Before the Coronavirus pandemic, you may have thought it impossible for your business to operate with an empty office. However, today, remote work has gained enough traction and success to become a common practice in many industries. Post-pandemic, many companies plan to continue offering a work-from-home option. Others have plans to implement a hybrid work environment with a mix of in-office and remote staff. If you fall into either of these categories — here are a few tips on how to support your remote employees’ productivity.
5 Important Tips on How to Support Your Remote Employees’ Productivity
Keeping your employees productive and happy will come down to how you implement and support remote work capabilities. Follow these tips to make sure your transition is smooth:
- Make Sure They Have the Right Technology. Have a conversation with each employee who will be working from home and have them send information regarding their computers, smartphones, and internet connection over to you.
- Don’t Sacrifice Cybersecurity for Convenience. Cybersecurity will be extra important as cybercriminals are expected to use the pandemic to entice unknowing victims into clicking on links or downloading information. It’s best to use a virtual private network (VPN) for all employees to connect remotely in a secure fashion.
- Determine Your Plan for Communication. Your employees should still communicate on a regular basis with one another and with you. Decide on a communication protocol, such as daily check-ins via email with one group video call each week.
- Confirm Reliable Connectivity. You need to find out who has a reliable internet connection at home. If your staff lives in remote areas with poor connectivity, you may have to consider investing in cellular-data, or have a plan in place to deal with delays on their end.
- Enhance Staff Collaboration. Do you have the right solutions in place to allow your team members to collaborate? You should be able to send files, receive files, and share desktops in real-time.
What Technologies Do You Need?
You and your staff need the right tools in order to stay productive. Companies who have had success in their remote or hybrid workplaces have realized just how easy it can be to launch a remote or hybrid working model — that is, if they have the right technologies in place. Do you?
There are a number of consumer and business-class solutions available to you, depending on the size of your organization.
- Business Communications (Skype, VoIP, etc.): You may need to monitor your employees’ phone traffic, allowing them to take calls from clients, and make calls on their business lines. You may also require software that allows you to record calls in order to track the customers’ experience – this is where Skype or VoIP come in handy.
- Staff Collaboration (Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive & Teams): Make sure you have the right solutions in place to allow your team members to collaborate. Utilizing Microsoft SharePoint allows your team to work from one central location. There are multiple tools within SharePoint that streamline processes as well as provide the functionality for users to revise and edit projects simultaneously – ensuring that all working files are 100% up to date. The benefits are endless. Microsoft OneDrive is another cloud storage service, allowing employees to store their important files securely in one place. Employees are then able to access these files anywhere, anytime. Microsoft Teams is a communication platform that combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments. It will integrate seamlessly with your Office 365 productivity suite.
If you recognize the need for remote work capabilities at this time, then you need to learn more and take action. Talk to a qualified IT company like Vision Computer Solutions to find out how the cloud can help you do what you do, no matter where your staff is working from.
This page was originally published on March 23, 2020, and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
