Working From Home: Tips On How To Use It Effectively For Employers

Welcome to an era of remote operations, a time when onsite jobs have shifted to telecommuting! In this tech-driven competitive domain of work, remote working has become the new custom of progressive organizations. It's a great way to decrease your carbon footprint and eliminate the full parking lot, while catering to the challenges of in-person work. This is an effective way for large and small businesses to act against climate change. Incorporating good organization practices and a considerate remote working strategy is now an obligation for many organizations.

The development of captivating technologies such as laptops and video conferencing tools has made an immense contribution toward remote working culture. Smart devices, prompt messaging interfaces, and Wi-Fi accessibility have improved the possibility of virtually working from any place. The new culture also has significantly helped remote workers to offer productivity even while traveling to foreign countries.

As you can recall, what really made popular the current work-from-home culture was the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Isolation and lockdown imposed mandatory work from home for many organizations, endorsing the transition from onsite jobs to telecommuting. For safeguarding remote employees, remote working culture emerged as a new working standard on a global stage.

As a result of this flexible approach to work, along with good organization, time management and appropriate ergonomics, many organizations witnessed a surge in the productivity of employees. Employees, with an absence of long commute times, found more time to reinvent their purposes in a job role. Plus, remote work offers cost savings that cannot be denied. Focused working was also an evident perk with the nonexistence of workplace interruptions.

In a survey about work from home productivity in March 2021, six of ten employees stated they were more productive in the new work-from-home culture. On average, the employee’s output was 7% higher than was anticipated. These pieces of data accumulated clearly depict that work from home is beneficial for organizations. However, employers should also know that entering into this new telecommuting culture also has some drawbacks.

The physical office space will still be the domicile where employees can come into work for onsite jobs. So if you adopt the work-from-home culture as a test run to improve productivity, you should offer a similar work experience to these employees at home, which includes providing them with laptops and other necessary equipment. This blog will offer you tips on providing a similar work experience to employees while working at home, which often involves ensuring effective video conferencing setups and ergonomics practices.

Discovering the advantages of remote working

Allowing employees to work from remote areas is no doubt a modern approach. The good thing about this is it offers benefits to both companies and employees. The biggest benefit is that employees can be safe if any health crises arise, while companies achieve more productivity to meet client demands. During the pandemic, we noted some indispensable benefits achieved by organizations. Here is how remote working has helped companies.

More time to work

During the preliminary days of remote working, one of the advantages that strongly moved employees was the absence of commuting. As the employees worked from home, they discovered that they didn’t need time to get ready for office and travel, hence improving their time management. Studies show that the average time for traveling to offices in the United States every day is 52 minutes.Cutting out this long-distance traveling lets you dedicate more time to completing actual tasks, a beneficial side of remote work options. This saves on transportation time and costs, which can increase your focus on your tasks.

The absence of this traveling time offers more opportunity for employees to focus on their remote jobs and important projects, such as refining customer service strategies. It has significantly resulted in an improvement in productivity. Furthermore, more time spent doing hobbies and with families also empowered employees to rediscover themselves as individuals outside of their professional role. This increase in personal time has been reflected in the efficiency of employees.

Shrinkage in absenteeism

Previously, working from home served as an opportunity for employees retreating from the office environment due to illness. Risk of disease spreading among other employees led to absenteeism; however, work-from-home culture has certainly eliminated such issues. Employees working at home experience health benefits. In this regard, they avoid unnecessary absenteeism as they can achieve a better work-life balance working on a remote team.

Focused working atmosphere

While the workplace was once highly regarded as the ultimate place to get things done, it also indulged distractions. These disruptions could alter work relationships, particularly if the distractions caused friction within the team. Employee-generated distractions are usually gossip, debating about social issues, and snack times.

Management-generated distractions included things like immediate managerial meetings and team meetings. However, working from home allows employees to stay away from these distractions. Usually, employees in remote working cultures have a dedicated work area or even a home office.

Indicates trust

Trust is another critical ingredient to a successful working relationship that can be quite fragile. Trust can increase when an employer allows their team members the opportunity to work from home. This signifies trust that will make the bond even stronger, leading to higher productivity.

