According to a ConnectSolutions Survey, 77 percent of workers reported greater productivity working off-site in a 2015 study. And it's not just workers who report feeling more productive while working outside of the office. A study from Stanford Business found working remotely actually increased productivity by 16 percent.

The days of grappling over whether or not employees would just lounge in their pajamas and do nothing while working from home are gone, and we’re ushering in an era of high productivity and efficiency with remote work. But that doesn’t mean all companies have created a cohesive Virtual workplace culture to meet the growing demand. Fortunately, the marketplace is full of robust tools that can transform your workplace culture from office bound to a team of highly productive virtual workers. Here’s how to get started:

Use Virtual Collaboration Tools 

Email serves a purpose in business, but isn’t sufficient for ongoing virtual collaboration and project management. Use a system like Slack to keep a project moving from start to finish. Start by organizing team projects and conversations in different channels to stay on task. You can also create private channels to share sensitive information. Trade data, mark tasks as complete, send direct messages to team members and upload materials as needed. Slack also has a call function to hop on a conference call right from the app to continue looking through your project.

Upgrade Your Smartphone 

A dated smartphone with a small screen creates obstacles with virtual teams trying to share graphics, spreadsheets and launching video calls. Upgrade your smartphone with a larger screen and most updated features to keep productivity and efficiency high. For example, an iPhone 7 Plus can assist with group collaboration, video conferencing, cloud storage and file sharing. You can also share your screen with your virtual team to show off exactly what you’re working on to give immediate context and get feedback.

Create More Accountability 

Highly productive virtual workers don't dismiss the need for built-in accountability. Get setup with time software designed to manage your virtual team or a remote workforce. A tool like HiveDesk can track hours on projects without employees needing to manually check in and out every time. Employers can also get random screen samplings of what their virtual teams are doing, as well as visual productivity data. 

Stay Hyper-connected 

It’s easy for virtual workers to feel isolated from their co-workers, even if email and online collaboration is the norm in your workplace. Give your remote team some face time to make your workplace feel like a cohesive unit. Stay hyper-connected by creating daily Google Hangouts and spend just a few minutes going over the day, checking-in with one another and putting names to faces. 

Plan In-person MeetUps 

Remote work doesn’t mean your team can’t get together for fun MeetUps and work outings. Plan monthly or quarterly team building exercises. Go on a hike, head to lunch as a group or attend a retreat together. Encourage your team to foster their friendships offline and get out of the virtual office. Pass out gift cards to local restaurants or invite everyone out for drinks every few months and give your team a chance to get to know each other on a personal as well as professional level.