How to Manage a Remote Finance Team

Working the nine to five is not a line we identify with anymore. The “hustlin’ time” surpasses eight hours in our remote world, which gives significant weight to the concept of work burnout. 

As finance teams take on increased responsibility, preventing burnout is the #1 priority for senior finance leaders. According to a survey conducted by CFO.com, 10% of their finance team members worked weekends to keep pace with their demanding workload. 

Teams were cramming tasks into their hefty schedule. They were working late evenings and on weekends. And even with their team members working overtime, companies still had to hire third-party firms to finish high-priority projects.

For today’s financial leaders, the challenge is balancing their team’s work-life by creating sustainable, long-term ways to manage the upsurge in workload without adding additional headcount. They need to reallocate tasks when potential bottlenecks develop and find industrious ways to mitigate work burnout.

Our New Normal

Although the remote working environment has its perks (pets, kids, sweatpants, commute-time), the increase in hours comes abreast with new burdens. Managers can Slack you at any time of the day, and co-workers schedule Zoom meetings on your calendar without any notice. Your office is your home—the expectation is that you’re available at any time of the day.

Looking forward, some companies might adopt a hybrid working mode, but a substantial percentage of remote work is permanent. 

In this non-traditional remote work environment, modern finance leaders know that clearly defined tasks and deadlines improve teamwork and morale.  A detailed outline of tasks and projects reduces miscommunication (and panic) when projects are accurately assigned and handed off.

Finance teams can also benefit from workflow solutions that improve collaboration and performance. By leveraging resources, such as financial technology, an organization can dramatically increase productivity.

Manual Work is Bringing Your Finance Team Down

It’s not strategic data analysis that’s inhibiting your finance team. Broken operational processes, clunky, manual workflows, and a lack of visibility prevent them from reaching their fullest potential. When low-level administrative work drowns out your finance team, they can’t focus on what really matters—providing valuable insight into the company’s financials.

Today, non-traditional work environments are a crucial selling point for recruiting—potential talent want remote options, but they also want work-life balance. CFOs must find a way to balance these two wants sustainably.

When unforeseen circumstances disrupt finance workflows, the CFO is responsible for future-proofing their organization so that it is optimized for potential financial and operational consequences. The CFO has a vital role in preventing significant disruptions.

In the CFO.com and XCM survey, these were the top goals that financial executives believed would improve their team’s work-life: 

• Workplace efficiency to support employee engagement and retention
• Effectively and equitability assigning work projects fairly across their team
• Keeping track of rapidly changing priorities and resource allocation
• Providing more clarity with work expectations and protocols 

Finance leaders understand that robust tech stacks can be their company’s biggest lifeline. And the company’s lifeblood—its employees—crave a work environment with visibility into work processes, transparent communication, and efficiency. The right tech stack can help you manage multiple large-scale projects while creating a dynamic, worker-friendly environment.  

An automated cloud-based solution with complete visibility into business operations ensures success within your finance department. The elimination of process bottlenecks improves productivity and employee morale. 

Automation Up-Levels Team Morale

Automation helps your finance team operate more efficiently to expand the strategic skillsets that are needed in a remote environment. As a finance leader, you coordinate high-value projects and reallocate resources so your team can meet deadlines. These resources define goals and tasks and set standards for accountability. 

In any workplace—remote or in-office—an efficient process is imperative for your company’s success. By eliminating pain points, discrepancies, and workflow bottlenecks, you’ll effectively manage an efficient finance team. And in the remote landscape, implementing effective technology is the best way to optimize for the new nine to five.