We are privileged to work in the iGaming industry for a lot of reasons but with countries and jurisdictions have implemented various forms of lockdowns and office closures, the fact that our industry is online allows all of us to credibly to work from home without too much adjustment, albeit live dealer studios and contact centres would be the exceptions.
Our Ayre Media offices have been off limits for a couple of months now, conferences have been canceled and postponed, or in the case of SBC and iGaming NEXT moved to cool online platforms, but our development team has built a new website, Becky Liggero has conducted interviews which were edited by video production team and published by our content team without much change to our regular flow.
Facebook and Google have both said they don’t plan to return to their offices until 2021 and the idea of more remote offices in the iGaming industry is gaining steam.
We’ve offered our staff the option to work from home part time so for the most part it’s been a relatively easy transition but for a lot of offices and their managers, they are in a unique position as they’ve not had the experience of managing a remote team.
It’s an adjustment when you just can’t pop by a cubicle or knock on an office door to quickly discuss an idea or give a quick pep talk, but we’ve put together some tips for managing your remote iGaming team.
as offices have been shut and it could be a while before there is a return to normal office life. This is a new experience for a lot of managers who are used to dropping by a cubicle or knocking on an office door to deliver a task or a pep talk but with teams dispersed it creates a new set of challenges for leaders in the iGaming industry.
- Stay in contact – Email, Phone, Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Telegram, Slack, WhatsApp, Whereby, I could go on but there is no shortage of ways for managers and staff to stay in contact. Be sure to set up regular meeting times, perhaps you have a standing once a week with your leaders or have a morning virtual stand-up meeting at the start of your day.
“So, let’s start with keeping constant communication with the team, not letting them sink in negative thoughts and staying part of the team. Having at least once a week a virtual meeting at a stated time, to stay on top of the weekly tasks and to give everyone a chance to express themselves.” – Eilon Arad CEO of Shiny Leaf.
- Have Clear Expectations – When working remotely it’s easy for staff who are used to a micromanager to feel like they are adrift without the consistent direction and order but whether it’s daily or weekly, ensure your team has clear direction of what they need to accomplish by the deadline.
- Use results rather than activity as a measurement – It will be impossible to manage every aspect of your team’s day. That’s ok. You’ll need to shift your focus to result rather than activity as a measurement of their efficiency and success.
“Have regular 1-2-1’s, be crystal clear on the strategy and what the expectations of the business and each other are to achieve these, upskill and develop people as you would normally do through one on one time and any eLearning that may be available, create different win-win scenarios and still celebrate successes however small.” – Alastair Cleland Group MD Pentasia Recruitment Group.
- Give them the tools they need – Does your team need a VPN to access internal servers? is their home internet fast enough for them to be efficient? Do they need a VOIP line to stay in contact with internal and external clients? Make the investment to ensure your team has the required tools to all their job requires.
- Trust Your People – Your team worked well and efficiently while in the office, give them the trust to maintain the safe efficiency as they work from home.
- Be Flexible – It’s an adjustment, especially during the current climate, rather than a 9-5 if certain staff can work more effectively later or earlier in the day, let them. Understand everyone’s home needs are a little different, and if your staff can deliver results be flexible with how they can achieve the results.
“Working from home is different, it has its challenges, distractions and so while you would expect that you will get an immediate feedback from the team as they are supposed to be at work, don’t stress them if they don’t, always consider their challenges and try to give them some space, however if the tasks are not being done in a timely manner give feedback.
Finally, don’t focus only on work try to take the communications to a personal level, let the team know you care.” – Eilon Arad CEO of Shiny Leaf
