Remote work has been becoming increasingly popular in the last several years. Following the initial global spread of the novel coronavirus in 2020, the demand for remote work skyrocketed and a lot of companies complied. What many business owners learned from this is that there are many benefits to allowing employees to work remotely.
However, something that nearly all managers and business owners had to figure out was how to transition their company to remote work without losing productivity. In case you’re planning to make this transition with your business, here are some tips that you should follow.
Establish New Communication Practices
If there’s one thing great about working at the office, it’s that you can talk with anyone at the company in person at any time during work hours. Even in case you don’t plan on talking about anything work related, you can simply chat with your employees.
Once your transition to a remote work environment, this will completely change. Employees who don’t have any experience with working from home may start feeling isolated and drastically reduce communication with the rest of the company.
Communication is very important for every business, which is why you must ensure that you keep in touch with everyone at the firm once they start working from home. Hold virtual meetings at least once a week and call up employees from time to time to talk about their performance, provide them with feedback, or to just chat.
Encourage your staff to regularly communicate with each other. Doing this will enhance collaboration between your employees and generally improve motivation and morale. It’s also a good idea to host remote social events such as virtual team building or gaming sessions from time to time to minimise the chance of your workers feeling isolated.
Change Your Hiring Process
Your company is about to go through a major transition, which is why it’s imperative that you plan for it accordingly. You have to think two steps ahead to make sure you experience setbacks that could’ve been avoided. One thing that is going to change a lot when you switch to remote work is your hiring process.
The reason why you should change your approach to hiring candidates is because you’ll have access to a different type of talent pool. When you’re searching for a remote worker, you will have countless candidates to choose from. It’s important that you be very careful who you hire, which is why it’s best to give top applicants a test project to get a sense of their skills and experience.
Make sure you ask candidates questions that are relevant to a remote work environment. For instance, ask them how quickly they usually respond to emails or phone calls. Send them a few emails to see whether they read everything thoroughly. This is a great way to test their attention to detail. You can also evaluate their communication skills in a video interview.
Get Better Equipment for Your Workforce
Don’t expect your employees to work or even communicate efficiently if they don’t have the right equipment at home. It’s recommended that you find out which of your employees need better tech for remote work before you start making the transition.
Make a list of the equipment you have to buy and deliver it to your staff. In case you’re on a limited budget, you don’t even have to purchase the equipment. You can find many companies that allow you to rent desktop computers for remote work, cameras, and other equipment at affordable rates.
Know that if your employees work on old and slow computers, it may end up costing your business a lot in revenue. That’s why you should look at getting better equipment for your staff as an investment rather than an expense.
Clearly Define Your Remote Work Policy
False expectations can lead to many problems once your employees start working from home, which is why you need to have a clearly defined remote work policy beforehand. Decide how your staff will track their progress and results. Define whether your employees have flexible or fixed working hours.
Decide which tools will be used for communication and collaboration. Keep in mind that the worst thing you can do is start this big transition unprepared. If you do this, there is a good chance your business will suffer greatly. Thankfully, you can avoid many problems and challenges by creating a remote work policy on time.
