The Work From Home era is far from over. In fact, it’s only just started. As a large portion of the working world embarks on a remote future, it’s up to your startup to adapt ahead of time to see the best results.
Approximately two in three workers are now fully remote. For business leaders at the beginning of their startup venture, offering WFH roles is extremely beneficial. You save money on office costs, widen your search net in the talent pool and appear more desirable to candidates looking for work/life flexibility.
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This said remote roles require a different type of attention. Many remote workers experience burnout, loneliness and productivity issues, as well as a lack of connection with their team members.
Worst still, ill-equipped WFH startups also struggle to maintain client relationships and see a much higher employee turnover.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five tell-tale signs that your WFH startup could be in trouble and how to fix it before it’s too late.
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Navigating the WFH Era as a New Startup
It can be challenging to navigate the WFH scene as a new startup. While the initial running costs appear cheaper, the pastoral element, coupled with employing workers remotely, can pose a challenge to business leaders.
More than half of remote workers have only started working from home since 2020, making WFH culture still a new phenomenon in a number of industries.
In order to hit the ground running as a WFH startup, it’s important to understand the challenges associated with hiring a remote team first. These include:
- Lack of In-Person Communication: WFH employees do not socialise with each other in the same way as office colleagues. In order to combat this, startups should invest in powerful collaboration software and make time for regular team meet-ups and video calls to boost team connection and morale.
- Burnout Concerns: 86% of remote workers experience burnout to some degree, so it’s important to keep on top of this if you want your productivity levels to remain high. The key here is to foster a pleasant online workplace that encourages staff members to take regular breaks and prioritise a work/life balance.
- Lack of Employee Satisfaction: It can be hard to maintain employee productivity in a WFH environment. This leads to an unsatisfied workforce and a high turnover rate for your startup. To combat this, it’s important to challenge your employees regularly and engage in regular team building.
Knowing these potential challenges in advance puts your business in a better position to tackle them head-on.
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Is Your WFH Startup Failing?
If your startup is beginning to fail, there are often tell-tale signs that indicate a negative future projection for your company.
With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at five warning signs to look out for as a WFH entrepreneur if your productivity levels are beginning to stagnate.
1, A Negative Shift In Employee Attitude and Productivity
One of the first signs that indicate a problem with your WFH startup is a negative shift in employee attitude and productivity.
A sudden productivity drop can often be a sign of overwork or a disengaged workforce. With burnout levels on the rise, it could be time to review your employee workload and check in with your team members.
While short bursts of deadline-based stress have been proven to boost productivity, prolonged stress can lead to a number of physical and mental health problems for your workers. For remote employees, in particular, a lack of established work/life balance can often contribute to faster burnout and, in turn, a drop in productivity.
2. Difficulty Building Client Relationships
Are your relationships with clients, investors and partners starting to suffer? Not only are these relationships critical to the success of your business, but most startups rely on investor pitches and regular networking to fund their venture.
Running a remote business makes this process ten times harder. A lack of face-to-face meetings can deter investors, and building and maintaining client relationships in a digital environment can be tricky.
To mitigate this, taking a hybrid approach to managing client relationships is the key. Ensure that you attend in-person events, organise in-person meetings and invest in powerful video conferencing software to build stronger virtual relationships.
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3. A Weak Team Culture
A staggering 55% of remote workers claim that it is hard to feel connected to their coworkers.
Startups depend on a mission-driven culture to start their company up from the ground. As a new business, startups need all hands on deck, working together in perfect harmony in order to generate the best results.
If your team fails to engage in regular interactions and collective experiences, collaboration becomes more difficult. These experiences foster loyalty and friendship and naturally enhance whole-team productivity.
If your workforce has a weak team culture, it’s important to act fast. This includes introducing culture-building activities, arranging meetups outside of office hours and investing in social tools to encourage remote conversation.
If all else fails, introducing a hybrid working model is often the answer. Encouraging your employees to enter the office once or twice a week could help them strike the right balance between remote working and in-person socialisation for stronger team morale.
4. High Employee Turnover
How many employees have you lost in the last year? If your startup notices a steady increase in employee turnover, this could suggest that your workers feel unfulfilled in their positions.
In order to tackle this, you must act fast as a startup owner. The key here is to engage regularly with your employees and take early action on those struggling to find motivation in the workplace.
This could include conducting stay interviews, tracking engagement metrics and introducing virtual team-building programs to encourage employees to reignite their commitment to the company.
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5. Poor Execution Of Goals and Projects
Last but not least, take a look at the execution of your goals, KPIs and individual projects. How quickly are you executing your vision? Are your results matching your initial projections?
Poor or slow execution of your startup vision is a tell-tale sign that something isn’t quite right. If your remote workforce is struggling to make progress, this could suggest that they lack relevant resources, have poor working habits or are simply disengaged with their work.
In order to combat this, conduct regular team meetings that bring your colleagues together to brainstorm their thoughts. Not only could this generate new ideas for your startup vision, but building a collaborative culture from the beginning can enhance productivity.
Is Hybrid Work the Answer?
While remote-based startups are the cheapest to run, they don’t come without their challenges.
For those of you looking to start your own WFH startup, ensure that you take measures to foster close client relationships and prioritise team-wide socialisation/collaboration.
New entrepreneurs should also consider opting for a hybrid startup structure. While office running costs are added into the mix, “hybrid employees also feel the most connected to their organisation’s mission and purpose,” according to Gallup.
The question is, which working model best suits your startup? In an ever-growing digital working landscape, it’s important to adapt to new trends with caution. Business leaders should engage with their team regularly and do what is best for their collective team for the best results.
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