A Remote Work Starter Pack for Effective Free-Range Communication

One of their biggest concerns for employers considering adding remote work benefits is that employees won't communicate as well with each other when they literally don't see eye to eye.

Well, thanks to technology, now people from different parts of the earth can communicate and work together using various tools and software. In this article, I'll share with you 7 tools that according to our experience are great for helping remote workers communicate with their team.

Asana

Asana is a web and mobile app that we frequently use to assign tasks or projects to our members. It's free to use if your team consists of not more than 15 people. Though we recommend you to use the paid version to utilize its full features, which are awesome.

With Asana, you can create a task, choose an assignee, and set the due date to let everyone on the team knows who's in charge of that particular task and when is the deadline. Asana also allows you to comment in the task to give suggestions, add an image or link, and integrate with other software like Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Litmus, etc.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a great tool to share various types of files like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, sound recording, and videos. Google Drive enables you to organize documents using folders and open those documents from any device.

Plus, it comes with its own version of Microsoft Office in the forms of Google Doc, Google Spreadsheet, and Google Slides. Using those Google documents allow team members to collaborate on a project, making real-time edits, changes, comments, and even chatting with one another.

Zoom

Stop worrying about how you can hold a meeting with your remote team members because Zoom is here to help. Zoom is one of the most complete video conferencing tool on the internet today.

This tool offers high definition sound and video that makes it as if you're talking directly with your co-workers. During video calls, you can share your screen with others if you want to show or teach them something, record the whole conference, and also send real-time chat messages.

LastPass

Working remotely with so many platforms and passwords to remember can be quite overwhelming. What if I tell you that you can remember only one password for all the different accounts that you have? Yes, you read that right, because LastPass will remember the passwords for you.

This tool is so simple to use yet so effective. So, how does it work? Well, first, you need to sign up and create a master password for your LastPass account. Then, add the tool to your browser. Voila. Now, the software will remember every password that you enter on that browser.

Trello

Trello is a project management tool, similar to Asana but with a little more sophisticated visuals. It works similarly to Asana in which you can create a task, assign it to one of your team members, and then set the due date.

If you're looking for a basic and simple project management tool, you don't need to waste your budget on advanced and paid tools. Trello is the perfect choice because it's free to use and it covers all the necessary things that your remote workers need to collaborate with each other.

Slack

Slack is just like a desktop version of Whatsapp. The tool focuses primarily on helping remote workers communicate without having to use phones and a messy email inbox.

With the tool, you can create different channels for different divisions (much like group chats in Whatsapp), chat personally with your team, as well as having a voice and video call. Sadly, the last feature is only available on the paid version of the software.

CoSchedule

Digital marketers may know CoSchedule for its awesome and useful tool, the Headline Analyzer. But it turns out that they also have a comprehensive project management tool as well.

This tool is the perfect fit for digital marketing teams. CoSchedule offers a bundle of marketing products that allow you to layout your marketing plan in a calendar, organize projects, collaborate with your teammates, as well as manage your blog and social media posts.

Wrap Up

Despite its growing popularity, many companies are still skeptical about remote working. Like every other thing, remote working has its own benefits and weaknesses. While a study proved that it can boost workers' productivity, it could also limit the communication within team members to work together.

Luckily, technology was invented. Today, with tools and apps like Asana, Google Drive, Trello, Zoom, Slack, LastPass, and CoSchedule, remote workers across different parts of the globe can communicate smoothly like they're in the same room.