Staying ahead of the game

While remote working has significant outcomes, it can also have shortcomings. Entering this new work option may tempt you initially. But eventually, you might discover a few obstacles. Work-from-home culture, like anythings else, also has its drawbacks.

It can limit communication

Remote work is a valuable opportunity but can set boundaries between teams, employees, management, and administration. Communication in remote working is heavily dependent on email to reach clients. Person to person communication may be reduced and team meetings replaced by webinars and video conferences.

In this new work environment, maintaining consistent relationships between employees can be difficult. This is especially true for companies that were primarily office-based before the pandemic.

Isolation can be frustrating

There’s no denying that work from home is a safe option for employees. It saves time, cost, and offers the ability to spend more time with family. Plus, it results in lower costs for the business.

But sometimes, working from home feels like isolation. Especially for those employees who have fewer opportunities for personal interactions outside of work. The human body releases oxytocin and serotonin (feel-good chemicals) while interacting with colleagues, which helps boost energy levels.For example, if someone cracks a joke in the lunchroom, it instantly lightens the mood, serving as a bit of slack amidst the structured schedules of the workday. This addition of humor to otherwise serious activities contributes to the overall well-being of employees.

On the flip side, some people might be better able to tend to their emotional needs outside of the physical workspace. And that's simply because they are surrounded by fewer people. So how do you, as the employer, strike that balance with the work from the home arrangement? The fact is, working from home lacks colleague interactions. And that makes many employees feel isolated. However, the provision of necessary information about maintaining a balanced work-life can be a game-changer.

Lack of access to resources

Typically, companies install high-quality systems in the workplace to deliver work without any obstacles, challenges, or slack. Systems come powered with robust processors, while internet connectivity is super-fast. Besides, workplaces have other essential equipment like printers, office furniture, projectors, and wireless phones. A lot of these help with seamless connectivity within teams. But in remote working, most of these technologies get compromised by employees, impacting their employment efficiency.

Companies who identify these obstacles and empower employees with appropriate alternatives can manage to achieve a win-win situation for both work productivity and individual well-being.

Now that you know the cons, you should also recognize the befitting alternatives for these obstacles, which in turn can make the arrangement of remote work more feasible and productive.

Here are a few tips to empower employees and achieve more productivity. Furthermore, the addition of some stimulating activities in their schedule can also do wonders.

Combatting cons with effective work-from-home tips

Remote working, as you know, sets boundaries in the interaction between team members and management. You will have people working in different cities or even different time zones that may need to be part of video chats or conferences.

Focus on communication and fix expectations blatantly

Lack of communication channels can affect your operations with errors and hassles. If you want to succeed in the remote working culture, you need to focus on internal communications with robust, real-time communication platforms, ensuring that no necessary information slips through the cracks.

Here are a few considerations for your work-from-home routine:

• Arrange scheduled daily meetings with employees and all other hierarchies. Teams can have team meetings, while managers can have one-to-one meetings with team leads.
• Make regular check-ins to ensure none of your employees are falling behind.Use robust communication tools.
• Managers, supervisors, and team leads must provide the necessary support to employees.
• Companies can use internal messaging tools or instant messaging apps for alerts and messages.Streamline internal email distribution lists to avoid confusion.
• Make sure that written messages are clear.

Always trust employees

The rule of thumb for a successful remote working culture is always trusting employees. While working from home, managers and supervisors must convey trust to their teams. Offer employees greater flexibility and facilitate their different working styles. However, be clear about deadlines and expectations amidst providing leeway for healthy work conduct.

Keep the schedule similar to traditional work hours

Working from home doesn’t mean that employees will work even at midnight for you. You need to establish a strong work-life balance, even while meeting the employment requirements. Even your best talent has a breaking point. So you want to avoid setting long hours.

Set up a consistent work schedule with necessary breaks that are easy to follow. Where extra time is required to complete tasks, employees should be notified ahead of time.

While time at work is important, it’s also necessary to strike that work-life balance. This will help employees to maintain at least some semblance of regular home life. A normal working day identical to the workplace also offers employees time with friends and family members, which is vital for their overall well-being.

Additionally, the communication times with the core team or others must also be scheduled. Give people a heads-up. Random communication must be avoided (unless it is essential). Employers must be ready to listen to employees rather than always commanding employees while remote working. Commanding builds pressure that can affect productivity even for your best people.

Many times employees working at home find themselves with unexpected duties. In such cases, flexibility is key. The balance between structured schedules and a bit of slack in managing extra responsibilities could be a cornerstone for creating a successful remote working culture.When needed, allow employees the choice to work outside normal hours, full-time or part-time, from the comfort of their home desk. That is, unless it will impact the daily workflow and the responsibilities they hold towards their roles.

Make flexible work arrangements

Many employees, particularly office professionals like receptionists, greeters, and call center employees, may not fit into the more mainstream work-from-home culture due to the nature of their jobs. For example, their roles often require face-to-face conversations with clients or colleagues. However, employers can still make arrangements and develop strategies to facilitate remote working for such employees.

These employees must have devices that can redirect calls to another part of the office to maintain effective communication and workflow. Companies must equip employees with the right tools so they can fulfill their responsibilities with full efficiency, even when away from the traditional office setting.

Provide robust IT support, tools, and technology needed for seamless efficiency

As stated above, lack of tools, technology, and robust IT support can be an obstacle in remote working. The best way to address such a challenge is by offering precise IT support and software solutions through the help of digital tools. These strategies help employees better communicate and report incidents. Companies can offer advanced systems to employees, keeping a record of what system and desk setup is allotted to which employee.

Offering the company’s system also gives you better control. You can track employee activity with remote connections and servers. Your security layers will also protect your data. Apart from IT support, companies should also empower employees by ensuring they have super-fast internet connectivity at their work desks and reimburse for internet with salary.

Ensure data and device security

Digital security is an important concern for tech companies, professionals in telecommunication, and the IT workforce. Usually, employees working from home are doing actual work in an unprotected environment, devoid of the usual security layers. This can lead to crucial conversations and data being vulnerable to outside threats.

Employees using their own systems run the risk of computer viruses that can affect your operations. Viruses can compromise client data or internal data integrity. Even in company-provided systems, there are chances of getting viruses through downloading files with viruses.

In such cases, your IT administrative team must ensure the proper installation of security layers in every system. Companies can also conduct online sessions to educate employees about security concerns and phishing emails. One strategy employed by top companies is conducting tests to remind employees of your security policies.

Appreciate good work

Recognition for good work is one of employees' basic needs. And it's vital in boosting productivity. Despite life and health crises, an employee strives to offer work efficiency. When this good work doesn’t get recognized, it demotivates them—reflecting in the quality of work that they produce.

Happy employees produce good work. Appreciation is an effective morale boost. It inspires employees to work harder. This expression of gratitude and appreciation can be conveyed through virtual conversations, celebrating the good work of employees, or a bonus around the holidays. You can also offer certificates of recognition and other incentives for staff motivation. This is an excellent way to boost employee retention of top talent and ensure job satisfaction.

Find a balance between work and personal life

Remote working culture can become tiresome with the weight of work responsibilities encroaching onto your personal space. Therefore, it's crucial that employees, employers, and all professionals adopt appropriate strategies to balance work and life effectively.

Employers should set limits on hours that full-time employees can work. For example, letting someone work half time if they need to take care of personal needs. It’s also important to check in regularly to know if employees are having any challenges. Establish healthy boundaries between work and personal life to help employees achieve balance.

Encourage and acknowledge feedback

Improvement of productivity also demands acknowledging the feedback of employees. To achieve efficiency, you should address all feedback and experiences of employees. The important thing is to make sure you are attending to all suggestions and challenges mentioned in the feedback. Plus giving feedback to employees can result in better work performance.

Conclusion

Work from home is a part of the new future of work. So, why not stay prepared by adopting all these tips in your work-from-home culture. And as we have gradually moved out of the pandemic, we are seeing more of a hybrid work environment. This is where you can do some work at home and still get some time in the office.

As business owners, you must be available to employees at all times. This will help your business to continue to grow and reap the benefits of remote work in this time.

Need help maintaining the productivity of your team while working remotely? Let gardenpatch help. Talk to an expert, today!

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