If you are the HR Manager of an IT company, you may well have a couples or series of 'strangers' working in your office. These independent employees have perhaps ended up working in your office because you had to fulfill a short and lucrative IT contract, but did not want to recruit permanent staff members .It is likely that you then turned to an IT outsourcing solutions company to solve your 'staffing crunch'

Who is a virtual worker?
Most of us have heard of virtual workers (also known as teleworkers or telecommuters), but we don't really know what or who they are, or worse what to do with them in our business, Apar Infotech Pte Ltd in Singapore, who specializes in recruiting and managing high-end IT software engineers and the like. However, HR managers will wonder how they can manage the performance of workers that they will never or hardly ever, meet?

Managing virtual workers
Apar believes that managing virtual workers requires several steps.

Define your virtual employee Who is virtual worker? At the simplest level, a virtual worker can be anyone who is not physically located within you own office, or most located somewhere else. Basically, the virtual employee does not work at his or her employer's business premises. Telecommuters, contract workers, and employees on the other side of the world, can all be classified as virtual workers. For instance, an IT project in Singapore can be supported by software specialists plugged into your company's network outside metro Manila, for instance Editorial works is increasingly undertaken in a non face-to-face interactive manner, with editors in say, Hong Kong, putting together an Asian food magazine.

Dominant role of technology
The use of technology is what defines a virtual worker. He or she will typically constantly use such mobile devices such as laptop, remote-linked PC and a mobile phone to transfer work or communicate with the head office.

The Human Aspect
These employees still need to be managed, or they will simply be business mercenaries, with no loyalties or corporate identify. How do you instill corporate identity or teamwork into those who are constantly moving around, and almost never working with other employees in the other organizations? Fundamental to the management of these semi-independent employees is the need to recognize their need to recognize their need peer, physical and psychological support. Virtual employees may need such programs as; 'on boarding' or induction sessions to ensure that the employee has all the tools and cultural knowledge to handle a particular assignment or contract. Ensuring that these employees have their payroll, benefits, leave and other administrative details taken care of. As we're dealing with technology, ensuring that these virtual workers are kept updated and trained with the lastest technology by periodically sending them for upgrading courses. Support at the 'home office' for technical or other work-related problems. Arrangements for some form of support and recognition/induction program at their temporary workplace (there are contracts that lasts 2 years for e.g.), such as inclusion in their 'birthday' celebrations and other social events. Regular meetings for virtual workers engaged in the same area of work to come together to share problems and solutions. Occasional/annual social gatherings for virtual workers and their families. These and other practices will result in virtual employees who are both more likely to stay with your company and are also more likely to be good corporate ambassadors. Falling to come to terms with unique needs will end up with possibly failed projects with high human wastage, where corporate identity is diluted and the employee becomes alienated and confused. The other side of escaping office politics and boredom of staying in your cubicle is that being virtual worker can be lonely. There is nothing like simply calling each employee up from time to time to see how he/she is faring.

The future of virtual working in Asia?
Apar Infotech's considerable experiences in this new area of human resource planning felt that the majority of employers in Singapore have accepted the changing patterns of employee-employer relations, It will be a gradual evolution, not a revolution, forced by changing expectations of employees as well as the demands of the knowledge based economy. For now, the considerable advantages of employing teleworkers have become part of every business's strategy.