8 www.virtual-teams.eu A third common finding was the topic of keeping the connectedness of their teams on high levels. Some measures were already reported, such as more social meetings between the employee groups, more 1-1 meetings between team leaders and each employee and often short check-in meetings. The reason the HR Professionals and Team Leaders focus on connectedness, as reported, is due to considering it a major factor of keeping employees highly engaged and productive. Thus, they reported being open and keen to receive more information on how they can achieve this in order to sustain high levels of productivity and help their employees maintain social wellbeing. Fourth, it was clearly reported and stated that virtual teams and remote workers is a new way of working which seems that will remain even after the Covid-19 pandemic ceases, thus they are willing to provide time and effort to be educated and informed in ways (programs, virtual tools e.x.t) that they can implement in their work. Specifically, they requested tools for remote working and time management, file sharing tools, infrastructure and tools to support teleworking and training, tools for project management work, and communication between team leaders, managers, and their co-workers. In conclusion, it is evident that the project “Virtual Teams” has a lot to offer to cover the current needs of HR Professionals and Team Leaders in Cyprus. 1.3.2. Greece The most important challenges encountered by a virtual team leader are building trust in employees and maintaining not only the active participation of team members but also the communication between co-workers. Moreover, the training of employees is necessary, and they must have constant control and good management of the new problems (e.g., technical issues). HR professionals have to deal with different ways of interviews and recruitment. They must constantly support innovative ideas and the development of new skills, develop e-media skills and deal with issues such as internet fatigue, isolation and stress. Managers have to ensure that employees work properly while motivating them to work as a "team" and provide them with the necessary technological tools and applications. They must also ensure the consistency of the operation of the system and organize the time and work to be carried out. In order to promote employee well-being and efficiency, organizations apply some practices. A very active teams’ community is implemented and available to all employees, including information regarding well-being, nutrition, entertainment, and various training courses regarding digital skills and management. They use very good communication tools and project management tools.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzYwNDE=