Even before 2020, remote work was on the rise. But, for the time being, the model is here to stay. Many homebound knowledge workers have altered their normal office routine in the previous year or two. The advantages vary from time saved on commutes to the opportunity to employ more people from different parts of the country.
As good as it sounds, though, there are still challenges that you have to face working from home. It may be tough to be consistently productive and tuned in to the requirements of the rest of your team after months of working from home.
Implement the Right Tools
When it comes to maintaining equipment and software up to date, many businesses are slipping behind. CEOs who have invested in offering business laptops and cloud-based applications like G Suite or Office 365 will do better than those that rely on desktop infrastructures.
Now that these tools are more generally available and recognized, it is more vital than ever to ensure that everyone is heard when working remotely. When everyone is in the same room, this is a challenging idea to grasp, but it becomes even more difficult when a team is scattered. Those businesses that are set up to use virtual meeting and presentation software, which allows employees to participate and stay engaged while supporting data-driven choices, will be spared the sting considerably more than those that aren’t.
Also remember that while business networks are likely to be more secure than average, home and public networks are not. As a result, giving virtual private network (VPN) software to employees is critical when attempting to keep any connection to the business network safe.
Related: Top 5 Sales Tools for Your Work From Home Setup
Defining Boundaries
To concentrate better and reduce interruptions, working remotely should designate a certain section of their house as a workstation. Distraction-free strategies, such as finding a workplace that meets their needs and arranging arrangements with family members to reduce personal distractions, are usually included into the work plan of competent remote employees.
Always Communicate
Since you can’t be interacting face-to-face in an office setting it’s important that you constantly communicate with your team. In this case, there is no such thing as “over communicating”. As managers you have to over communicate in order to ensure that your team gets all the right information crystal clear so as to avoid any miscommunication. In the same vein, you have to encourage your team to also articulate their ideas and feedback to keep the engagement between both parties transparent and going.
Related: How Digital Marketing Revolutionized Business Practices
Use Tracking Tools
You may want to explore time tracking solutions to assist you manage and track your remote workforce, depending on the sort of business you run.
These tools will provide you with a comprehensive picture of how our staff spend their time. You can see what applications and websites they’re using, as well as how frequently they take breaks. You may compare workers in the reports, making it simple to spot outliers and see how they correspond to their real work.
With these tools, you’ll be able to figure out why some staff aren’t doing as well as they could, and you’ll be able to start making changes. You may discover that someone spends too much time on social networking sites rather than phoning clients. Understanding what constitutes effective time management may raise the standard for everyone on your team, encouraging them to give it their all every day.
Limit your Video Conference Calls
Zoom meetings have been a part of everyone’s daily routine since the transition to working from home. You’re probably going to get on at least one video call to communicate with your team at some point during the day.
Zoom fatigue is a result of this. When you’re on a video call, you have to be fully present at all times. Your crew will notice if you glance away from the camera. You end up paying more attention and concentrating than you would in a typical face-to-face encounter.
Video calls are a great way of direct communication than simply sending an email or a private message. However, having more than two or three zoom conference calls can fatigue your team out faster and stall their productivity. So, it’s best to keep it to a limit to just once per day or two if it’s an urgent matter.
Conclusion
Working from home is definitely here to stay. So, it’s important to keep up the productivity as best as you can. Remote working can be enjoyable and less taxing the first few days and maybe weeks, but as time goes on it gets more difficult to stay focused and stay consistently productive. We hope that these tips will help you and your team build and maintain a healthy and productive work (remote) work environment.
