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A study by the Harvard Business Review revealed that remote workers tend to feel more isolated than on-site employees. If left unaddressed, this can lead to deterioration of mutual trust and team cohesion.

Trust and cohesion are rooted in solid communication, which can be lacking in remote work environments if not properly managed. 80% of U.S. employees report feeling stressed due to poor communication at work.

Do you know what the atmosphere is like in your remote teams?

You should. Competitors who already have cohesion-boosting strategies in place will likely have a workforce up to 8 times more engaged, giving them the upper hand.

This article outlines what erodes trust and cohesion in remote teams and how it impacts your business. It also provides all the essential trust-building strategies and tools, like work-tracking software, that you need to know about to keep your teams unified and engaged.

What Causes a Breakdown in Trust & What’s at Stake?

Lack of trust and cohesion among your employees is a significant hurdle for the functioning of your remote teams. If ignored, these challenges can escalate into costly consequences for your business:

Misunderstandings, Missed Deadlines, and Frustration within the Team

As many as 97% of employees state that communication with coworkers and managers influences their day-to-day efficiency. Misunderstandings can snowball in remote settings without proper communication protocols, and tasks can easily slip through the cracks. Over time, this breakdown weakens collaboration and makes it harder for remote teams to work effectively and stay aligned.

What’s at stake? 22% of employees from companies with poor communication practices stated they considered leaving their jobs due to miscommunication issues.

Conflicting Work Styles

Different approaches to work can also cause friction. They can vary from communication preferences to favored methods of task completion. If team members don’t respect these differences, the mutual trust will deteriorate and conflicts will occur.

What’s at stake? 39% of remote workers report wanting to leave the company after experiencing prolonged conflict with a colleague.

Ineffectiveness and Loss of Productivity

Trust and cohesion are the cornerstones of productive teamwork. Without the feeling of unity, teams may become inefficient and their productivity might drop.

What’s at stake?  According to some research, only 30% of employees who are distrustful of their employers are motivated to stay productive.

Lack of Employee Engagement

Alignment, cohesion, and managerial support are the prerequisites for remote team engagement and collaboration. Otherwise, your employees may start feeling isolated, and 23% of remote employees have classified loneliness and isolation as their biggest challenges. Consequently, they can become detached from their work, and unmotivated to perform at their best.

What’s at stake? Workforce disengagement leads to productivity dips, costing a company $450-$500 billion annually.

Attrition

Trust is also built through regular recognition of employees’ contributions. Employees feeling undervalued by their company are more likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. As a matter of fact, 68% of HR professionals state that employee retention is directly dependent on employee recognition. In other words, lack of it can ultimately lead to higher turnover rates.

What’s at stake? Replacing just one employee can cost a company $2,792-$4,425.

5 Efficient Strategies for Fostering Trust and Cohesion within Remote Teams

When team members don’t feel they can count on one another, the company’s productivity, work culture, and employee engagement start quickly deteriorating. Before you manage to pinpoint the source of the issue, your output and reputation may have already suffered the damage.

This is why you should strive to constantly develop and maintain trust and cohesion among your remote employees:

1. Promote Open and Transparent Communication

Communication is among the building blocks of remote team stability. To improve communication within your remote team:

• Schedule regular team meetings.
• Define the communication channels and their purposes.
• State expectations around communication practices (e.g., response times).

This will reduce misunderstandings and the consequent workflow disruptions. It will also give more room for transparency. So, lead by example and share all the company’s goals, challenges, and decisions.

When employees feel that information is shared openly, they are also more likely to become open themselves. This will improve team cohesion, reduce the feeling of isolation, and boost innovation through the exchange of ideas.

2. Encourage Team Bonding & Social Interactions

Foster a culture of understanding and respect among colleagues. Promote active listening and seeking to find a compromise in every conflicting situation. To make the process smoother, organize a training session on collaboration and conflict resolution.

Another important step is starting virtual team-building events, such as:

• Coffee breaks.
• Online games.
• Casual chatting channels.

These interactions can help employees form personal bonds and understand each other better. This will reduce the number of conflicts and workflow disruptions, while improving employee engagement.

3. Set Clear Expectations and Goals

Team cohesion is impossible without clarity on your side. Strive to:

• Set clear long-term goals.
• Clarify team objectives.
• Define deadlines and deliverables.
• Make sure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.
• Regularly check on progress.

This approach will reduce friction within the team, boost accountability, and enable your employees to collaborate more effectively. More importantly, clear communication will reduce the possibility of inefficiencies and productivity dips.

4. Foster a Culture of Feedback and Recognition

Strive to reinforce the sense of belonging among your remote team members. Show you care about their opinion by organizing regular feedback sessions, collecting their suggestions for improvement, and acting on them.

The feedback should go both ways. Provide both praise and constructive growth suggestions to each employee. This will show them you appreciate their contribution as well as trust in their potential. To complement this step, think about introducing different career development opportunities.

Don’t forget to celebrate team and individual achievements on company-wide communication channels. This will boost employee morale and motivation and reduce the possibility of employee attrition.

5. Implement a Monitoring Tool

Managers often feel conflicted when managing remote employees. There is always the lingering suspicion that some team members may be slacking. Allowing this kind of behavior to go unnoticed and unaddressed can damage team productivity and slash the motivation and output of other employees.

They also know that constant check-ins harm the productivity of the dedicated workers. Excessive control and asking for frequent reports can raise frustration levels in valuable employees and push them to look for a new position.

In other words, leaving your remote employees unattended can seriously damage your business. This is why employee monitoring software is a necessity in remote work environments. Implementing a tool like this gives employees the autonomy to organize their workdays and work without micromanagement.

Their dedication is reinforced by the knowledge that their activities are continuously being monitored. This prevents drops in productivity and wasting time on non-work content.

On the other hand, managers get to have a more open and relaxed relationship with their employees. They can support employee growth by addressing any workflow issues and spotting room for further training. A detector of the early signs of burnout can help them provide necessary and timely support to struggling employees. This, in turn, will help them gain employees’ trust and boost their engagement.

Conclusion

Start implementing these strategies and tools today to quickly develop stronger bonds within your remote teams. By doing so, you will improve collaboration paving the way for more effective teamwork and increased company resilience.