It can hurt when you are always the last to know new information. As a manager of a hybrid team, be concerned about the perception of fairness in your team. In fact this perception is even more important than actually being fair. You must involve your remote colleagues and actively share information with them. Let them talk when you are having a teleconference meeting. They must not feel excluded, claims the management-issues.com website.
1) When making an announcement, involve everyone
When you make an announcement, maybe you tell one group before the other. That may create a sense of being cut off or disrespected in the group that is always informed later.
2) Delegating work to the right person
Sometimes when you delegate, you tend to handover tasks to the first person there physically. But maybe that is not always the right person for the job. Although it is true that sometimes it is necessary to have physical access to the building or the files, it is not true in all cases. Think about whether you always choose the right employee for a task that you need done.
3) When you delegate, inform others
Delegating a task often happens through a one on one conversation. When someone is not at the office every day, he or she may not know that the task has been delegated. There also may be a false perception that someone who comes to the workplace only few times a week is escaping and evading these extra duties, while it is not true. So let the whole team know when one of your tasks has been assigned to someone.
4) Remote workers should speak first
When holding a teleconference, encourage your remote colleagues to make their comments on an issue first. Ask the people in the room only after the remotely working colleagues have shared their views. It is easy to let the employees that are physically present dominate the conversation. As a result, the remote members will think of themselves as being excluded.
-jk-