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The State of
Virtual Management

For Managers and Workers, the Virtual Office Seems to Be Running Smoothly—But Both Sides See Big Opportunities for Improvement

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As remote work increasingly becomes a way of life in the U.S., it is requiring managers to master the art of “virtual management”—managing virtual teams in a way that builds organizational communication and cohesion.

A new survey finds that while both virtual managers and their employees feel good about their working relationships, they see room for improvement—specifically in workplace communication, recognition and trust.

Polly conducted two surveys—one of 1,000 virtual managers and a second of 1,000 remote workers who report to virtual managers—in July and August 2022. The surveys found diverging experiences and viewpoints among the two groups, suggesting a gradual loss of workplace cohesion that must be checked in order to maintain morale and productivity
Quote From Polly CEO
“For managers, virtual management is a unique challenge that is not as simple as jumping on a Zoom call or sending a message in Slack or Teams,” said Bilal Aijazi, Polly co-founder and CEO. “It requires more than good communication; it demands exceptional communication—including the use of new tools and tactics to ensure remote workers feel connected and heard. 

“This survey’s results suggest that companies can do more to adapt to employee expectations of virtual management,” Aijazi added. 

Survey Background:
The Virtual  Management
Landscape

More than two years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, company managers and employees are still adapting to work-from-home arrangements. And while virtual management has become easier for both managers and workers, challenges remain

Imagine this scenario—John, an account manager, is having a video meeting with Susan, his immediate boss. Both are working from home and are dealing with similar issues getting their kids to and from school since their spouses leave the home to work.
 
In the meeting, Susan mentions her parenting frustrations to John but doesn’t give him the opportunity to speak about the same problems he’s having. From a work standpoint, John had just signed a multi-six-figure account the company desperately wanted. He was expecting to get some recognition from his boss for this achievement. 
Remote work Pro
When the meeting ended without John getting any praise or even acknowledgement from his boss, he started to feel unappreciated for his accomplishments, while also feeling emotionally disconnected from his boss.
 
Stories like this can be found anecdotally throughout many industries. 

That’s why Polly, a company that has created an engagement app for Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other collaboration/communication apps, commissioned a Pollfish survey on how the effectiveness of remote managers is perceived by remote employees and the managers themselves.
 
The survey found that while virtual managers and remote workers get along well overall, there are areas of opportunity that should be addressed. Notably, workers and managers expressed different priorities for developing and maintaining trust in their relationships.
 
The survey reveals insights into how managers can bridge the trust gap and improve employee relations.

3 Key Survey Findings

1. Virtual managers and remote workers both expressed overall satisfaction in their working relationships.

2. Remote workers count “trust issues” among their biggest challenges with managers, senior leadership, and co-workers.

3. Remote workers seek additional tools and forms of communication to increase team trust and cohesiveness.

 

1. Virtual managers and remote workers both expressed overall satisfaction with their working relationships

Team Happiness 1
The good news in the survey is that, on balance, both managers and workers said their relationships were positive.
 

For example:

  • 93% of virtual managers said they were “quite confident” (41%) or “extremely confident” (51.5%) in their ability to manage remote workers
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  • 83% of workers agreed, saying they feel confident in the ability of their manager to manage their team remotely
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  • 80% of workers said they “agree” (57%) or “strongly agree” (23%) that their managers do a good job of building a relationship by providing encouragement, emotional support and real-time feedback
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  • 76% of workers said they were “satisfied” with the amount of feedback they received from their managers.
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  • 51% of workers said building trust with their managers in a remote setting was “easy” (38%) or “extremely easy” (13%). Only 15%, by contrast, said building trust was “difficult” (14%) or “extremely difficult” (1%).
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Managers and workers attributed their positive relationship to frequent check-ins and the use of a variety of communication methods.

For example:

  • 72% of workers said they had 1:1 check-ins with their manager either weekly (48%) or multiple times per week (25%), and 83% said these check-ins were valuable.
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The perceived value of 1:1 check-ins was directly related to their frequency. While fully 89% of those who have check-ins multiple times per week said they were valuable, this percentage decreased for those who checked in weekly (84%), biweekly (79%), or monthly (74%).

