Checklist For Companies Offering Work From Home During Pandemic

Today, techies worldwide are getting used to the new normal in their professional remote- working culture. With COVID-19 outreaching every part of the world and America being the worst-affected, it has compelled organizations to implement the Work-from-Home policy and maintain the crucial safety measures of social distancing. Every organization is reviewing its work policies, strategies, and procedures, to safeguard its employees and customers and achieve maximum productivity to survive the global recession. 

Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor, with other fellow researchers, experimented in 2015, on the topic, “Does working from Home Work?” The results were striking as the total productivity improved by 20-30%, and the company saved $2,000 a year per employee. This compelled the employers to offer work-from-home to all their employees. 

Work from Home – A Growing Initiative

Today, the business leaders of SMEs or large enterprises are taking initiatives to launch employee communication campaigns, remote working processes, and restricting international travel, to contain the spread of coronavirus. Tech giants, like Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Shopify, have realized that employees can work productively from the remote environment, and physical presence is not necessary to achieve great results. In fact, Twitter, Square, Google, and many other big-shots have declared that their employees can work-from-home, even after the pandemic. Also, Google is giving an allowance of $1,000 to its employees to fulfill the work-from-home office needs.

Let's have a look at some essential measures taken by companies for their employees to implement and continue with the work-from-home culture successfully.

Maximum productivity during Work-from-Home  

Employees and their managers are coping up to deliver their best output but from a completely different working environment. It is hard to believe, that while working remotely, everyone is isolated, yet is sailing in the same boat. Professionals are working hard to prove their potential, keep their jobs secured and help their business achieve maximum profit, as gloom deepens for the world economy. Advanced technology and easy access to high-speed internet have helped us in seamless communication with our colleagues and bosses, without physical interaction. Along with this, employers and managers need to implement the following processes for smooth and productive, remote-working culture.

1. Project Management tools

During the sudden work transition, employers and managers are mainly learning every day by using simple yet powerful Project Management Tools like Trello and BaseCamp. Managers are gradually shifting their traditional approach of team handling and client management, to a more organized, digitally advanced and transparent tool, to streamline processes at each level. 

Know more about Trello and BaseCamp.

2. Upgrading VPN

VPNs play a crucial role while working remotely, as they provide secured web connections, data encryptions, and prevent cyber-attacks. With the coronavirus outbreak, VPNs were suddenly overloaded by 150%, and some even crashed due to excessive load. Large enterprises need to upgrade their VPNs to secured and greater capacity ones like VyprVPN, NordVPN teams, Perimeter81, etc.

Know more about VyprVPN, NordVPN teams, and Perimeter81.

Small enterprises and start-ups can opt for free cloud-based storage for sharing files. Google Drive, Dropbox are some of the commonly used platforms to keep data safe while working in a remote environment. 

3. Tele-conferencing

The essence of team spirit lies in active communication. Working-from-home makes it essential for managers to communicate with their teams frequently through voice calls, video conferencing, or only chats. Some of the preferred, reliable, and free options available for teleconferencing are Google Hangouts, Slack, Cisco Webex, Skype, LogMeIn, Microsoft Teams, etc. Some organizations were using Zoom for video conferencing but now have replaced it with other free options, as Zoom is not considered secure anymore.

4. Effective Decision making

Entrepreneurs and managers should review their existing resources, customer requirements, and already applicable working policies. Remote working policies should be feasible, flexible, and prudent. Choose workable alternate plans for resources, communications, and reimbursement of expenses for work continuity. Employee insurance policies, benefits, and compensations, cyber-security, etc. need to be revamped based on the current pandemic. Google G Suite is trending these days as it allows collaborating your docs, meetings, gmail, and calendar, while you work remotely.

Know more about Google G Suite.

Employee Guidelines for Remote working     

Apart from the points mentioned above, employees need to understand and follow specific instructions to support their managers. Employees need to fulfill the following requirements from their end, for smooth routine operations, streamlined processes, and conversations:

•   High-speed broadband services
•   Readily available for video/voice calls during regular working hours
•   Delivery of work in the stipulated time frame
•   Adhere to the company’s data security, privacy, and confidentiality policies
•   Record all work-time

To conclude, while some of the techies are still struggling to achieve maximum productivity while working from their comfort zones, team leads and managers are keeping a close watch to keep their teams engaged and deliver maximum output.  

The above points will help professionals achieve better output with work-from-home, during the pandemic.

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