Managing Remote Staff

Lin Grensing-Pophal, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is a business journalist with a background in corporate communications and human resource management. She has many years of experience working remotely for a wide range of clients located around the globe and has managed remote workers herself. Pophal founded Strategic Communications, LLC, in 2008, a virtual marketing and communication consulting firm. She writes and speaks frequently on HR-related topics and is especially passionate about employee communication, effective management practices and developing employees as brand ambassadors. Pophal’s initial interest in telecommuting, or remote work, was spurred by her experiences working as corporate communications director for an investor-owned utility going through a merger. Unable to physically relocate to remain in her role, she began researching the prevalence of remote work, learning that while it was happening to a small degree, there were still many barriers, myths and misconceptions keeping the practice from gaining widespread appeal. That was in 1996. Since then, the idea of managing remote workers has grown, fueled by the widespread availability of technology and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.