Our experience working from home: 5 Tips you can adapt.

As many of you shift to working from home, it’s become apparent that this practice could be new to some. It’s now inevitable and increasingly difficult, with the various government-imposed lock-downs, to ignore the directives. For some of us, albeit rather usual, we would love to help you get settled in to handle business as usual in the comfort of your home. With the rise in the level of COVID-19 infections, only time can tell how long the situation will remain like this. You might not have a business as usual kind of situation but will get tips to get you by. Here are five tips that we have learnt from years of serving clients remotely and physically.
Your tech setup should be on point. Ensure all employees working from home have the necessary equipment. Provide computers and devices, internet connection and any other tools needed.
Your employees’ devices should have internet security antivirus. Before you think it’s outrageous, most security breaches happen in such situations where there’s laxity. In more recent reports, malicious websites, purporting to give updates on COVID-19, were flagged for containing malware stealing personal information. Moreover, spammers have taken advantage of sending phishing emails with COVID-19 related headings that have malware attachments and links. With the assumption that your team has gone through cybersecurity training, top it up with ensuring their devices are secure especially is they are handling a company system, emails etc.
Use a scheduler or planning app. There are so many planning apps both paid and free versions; that your team can use to work collaboratively. A planning app will help you know what each team member is working on and their delivery timelines. Allocate duties covering the essential areas of your business.
Stay in touch with your employees. It is crucial to stay in touch with your team while they are working from home. Find out if they have any challenges in delivering their tasks. Regularly contact them via phone, email, live chat, video conferencing etc. to make them feel part of a team. During this time, children and parents are all home; we have seen the funny clips of parents trying to work while their adorable smallies are all over their laptops trying to make a playdate out of the work situation. Keeping your employees engaged is the perfect snap back to reality. ( Don’t be too controlling and all over their business) in simpler words, keep in touch.
Trust your employees and set clear expectations. It is good to have expectations laid down from the word go. I know, we all did not anticipate this situation when the year started; but it is here with us now. If you haven’t, list your expectations and share them with your team. Discuss the expectations and find out what support measures they will need. Trust your employees to get the job done rather than second-guessing their ability to work from home.
Try some of the tips shared and let us know how working from home has been for your business. We’d love to hear from you, leave your comment below.