The last two years have been tough on everyone – both personally and professionally. Luckily, many companies have adapted quickly and have enabled their workers to work from home and stay safe. The beginning was hard until everyone established a nice routine, and now companies are still leaving their employees to choose from where they would love to work.
Many people have decided to stay at home and work remotely because the last couple of years have proven that all that is possible. Some businesses are booming with these changes, and some may struggle for a while. Luckily, there is a way to improve your business and management while everyone is working remotely, all thanks to technology.
Provide Your Team with Technology
Providing your team with tech and tools is the most important aspect of improving business remotely. In order for them to stay productive and successful at doing their job, they have to have the necessary tools to do it. These may include project management tools, such as Asana or Airtable, or any other you may use, messaging apps such as Slack, and even video conferencing apps such as Zoom.
In the realm of remote work, SharePoint as well emerges as a valuable tool that facilitates seamless collaboration and enhances business efficiency. With SharePoint, teams can centralize their project documents, track progress, and streamline communication, all within a secure and easily accessible digital environment. By leveraging SharePoint’s powerful features, such as document sharing, version control, and task assignment, businesses can ensure that remote team members remain aligned and productive. This platform empowers project managers to create and monitor workflows, assign tasks, and monitor project timelines, enabling them to effectively manage projects from any location. SharePoint for project management serves as a cornerstone for remote teams, providing a centralized hub where information can be stored, accessed, and collaborated upon, fostering greater cohesion and productivity across the organization.
What is more, depending on your business type, you may want to include other tools and programs they will need. Let’s say you work with a lot of documents, invoices, and similar, you want to provide your financial teams with proper tools to utilize their jobs. In such a case, you may want to rely on digital checks rather than paper ones, for example, and avoid printing papers and doing everything online.
If you provide your employees with the latest technology, you’ll ensure that everyone in the organization to be in the same place regardless of where they may be. These apps can keep everything organized, everyone up-to-date, and they can even help your employees stay productive and connected.
Organize Daily Check-Ins
Since there is less face time with the employees, daily check-ins should be organized. This is beneficial both for managers and employees to check in with each other and provide updates on daily tasks. This routine will also help everyone set priorities and it will foster connections.
A good idea is to set up morning video chats or calls where everyone can say what their tasks are for the day and see if they can help each other out. You can even organize these small meetings one-on-one or in groups and always stay on top of your employees, their tasks and find ways to organize their work and help them establish normalcy. Also, you should need to consider remote access solutions to improve the business operation.
Also, this is where all those tech tools come in handy. They are crucial in establishing connections and will make everything much easier. What is more, you can organize daily or weekly reports of what the teams have accomplished and done throughout the week or day.
Encourage Dedicated Workspaces
Many people who work in offices are not used to having home offices, since they are not regularly working from home. As a manager or an employer, you should encourage them to create their dedicated workspaces or entire home offices, if they have space. Talk to everyone about setting up a home office that is separate from communal spaces and you will help them get into work mode easier.
What is more, you can look at the examples of some major companies that offer large stipends to help workers set up appropriate productive spaces for working remotely. You can even offer them to take their office computers home, as well as desks and chairs and help them set up easier.
In today’s ever-evolving digital world, it is now more important than ever for businesses to give all the necessary devices and equipment to their employees so they can create comfortable home offices to work from. Devices that are needed include laptops, wireless headphones, and printers. If you workers constantly need to print, scan and cope, then multifunction printers can be a great option to save up space. Sharp copiers, for instance, stand out among the slew of other printer brands due to their laser technology which produces professional-level prints and copies with ease. HP Printers are also a great option to consider because they offer connectivity with wireless integration capabilities that allow employees to scan directly from their mobile device or laptop. This will make employees’ work environment more effective and comfortable.
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Dedicated workspaces are important since they majorly help everyone stay focused and productive. What is more, with home offices you are eliminating distractions from home life, and helping your employees create a new normal daily routine.
Emotional Support
Work from home can cause loneliness and produce negative thoughts. That is why the entire company, especially employers, should do their best to provide proper emotional support to everyone. To help establish this, you should set the tone of the virtual offices to be calm and upbeat. This can help create a level-headed workplace that everyone can enjoy and still get things done.
What is more, with this remote setup, managers, and employers should be even more available than usual. This can help with easy check-ins and other questions and troubles that your employees may have. Also, a good idea is to set up virtual office hours where you will be present and help out employees with their issues. And don’t forget to promote self-care and regular breaks so everyone’s mental health stays in good shape and to avoid burnout.
Preserve the Dress Code
While it doesn’t sound crucial to still dress up for work, you should encourage it. Dressing up for work can help get your head in the game and it will help everyone psychologically. This helps you mentally feel better and preserve the work routine, but you can still wear something comfy. Just try and avoid working in pajamas and sweatpants, and you will feel more productive and eager to work.
Don’t Skip Non-Work Interactions
Even though you are all working remotely, that doesn’t mean that the only thing you should talk about is work. Treat this form of working just like regular office work and stay on top of non-work interaction and team-building exercises. To do this, you can create enough time and space for everyone to talk about news, hobbies, or other non-work-related topics – just like in the office. This will help people stay connected and relieve some stress.
For example, leave extra few minutes at the end of video chats for everyone to talk about their interests or news. Also, you can host a weekly virtual happy hour or some team-building activities that everyone enjoys.
These pasw two years, especially corona time have proved that nothing is impossible. More importantly, they’ve proven that a lot of work can be done from home, especially if you are in the IT industry. That is why people should have a choice to stay at home, and if they do, these tips can help you improve the business and personal relationships of your employees.
