Building a strong set of remote employee skills is vital for staying productive when you aren’t surrounded by colleagues in a traditional office space. Without the structure of a physical workplace or having someone next to you to turn to when you are stuck, it is easy to feel lost or demotivated.

In this article, I will share my top 5 essential remote employee skills for you to practice. These insights come from my 7+ years of remote working experience, as part of a total 15-year career, to help you stay productive and competitive. These tips are applicable now and will also be applicable in 10 years in the future.

1. Self-Managed Time

Managing time is one of the biggest challenges remote employees face every day. Those who are truly good at this are the ones who shine over peers who struggle to stay on track.

Managing time requires understanding your role and responsibilities. You must learn your peak performance hours, recognise when you have the least energy, and structure your day regularly around that. Time management is one of the most overlooked yet vital remote employee skills to master.

🔗 I have previously written an article titled ‘Master Time Management Without Supervision: Remote Work Guide‘, which you might find helpful.

Pro Tip: Use a “Time Audit” for one week to track exactly when your energy levels dip, then schedule your most difficult tasks for your peak performance hours.

2. Learning How and What to Learn

In the modern world, we are overwhelmed by floods of information. We are also frequently hit with new technologies, techniques, and tips. There are constantly ‘new’ & ‘quick’ ways of doing things.

When you are behind your computer screen, it is natural for a curious mind to want to learn everything. However, before you spend time learning something new, ask yourself a few questions.

• Is this knowledge relevant to my current job?
• Will it help progress in my career in the right direction?
• What are the gains if I learn this?
• What are the negatives if I do not learn this?

Remember, you must never stop learning. However, knowing what to ignore or unlearn is just as important as knowing what to learn.

Pro Tip: Use tools like ThoughtWorks, ExplodingTopics and Google Trends to discover whats trending and pick something inspires you and goes along your interests.

3. Digital Assertiveness

Digital assertiveness is the ability to communicate your thoughts, ideas, and needs clearly & respectfully in digital environments such as email and Teams/Slack messages.

Before sending a message, pause for a moment to understand what you want to achieve. For example, are you asking for help with a task because you are stuck? If so, have you provided the necessary details about what you have already tried?

If you are asking for a pay rise, have you clearly justified why your organisation should consider it? Always start the conversation politely and respectfully to ensure your message is heard.

Pro Tip: Use the “Three-Point Check” before hitting send: state your goal, list what you have already tried, and clearly define the next step you need from the recipient.

4. Ruthless Self-Analysis

Working remotely means there is often nobody looking over your shoulder to give you instant feedback. Because of this, you must act like your own coach.

At the end of each day or week, take a moment to assess whether you are heading in the right direction. Check in on your progress without breaking your workflow. Do not be shy to stop and seek help if you think you are stuck.

🔗 Take a look at my previous article, where I discuss RemoteWinners Daily Loop – a 3-step loop to promote discipline and help stay on track.

Being your own coach is difficult, and it is easy to be too easy or too hard on yourself. This is where professional 1:1 coaching can make a massive difference in your career growth.

Pro Tip: Add a “Friday Review” on your calendar to list 3 things that went well and one area for improvement to keep your growth consistent and measurable.

5. Virtual Empathy

Let’s be brutally honest: it is already difficult to understand what is truly going through someone’s head, even when they are sitting right next to you. Now, imagine the difficulty of understanding someone when you only interact via video or, quite often, just audio.

Practice active listening to understand your team members deeply. Put yourself in their shoes and listen patiently without judging them. Try to pick up on visual or audio signs during calls. Turning your video camera on is often helpful for reading facial expressions and building a real connection.

Pro Tip: Encourage video calls over just audio calls. Spend the first few minutes to check in with the other person before straight jumping into the topic.

In a Nutshell

Remote employees are often classed as ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Whether it is team bonding or career progression, remote workers face unique challenges compared to office-based colleagues. This is a realistic assessment of the remote landscape.

As a remote worker, you can decide to be buried by these challenges, or you can improve your skills to overcome them. We have looked at 5 key remote employee skills to help you future-proof your career and improve your productivity. Share this with your remote colleague or friend if you found this useful.

Take the Next Step

If you feel like you are working hard but still feel ‘invisible’ or stuck in your role, you do not have to figure it out alone. I offer tailored 1:1 coaching at Remote Winners for:

• Remote Freshers looking to start on the right foot.
• Remote Contributors wanting to level up their impact.
• Team Leaders and Founders managing distributed groups.

Let’s turn these challenges into your competitive advantage. You can find out more about my coaching services: