Is working from home an option?
What employers & employees need to consider!
The crisis that is evolving from the Covid-19 pandemic is having an impact on where and how you and your employees will work.
If you or your organization is considering working from home as an option it is important to be prepared and set up for success for everyone involved.
Who can work remotely
Review the organizations job positions and tasks to determine which can be done outside of the office.
Determine what hardware and software will be required by those in positions or with tasks that can be done outside the office.
Does the company have what the employees needs to work remotely?
Does the employee have the infrastructure at home to work remotely?
Is the computer, software and internet adequate to stay in touch with the organization and enable the employee to be productive and get the work done?
If there is a need for conference calls is their phone adequate?
Are employees comfortable on how to use the hardware and software to be able to work independently from home?
What to consider when working from home
Everyone should understand the expectations and what is required in regards to productivity and output.
What will be the communication process with the organization and other employees &/or departments?
Email, IM, Slack, Google Hangout, etc are great ways to stay connected.
Consider having a daily touch base conference call or via Skype or Zoom to connect everyone and to ensure everyone has what they need.
It is an opportunity to reassure them the organization cares about how they are feeling throughout this crisis.
This provides the managers the opportunity to ensure their employees aren’t feeling isolated and helps everyone keep up to date on the little things that are going on that might otherwise not be considered.
Determine how often everyone will connect with their manager or team to discuss progress on projects and future work,
How will employees correspond with customers, clients and outside parties?
How will those working on the same projects coordinate and work together?
How will the hours of work be structured each day? Will it be flexible or rigid?
Employees will want to be clear with family, that although they are working from home, they do have work to complete. They will want to find a way to work within the distractions of home life.
Do you have a policy?
Does your organization have a “Remote/Working from home” policy?
This can help clear up any confusion and employee expectations. It also helps managers if they need to address any performance issues.
This crisis has forced many of us to consider different ways of getting things done. Although this is unfortunate and definitely not what any of us want, it brings with it an opportunity.
It is forcing all of us to think differently about what is important and how we can conduct our business in different ways.
Once the crisis is over and we reflect back over how we got through it, we will have the opportunity to determine what worked and what didn’t work and how we want to proceed moving forward.
If you are one of the many that have found yourself working from home and struggling to make it work, here is another article that provides some insight around this topic along with the importance of being organized to increase your chance to success, Homeworking & Homeschooling in COVID-19 by Brad Egeland
Months have gone by and many of us have found themselves continuing to work from home or have gone back into the office only to find out that now we have to return to working from home.
I would love to hear from you, on how you are dealing with working from home. Are you struggling, do you like it, do you dislike it, or feel free to share what is working for you that could help someone else.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stay positive!
