3 steps companies can take to make remote work successful

When faced with new challenges and the need to react quickly, the best startups are able to do one thing well, and that’s to adapt to the needs of the moment.

As companies all around the world find themselves asking what do we do next in the age of the coronavirus outbreak, one of the major questions in your business is likely to be, “How can we make remote work successful?”

Whether you are an organization with a remote work policy already on record or you are scrambling to stay safe while remaining productive, here are a few tips that you need to focus on to ensure employees are organized, productive and safe while working from home.

Define the rules of engagement.

There is a quote that says one of the biggest misconceptions about communication is the assumption that it has actually taken place. Unfortunately, this can be said about many organizations that provide work-from-home arrangements without clarity.

As leaders, it’s important to ask, what are some of the things that your organization needs to be clear on?

Those things include:

• What are WFH work hours?
• Which roles can work from home?
• Stipulations surrounding childcare and caregiver requirements while on the clock
• How will you collaborate with fellow team members?
• What are the required response times to emails, Slacks, chat and phone calls?

Protect your data.

One of the underappreciated aspects of working in the office is the assurance that most devices have a certain level of data protection already in place. When employees work remotely, even though the devices may be inherently safe, it’s always important to know that you can trust the network that the device is using to connect to the world.

Responsible work-from-home policies should include tips to safeguard employees from transmitting data across and secure Networks. additionally, your work-from-home policy should also remind employees to safeguard their devices from theft and vandalism when working in public places such as a coffee shop, library, or even at home.

Meet early, and often.

This is my favorite part of an effective work-from-home policy because it helps to bridge the gap between the environment you feel in office and the environment that’s filled out of office.

Make sure that managers know to have one-on-one meetings with employees at least once a day to ensure that employees are focused on the main goals that are required of them. Meeting daily will also allow employees to be kept in the loop just in case priorities change on a project or in the organization as a whole.

Also, there may be many roles that benefit from collaborative gathering, and so I often recommend to keep your video camera on and join a web conferencing meeting room with multiple staff members so that you can collaborate in real time while also feeling as connected as possible without being in the same space.

 

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These are just some of the considerations that you may need to make when creating your work from home policy. No two organizations are alike and as a result you will want to put your own spin on how you execute a work-from-home policy.

However, my final recommendations are that you must ensure that your work-from-home policies abide by all city, County, state and federal laws that may apply and that you pursue a work-from-home policy that is fair to all employees.

I wish you the best during this difficult time, but I do trust that we will move past the coronavirus outbreak together.