.
Resources and tools
- Take the leading virtual meetings online course from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning).
- Refer to 2. Use technology for more communication resources and tools.
Schedule regular communications
- Structure daily check-ins – create a routine where you set up a daily online team meeting for employees so they can discuss issues, give brief updates on their work progress and barriers, celebrate successes, and voice any concerns.
- Social interactions – create opportunities for social interaction among team members (e.g. informal catchups at the start of online meetings, icebreakers before regular team meetings or virtual social events).
Resources and tools
- Refer to 2. Use technology for information about communication platforms, resources and tools.
Provide support
- Provide a safe, secure, and anonymous communications and complaints channel for your employees.
- Handle employees' grievances in a timely manner.
- Regularly engage in open communication with employees.
- Give emotional support by recognising and acknowledging employees' wellbeing and challenges, and offer encouragement and help where appropriate.
Resources and tools
- Read about the mental health and wellbeing support available for you and your employees.
- Survey tools – use a survey platform so your employees can communicate anonymously (e.g. SurveyMonkey)
- Refer to 2. Use technology for information about communication platforms, resources and tools.
5. Build trust
Trust is needed for remote work to function well in your business. In remote working, managers should be reasonable in their expectations and believe in their employees' competence and commitment.
Ways to build trust
- Clearly outline performance expectations and tasks required to be completed by using your project management platform so that employees can visually and easily report their progress.
- Schedule transparent and timely two-way communication between employee and manager using various communication and meeting platforms.
- Deliver workshops and training for team members to help empower staff to operate effectively in autonomous situations.
- Avoid micro-managing staff or using invasive surveillance (e.g. mouse or eye trackers) which can reduce trust in you and your business.
Resources and tools
- Take a Building trust online course and view videos from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via the State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning).
- Learn more about managing and leading in a small business.
- Find out about building relationships, mentoring and coaching your staff.
- Refer to 2. Use technology for information about communication platforms and project management resources and tools.
6. Educate yourself and your employees
While remote work is becoming more common due to the recent shift in work dynamics, it's important for business owners/managers to keep up to date with the latest information. This includes your legal obligations and training requirements for both management and employees.
Educate your management team
Educate your team about the benefits of remote working and how to effectively manage these arrangements by:
- providing training and resources (e.g. online learning courses, government website resources)
- understanding your legal obligations for remote and flexible working arrangements. For example, employees may:
- be eligible to request flexible working arrangements under the National Employment Standards (NES)
- have extra rights to work remotely when covered by an award or agreement.
Short course – flexible work arrangements
The Back to Work program offers free and short online courses to help small businesses to create a flexible workplace. The Flexible work arrangements course provides information and solutions so you can provide alternative options beyond work-from-home.
Provide information and training for employees
Ensure your employees understand the benefits of remote working by:
- providing access to online training, engaging external providers or developing your own internal training content
- having open discussions with employees (both in person and remotely) about changes in the business, work dynamics, and communication methods
- collaboratively develop solutions that best fit the team by using online meetings and brainstorming sessions.
Resources and tools
- Business Queensland (this website):
- Business.gov.au:
- Employment and Jobs (Queensland Government) – Develop a digital workforce
- Fair Work Ombudsman:
- LinkedIn – remote working training online courses (or login to get free access via the State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning)
- Work health and safety compliance and training – Queensland and Australian government resources
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency:
Practical guide to remote working challenges
Your feedback
We welcome your feedback about this remote working information. Complete our short survey to help us improve the information for you and all Queensland businesses.
The Remote Working Toolkit survey was created to learn the opinions and understand the preferences about remote working from businesses across Queensland. The survey's feedback has helped shape this remote working information.
Five major challenges were identified by employers in the survey. Here are some practical solutions to those challenges.
1. Reduced performance, reliability, and accountability
Some employers perceive that remote employees may have reduced performance, reliability, and accountability.
A lack of direct supervision could lead to employees not being committed to their work and being less productive.
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Resolve by:
- discussing the issue with your remote workers and co-design the measurement criteria with them. Formalise the agreed criteria by adding to the employee's written performance agreement and add to your project plans for current projects.
- measuring your employee's performance (using defined agreement and plans) based on outcome indicators that reflect tangible business results. For example, compare the project milestones and deliverables produced against the time, cost, and quality criteria established for the project and employee.
- avoiding the use of invasive surveillance tools to monitor remote workers productivity as this can be costly, time consuming, and ultimately reduces employee trust and productivity.
Learn more about setting clear expectations and managing performance.
Distractions at home
Employers were concerned that the following issues may affect an employee's performance:
- having substandard workstation setups
- unexpected family responsibilities or distractions.
