How NGOs can manage staff remotely

As NGOs, we face the most difficult and unique challenges in our work. Whether it is providing relief to the affected in a conflict-prone area or responding to an unexpected natural disaster or run an organization under limited financial resources, it is our own survival that counts along with those communities for whom we are working.

Nevertheless, management is the key to effectively continue our work in a sustainable manner. One of the interesting ways to manage our staff in unexpected situations is to get them to work remotely, otherwise also known as “teleworking.” In teleworking, staff can be based anywhere, either in their house or in the field, provided that they have access to some of kind of communication system so as to keep in touch with the organization.

Such experiments have been made. For example, in conflict-affected countries, where there are frequent and abrupt incidents of violence, it may be difficult for the staff to commute to the office regularly. In such cases, a solution could be to allow the staff to work from home. Many international NGOs have been implementing this solution in conflict-prone areas.

Similarly, if NGOs are seeking to hire fundraising staff online, which is cost-effective and more network-oriented, they can also manage them remotely. Fundraising or online networking staff can “telework” or sit at home in any location or country and work for the NGO, which may be located elsewhere. Online volunteers, who may not be able to travel to your office or field area, can sit at their own home and work for you over the internet.

However, such ideas are not without their challenges especially in terms of controlling them, developing their job expectations and measuring their outcomes. Teleworking has been implemented in other industries and several experiences have been documented. Nonprofits using such services have also found the need to develop some kind of a system to effectively manage “teleworking.”

TechSoup recently compiled a list of “telework policies,” which serve as an interesting resource for NGOs and international organizations managing projects in difficult surroundings. Although communication systems such as internet are essential for such policies to be adopted, yet they can be very useful in conflict-affected countries.

TechSoup’s guidance on this has links to a forum discussion on teleworking policies, strategies to manage such work, sample teleworking policies with templates and others tips and advice for nonprofits interested in starting such kind of work. For more information, visit this link.