Remote working strategy: the ultimate playbook for businesses
Published
Remote working strategy: the ultimate playbook for businesses
Published
Within the last decade we’ve seen a monumental shift when it comes to how and where people work. Pre-pandemic, it was almost unheard of to have work from home days or for remote businesses to exist. Fast-forward to today and it has become the norm to offer hybrid or even fully-remote work arrangements for employees. Providing hybrid or remote work arrangements for your workplace can help to encourage greater diversity in your hiring process, provide non-financial benefits for your team and support employee wellbeing.
Not sure where to start or if this is right for you? We’ve put together our remote-first workplace playbook to help you determine if it’s the right fit.
What’s in our remote-first workplace guide?
The rise of the hybrid workforce isn’t slowing down. London residents report the highest levels of hybrid working across Great Britain, with 4 in 10 workers both working from home and travelling to work. If you’re like many, unsure of how to effectively manage your team’s needs after the widespread adoption of working from home, we hope you find this guide helpful in determining how to manage your team in a remote-friendly first way. Here’s what the guide covers:
- What a remote first workplace looks like
- Benefits of adopting the remote-first approach to working
- Remote work guidelines to live by as a leader
- How to maintain company culture in remote-first companies
- Tools for effective remote communication
Hybrid vs remote work
Before you can start considering a remote-first policy, you need to first understand what options are available to your team. At the moment, many businesses are embracing either hybrid or remote policies, but what’s the difference?
- Hybrid models offer a middle ground, balancing in-person collaboration with flexibility for focused work. They suit roles that benefit from periodic physical presence, but require intentional policies to avoid inequities between office-based and remote staff.
- Remote-first models go further, treating the office as optional and designing around distributed collaboration. This approach requires investment in tools, asynchronous communication and cultural practices to ensure teams stay aligned across locations and time zones.
UK compliance considerations for remote work
A strong remote working strategy must align with UK employment law and compliance standards. Beyond productivity and engagement, businesses are legally responsible for ensuring fairness, safety and data protection in remote environments. The main things every employer in 2025 needs to keep in mind are:
- The Employment Relations (Flexible Working Act) 2023.
- Health and Safety obligations.
- Data security and GDPR considerations
- Potential implications for remote employees working abroad (e.g. tax, immigration, and employment law).
Who this remote working playbook is for
This playbook is designed for anyone shaping the future of flexibility in their organisation, such as:
- Business owners and leaders.
- HR managers.
- Team leaders and managers.
Key remote working strategies covered
This resource explores the most important remote working strategies businesses need in 2025. Each section is designed to help you manage HR compliance requirements, and unlock productivity, engagement and long-term retention.
Building a remote-first culture
A strong remote work strategy begins with culture. Leaders must shift from office-centric mindsets to digital-first leadership, where values and expectations are communicated clearly across distributed teams. This means making inclusivity, trust and autonomy central to how things get done.
Putting time in place for activities like virtual town halls, asynchronous updates and recognition programmes help ensure employees feel connected no matter where they are. A deliberate focus on culture keeps teams aligned and prevents disengagement.
Managing asynchronous communication
Effective asynchronous communication is the backbone of high-performing remote teams. This playbook highlights best practices for reducing meeting overload, coordinating across time zones and using documentation as the “single source of truth.”
We cover which tools to use for what, how to set response time expectations and why documenting decisions improves both accountability and transparency. By embedding async habits, businesses empower employees to stay focused, without sacrificing collaboration.
Creating your remote work policy
Without clear rules, flexible teams can quickly become inconsistent. A strong remote working strategy requires a formal remote working policy that addresses compliance, data security and working hours. This section provides frameworks for setting boundaries (e.g. core collaboration hours), ensuring GDPR and cybersecurity standards are met and clarifying what support employees can expect for home office equipment and expenses. Documented policies give HR, managers and employees confidence that flexibility is being managed fairly and legally.
