Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, remote working ramped up significantly, becoming widespread and generally accepted by employers around the world.

As a result, digital nomads ‒ people who don’t work from a fixed location but rather work remotely from wherever they are ‒ are becoming increasingly commonplace. These are employees often hired to work remotely right off the bat, who often travel while they work.

Perhaps you have digital nomads in your business, and you’re wondering how to manage them to ensure you get the most out of them. Here are five tips to help you do just that.

1. Hire Correctly

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Hiring the wrong people as digital nomads could undermine what you’re trying to achieve and set your business back. You need to hire people who are motivated, capable of good time management, self-disciplined, resourceful and capable of solving day-to-day problems on their own. For this, you’re best hiring someone who is good with technology since they will depend on it to do their jobs.

It pays to be extra careful during the hiring process and to do proper due diligence on every potential candidate.

2. Set Expectations

When working with digital nomads, it is essential to establish early on in no uncertain terms what you expect from them, when, and to what standard. Make the expectations reasonable but measurable. It is far more impactful to deliver these expectations in written form. Moreover, writing out your expectations helps you to measure performance more accurately and hold a mirror up to the employee if needed.

It’s worth the effort to develop an accurate job description and policy that puts the expectations in written form for digital nomads, including things like expected core work hours. You should include specific objectives or goals to be achieved in writing, with deadlines where appropriate, so that the employee knows exactly what’s expected of them.

3. Prioritise Communication

When digital nomads work for you, constant and open communication needs to be maintained constantly. For both you and the employee, this means being available when needed and also making sure that the necessary devices and software are in place to ensure multiple lines of communication at all times.

Businesses thrive on proper communication, as this is how we can determine what needs to be done and why and how it might be tackled. Nothing can get done without it! Since you’ll be seeing your digital nomad workers in person very little ‒ if at all ‒ you and your employees need to make sure that you check your emails, respond to texts and answer your phones. Regular video-chat meetings are a good idea too.

4. Offer Direction

Just because digital nomads are not physically present doesn’t mean they don’t need direction, advice, assistance and management. Make sure that you establish a culture of not being afraid to ask for help, and ensure that you are ready and willing to offer feedback and direction on tasks and processes to assist the employee wherever possible.

By availing yourself or ensuring that someone is closely managing your digital nomads, you can ensure that they are kept closely within the loop at all times and that you are consistently well-informed of their work progress and development as professionals.

5. Provide Opportunities To Connect

Establishing a company culture that encourages a lot of interaction is important. As discussed above, regular communication is key. However, it is important to go one step further and to provide regular social opportunities for more personal interactions to be made possible. Get to know your digital nomads personally. This will help develop a greater rapport between you and will boost morale and enthusiasm in general.

These inclusive social events don’t have to be in person. They can be virtual catch-up sessions. At the very least, take a few minutes during meetings to engage in a bit of social interaction. This establishes a closer personal bond and can lead to improved team dynamics and culture.