6 Tips for Reviewing, Critiquing, & Disciplining Remote Employees
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The best practices for managers having difficult but effective conversations with remote employees
Consistently evaluating employee performance is a critical piece of any effective management strategy. Regular feedback has shown to decrease turnover by 15%, and it significantly increases engagement. And as much of the world’s job market shifts to remote work, managers will have to learn how to evaluate, criticize, and even discipline employees from afar.
Having difficult conversations is challenging enough in person, let alone virtually. Here are some tips for effective interactions:
How to review, criticize, and discipline remote employees
1. Check with your HR representative first
If you’re having a sensitive conversation with an employee, such as a disciplinary warning or a negative evaluation, talk to your HR representative to make sure you follow company policy and appropriately conduct the meeting. They can advise you on best practices such as notes to take, documents to collect, or phrases to use.
2. Always use video
55% of businesses report that video conferencing increases employee engagement. The ability to physically see someone, make eye contact, and read body language is tremendously important, especially when giving criticism or delivering bad news.
As a manager, video allows you to ‘read the room’ and adjust your approach based on the physical reaction you receive from an employee. The employee can also interpret your tone more effectively via a physical display.
3. Stick to the facts and be specific
Whether you’re giving a glowing review or making the case for why an employee should be terminated, presenting facts to back up your statements is essential. In fact, 57% of employees prefer corrective feedback to pure praise and recognition. If there is an issue or behavior that needs to be fixed, don’t sugar-coat it. Tip-toeing around the facts to protect feelings often results in confusion.
4. Highlight the positives
While employees appreciate honest feedback, they also want recognition when it’s due. If you have to critique someone’s performance (assuming it isn’t too serious), try preceding or following it with a discussion of their strengths and successes. Teams led by managers fixated on weaknesses and failures are nearly 30% less engaged. Be genuine and specific, so nothing feels forced, and they leave the conversation on a positive note.
5. Don’t wait—deliver feedback and criticism in a timely manner
Frequent check-ins and brief reviews are proven to increase engagement and decrease turnover. 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week.
From a managerial perspective, meeting with your subordinates regularly opens the door for honest and timely conversations. You can react and provide feedback much more effectively when you have a consistent pulse on the team instead of meeting with everyone once a year for a formal review.
6. Encourage employee participation
Sudden disciplinary issues aside, an effective strategy for mitigating difficult conversations and providing quality feedback is to involve the employee in the process. Remote workers often feel detached and disengaged because of their physical separation. These feelings can heighten during an evaluation as they are being ‘judged’ by a manager who often only sees the results, not the work ethic that went into a project.
Asking employees to review themselves before receiving feedback allows them to reflect on their successes and failures. It helps them develop their own solutions for problems and gives supervisors a look at their mindset. This is incredibly valuable information to have before providing feedback.
Supervising from afar
Managers and leaders face many of the same challenges working remotely as they do in the office. Reviews and disciplinary actions don’t just disappear when the in-person environment does. And having these conversations virtually still requires managers that are honest, compassionate, and tuned into their employees' needs.
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