While it’s certainly better to have clear telework policies and training in place beforehand, this level of preparation isn’t feasible in the face of sudden changes, so how is management going to meet the challenges of working from home?
Firstly, the management needs to be aware of the requirements for remote working, otherwise, without preparation and training, they will not be able to perform even at normal times.
Excellent employees are likely to be less effective and less engaged when working remotely. Let’s start by exploring the problems faced by employees.
Table of Contents
Problems of working from home
Based on the state of remote report 2020, the major struggles with working remotely are feeling loneliness (20%), lack of collaboration and communication (20%) and not being able to unplug (18%). Let us see the reasons behind these problems:
Lack of contact with each other and difficulty in handling work aloneSome employees crave the interaction of an office environment or are used to sitting at a desk surrounded by colleagues who are also working. The lack of face-to-face contact makes it difficult for management to monitor progress and makes staff feel that management and colleagues are not responding appropriately to them.
The lack of face-to-face contact made it difficult for the management to monitor the progress and also made the staff feel that they were not adequately addressed by the management and their colleagues. Work demands and questions.
Inability to manage working hours, leading to excessive stress
In some cases, home-based workers do not have a clear grasp of their working hours and do not know when to stop. Even subordinates are affected, especially in a global work environment where other peers may be on the line all day and calling for support. It can be difficult for employees to know when to leave work.
Increased alienation
Loneliness is one of the most common complaints about working remotely because employees lack a variety of social interactions in the office environment. People who are more extroverted are more likely to suffer from loneliness in the short term, especially when they are working remotely for longer periods of time and have no opportunity to interact with others will have a greater impact on the company.
Harassment in the workplace
Many employees become distracted and frustrated because their home environment is noisier than their work environment. Recently, we have seen a lot of footage of people being disturbed by their children and pets at home. The problems faced by workers.
When employees suddenly change to work at home, it is often difficult for them to find a suitable working environment. The need to juggle family and work at the same time is also a constant challenge for employees, and this will prevent them from performing at their expected level. How does management provide expedient support to remote workers?
Ways to support remote workers
So, how can the management provide expedient support to remote workers? The following are a few examples.
Define the mode for remote operation
To devise new work patterns that suit the needs of staff and help them adapt to working remotely. For example, through regular daily phone calls and work reports. Whether it’s a one-to-one call or a team call meeting, it can be a channel for expressing concerns and issues.
Flexible working hours are also a good option. Some employees who are parents feel that they are more productive when they work outside of traditional office hours. Some companies are even considering helping their employees by offering childcare subsidies. Clearly defining working hours with them will help them retain enough time off to maintain their work ethic.
Provide effective online communication software
It’s not enough just to communicate via email.
Recently, a variety of communication software for video conferencing has become popular, such as Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and more. These applications provide many, many opportunities for face-to-face conversations, especially for smaller workgroups.
Videoconferencing increases the understanding of colleagues at home and helps to reduce the isolation of employees working remotely.
Of course, you should pay attention to whether the communication software has proper data security measures to avoid accidental leakage of company information due to the misuse of software that does not meet security standards.
Increase socializing opportunities for employees, and strengthen spiritual support and encouragement
Even if you are working remotely, you can still increase your employees’ daily communication through various virtual activities, such as online lunch, even a short exercise session, or just a few minutes of chatting before a morning meeting, which can supplement the normal communication and reduce the sense of loneliness due to the lack of remote work.
It is also indispensable to strengthen spiritual support and listen to employees’ demands. Ask questions.
Sometimes all it takes is a simple greeting to create an opportunity for employees to talk about the problems they are facing and help them understand their stress and anxiety. The source of the information, and the corresponding support and encouragement, these can easily help people to get a more clear overview of their jobs.
Conclusion
Although a lot of work has been disrupted due to the epidemic, we believe that many companies have been able to take advantage of this inevitable change.
However, we believe that many enterprises have been able to take advantage of this inevitable change to turn crisis into opportunity by utilizing various digital technology applications.
ONES is an all-in-one smart office solution that can further digitize your workflow and environment, you can reduce the impact on our business and benefit our operations in the future.
Feel free to contact us to learn more:
Website: https://ones.software/
Email: hello@ones.software
Tel: (+852) 5538 3410