Tools and tech stack essentials
Your remote work strategy will only succeed if the right tools are in place. This section outlines the essential tech stack:
- HRIS platforms for seamless payroll, onboarding and compliance tracking.
- Project management tools (Asana, Trello, Jira) to keep tasks visible and accountable.
- Video conferencing solutions (Zoom, Teams) for intentional synchronous collaboration.
- Time tracking and productivity tools to help managers understand workloads without slipping into micromanagement.
Choosing and integrating the right technology is one of the most impactful strategies for remote work.
Tracking performance and engagement
One of the biggest challenges in managing remote teams is visibility. Here we’ll explain how to replace presenteeism with meaningful metrics. You’ll learn how to use OKRs (objectives and key results) and KPIs (key performance indicators) for performance, run regular pulse surveys to measure engagement and build feedback loops that ensure employees feel heard.
We also cover techniques for engaging a remote workforce, from recognition programmes to wellbeing checks. With the right data, businesses can adapt their remote working strategies to stay effective as teams evolve.
Download your free remote work strategy playbook
Ready to take the guesswork out of remote work and future-proof your business? Employment Hero’s free Remote Working Strategy Playbook is a practical resource that can help you create a framework that is tailored to your business and your people.
Whether you’re an HR manager formalising policies, a founder setting company culture or a team leader driving performance, this playbook will help you adopt the right remote working strategies for 2025 and beyond.
Download your free copy now and start building a remote or hybrid workplace that’s compliant, productive and truly future-ready.
Remote working strategy FAQs
A remote working strategy is the structured plan a business uses to manage distributed work. It defines how employees operate outside the office, covering areas like communication practices, technology, compliance and culture. Instead of leaving flexibility to chance, it creates consistency and fairness across the organisation. A strong remote work strategy helps businesses attract talent, improve productivity and stay legally compliant in a landscape where employees expect flexibility from day one.
Managing remote teams requires a shift from visibility-based leadership to outcome-based leadership. Key practices include:
- Clear goals and accountability: Focus on deliverables and results, not hours online.
- Asynchronous communication: Use shared documents, project boards and async updates to reduce meeting overload.
- Regular check-ins: Schedule consistent 1:1s and team syncs to maintain human connection.
- Culture building: Encourage recognition, team rituals and wellbeing initiatives to keep employees engaged.
With these strategies, businesses can build trust and autonomy while avoiding micromanagement.
A remote work policy should cover:
- Eligibility and scope: Who can work remotely and under what conditions.
- Working hours and expectations: Core collaboration times, response expectations and boundaries to prevent burnout.
- Technology and security: Approved tools, VPN use and data protection standards (especially for GDPR compliance).
- Health and safety: Ergonomic requirements and employer responsibilities for remote setups.
- Expenses and equipment: What support the company provides and how employees can claim costs.
This ensures fairness, protects the business legally and creates clarity for employees.
The best tools depend on your remote work strategy, but most businesses need:
- Communication tools: Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar for real-time and async conversations.
- Project management platforms: Asana, Trello, or Jira to track progress and ownership.
- Video conferencing: Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet for intentional synchronous meetings.
- HR and performance tools: HRIS systems for onboarding, payroll and compliance; engagement platforms for recognition and pulse surveys.
- Knowledge hubs: Google Workspace, Notion or Confluence to centralise documentation.
The key is integration, choosing tools that work together to streamline workflows and support engaging a remote workforce.
Register for the template
Related Resources
-
Read more: Managing poor performance: An employer’s guideManaging poor performance: An employer’s guide
Struggling with underperformance at work? Learn best practices and avoid mistakes to manage poor performance fairly and effectively in our…
-
Read more: Sickness Absence Policy TemplateSickness Absence Policy Template
Published Managing sickness absence is one of the most important responsibilities for HR professionals, SME owners and line managers. Without…
-
Read more: Grievance and dispute proceduresGrievance and dispute procedures
Learn how to handle employee grievances and workplace disputes fairly and legally. Follow a clear grievance procedure aligned with ACAS…