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Most managers and workers said they used multiple forms of communication to stay connected, with email being the most popular. However, one means of connecting—in-person and virtual social events—showed a possible disconnect in the perceived purpose of these occasions.

Findings on communication methods include:

  • More than two-thirds of managers (70%) and workers (72%) said they used email to stay connected.

  • Messaging and chat platforms were used by 65% of workers and managers.

  • Virtual/synchronous meetings were used by 56% of workers and 64% of managers.

  • In-person meetings were used by 51% of workers and 55% of managers.

Workers said social events were used less much less frequently as a means of connection, with only 15% of workers saying that their managers used virtual social events (16%) or in-person social events (14%) to stay connected with them.

By contrast, managers cited events more frequently, with 28% saying they used virtual social events and 21% saying they used in-person social events to stay connected with their remote workers.

“This difference might be attributable to a disconnect in the perceived purpose of a social event,” said Polly CEO Aijazi. “While a manager might see events as a way to connect with their employees, employees might see it as a way to connect with one another or simply a form or recreation without a clear business purpose.”

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2. Remote workers count "trust issues" among their biggest challenges with managers, senior leadership, and co-workers.

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While 93% of managers expressed confidence in their ability to manage remote workers, 30% conceded that building relationships with remote direct reports was “hard” (26%) or “very hard” (4%).

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And while remote workers gave a thumbs up overall to their managers, fewer than two-thirds of workers (64%) said virtual communication was as good as communication in a physical office environment. They admitted to having challenges with their managers, co-workers and company leadership.

Specifically, when asked about the challenges they faced with virtual work:

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Managers reported similar challenges on their side of the relationship:

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Remote workers also highlighted another communication disconnect resulting from remote work: 43% of them said that their manager misses the “subtle cues” they give them when working remote.

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This makes direct communication more important than ever and indicates that these challenges could gradually develop into bigger problems if not addressed.

3. Remote workers seek additional tools and forms of communication to increase team trust and cohesiveness.

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While both managers and workers identified opportunities to improve their virtual relationship, remote workers came out strongly in favor of better communication tools.

Nearly 60% said they “agree” (44%) or “strongly agree” (14%) that these tools would help them feel better connected to their manager.

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Managers, meanwhile, conceded they could do a better job with additional tools and training:

  • 49% said they wished they could more quickly assess their workers’ emotional well-being.
  • 43% said they would benefit from meeting their teams more regularly.
  • 43% said they wished they had better tools for remote employee engagement.
  • 29% said they would benefit from more training in managing remote teams.
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Managers also said they felt most effective in their jobs when they were connecting and collaborating frequently with their workers:

  • 68% of managers said they were most effective when they were in frequent contact with their direct reports.
  • 55% of managers said they felt more effective when they had real-time data on their team.
  • 49% of managers said they were more effective when they had a variety of quick engagement tools at their disposal.
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With or without tools, managers and workers agree that successful virtual relationships require extra effort.

Fully 59% of remote workers said they had to make “more of an effort” to update their managers on their work, and 37% said they feel the need to request feedback from their managers more often.

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Managers, meanwhile, said that managing remote direct reports required them to be more deliberate in communicating tasks (50%) and to give more frequent feedback (44%) than in a traditional office environment.

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“Remote manager-employee relationships can be just as successful as relationships in the office—even moreso,” Aijazi said. “But they are different and they have to be treated differently. Companies and managers would be wise to seek out the tools, tactics and training specifically geared for this purpose.”

Methodology

Polly used Pollfish to conduct separate online surveys of 1,000 virtual managers and 1,000 remote workers in the United States. All managers in the survey stated they manage at least some remote workers, with 91% managing mostly hybrid (51%) or fully remote (40%) workers. All workers surveyed were at least 90% remote. Surveys were conducted in July and August 2022. All responses were reviewed by researchers for quality control.

About Polly

Polly makes products that enable instant, live engagement for teams. With Polly, over 5 million users have built more meaningful connections; made better, data-driven decisions; and felt empowered to raise their voice and be heard.

From polls and surveys, to trivia and standups, Polly gathers feedback and drives engagement for your team wherever work is happening: meetings, intranet or even email.

Book a demo to see all the ways Polly can help supercharge your team’s digital HQ. 

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