Resolve by:
- adopting performance agreements and outcome-based measures, and:
- communicating your business's requirements for a compliant workspace by
- adding to remote working agreements
- ensuring workspace photographic evidence is provided
- communicating your business's requirements for a compliant workspace by
- ensuring employees arrangements are in place to keep disruptions at an acceptable level – for example, arranging for appropriate childcare assistance, or having an agreed flexible schedule where work and home duties are balanced.
Training remote workers
Training remote workers was identified as a challenge for employers as this has the potential to affect an employee's efficiency.
Resolve by:
- assigning another member of the team to be the new remote worker's first point of contact point and work 'buddy'.
- asking the contact person to help with initial onboarding of the new worker, and help guide them through the business's work processes
- creating standard operating procedures that outline work expected of each remote worker, and step-by-step instructions about how to complete the work. Work procedures and instructions need to be accessible on an online platform for all employees
- setting clear performance indicators and developing a performance agreement with remote employees
- scheduling regular conversations and using online communication platforms to help train remote workers, and
- monitoring employees work and providing timely feedback
- asking workers to participate in daily 'stand-ups' by instant messaging and video conferencing software (e.g. Microsoft Teams)
- using online resources to supplement in-house employee training.
Resources and tools
- Watch the Develop and support remote workers video from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via the State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning).
- Learn how to develop a training and development program for your team.
- Refer to 6. Educate yourself and your employees for more information, resources and tools.
2. Communication and coordination
Communicating and coordinating within remote teams was also identified as a challenge for employers.
Accessing work and sharing work and information is more difficult for remote teams than for workers in a physical office setting.
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Resolve by:
- establishing clear rules and communication scheduling with your remote team. Add this to your communication plan (in the remote working policy), remote working agreements and get agreement in writing from your team. Examples could be, employees must:
- be available during business working hours (8:30am – 5pm)
- respond to regular emails within 1 business day, and urgent emails and messages within 4 hours
- attend online 'standup' meetings at 10am daily
- using the right communication platforms and cloud storage services to share information
- ensuring your information is logically arranged and in accessible databases so team members can retrieve on-demand
- scheduling regular communications with the team – for example, online daily stand-ups to share information, report progress etc.
- using the right project management tools to track work package outcomes and progress.
Resources and tools
- Learn more about improving communication.
- Take the Managing virtual teams online course from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via the State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning).
- establishing clear rules and communication scheduling with your remote team. Add this to your communication plan (in the remote working policy), remote working agreements and get agreement in writing from your team. Examples could be, employees must:
3. Maintaining and promoting workplace culture
The difficulty in maintaining and promoting workplace culture for remote workers has been identified as a concern.
Remote employees are physically isolated and therefore have less opportunity to connect with team members. This can lead to stress and not feeling they belong to the organisation. This lack of 'connection' can also be a contributing factor to staff turnover.
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Resolve by:
- scheduling regular and open discussions with your team
- providing online channels for your remote team members to socialise (e.g. create a team chat channel on your communication platform so staff can socialise)
- starting online meetings 5 minutes early so team members can socialise before the meeting starts
- introduce an informal 'icebreaker' exercise before your regular team meeting (e.g. name your favourite food, and tell us why)
- hosting online workshops to conduct trust building activities
- celebrating together as a remote team through online events (e.g. pizza parties, high teas, trivia sessions).
Resources and tools
- Read more about how to improve communication.
- Learn more about how to build trust.
- Take an online course and watch videos from LinkedIn (or login to get free access via State Library of Queensland's LinkedIn Learning), including:
4. Finding and recruiting remote employees
The process of finding and recruiting employees to work remotely was found to be a challenge for many employers.
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Finding staff to work remotely resolution
Resolve by:
- listing your job vacancy or searching for candidates using the following keywords:
- fully remote
- remote work
- work from home
- searching these websites for employees:
- recruit for your business – find staff on this free portal
- search for 'remote only' job boards to advertise your vacancy
- remote only job boards – search for 'remote only jobs' online
- search job sites (e.g. LinkedIn, Seek).
How to hire employees to work remotely
Resolve by:
- taking the Hiring employees online course – Fair Work Ombudsman (Australian Government)
- using the Hiring employees checklist to help you follow Australian laws when hiring employees – business.gov.au (Australian Government).
Resources and tools
- Read more about hiring and recruitment including hiring contractors, apprentices and trainees, mature age workers and more.
- listing your job vacancy or searching for candidates using the following keywords:
5. Workplace health and safety compliant policy and procedures
Setting up a Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) compliant policy and procedures was also found to be challenging for employers.
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There are a range of WHS resources available to help you develop policies and procedures for your business.
Queensland Government resources: - Business Queensland (this website) – Keeping your workplace safe
- WorkSafe:
Australian Government resources
- Business.gov.au – Work health and safety, comprehensive WHS information including, WHS obligations and emergency plans
- Comcare – Working from home
- Safe Work Australia – Working from home, includes WHS duties, risks, workers compensation and resources
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