The coronavirus pandemic has greatly altered the workings of modern-day offices. With businesses like Microsoft recently declaring that their employees can work from home forever, many businesses are following suit out of necessity or because they recognize the many benefits of this way of operating. But shifting a business towards remote working (either temporarily or permanently) comes with its fair share of challenges. In this post, you will learn about transitioning your business to remote working.
Below is a short guide to help make transitioning your business from office-based to remote.
Update Your Tech
It goes without saying that remote working requires up-to-date technology to manage processes, make sales, communicate with teams, and run operations. When It solutions come to software, applications like Zoom, Slack, Dropbox, and Monday.com have become necessary tools for businesses to meet, network, store data, and collaborate.
A tech upgrade will also involve your IT and computer systems. This includes upgrading to advanced telephony systems like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that enable you to stay in touch with customers anywhere and anytime. If you are new to this type of technology, an IT solutions business like Kortek Solutions can set this up for you.
Improve Communication Systems
When the world was suddenly forced into lockdown many months ago, businesses became acutely aware of how difficult communication can be without the right systems in place. If you are new to remote working, your business will need to set up voip desk phone to ensure that you can keep in touch with staff and customers in an efficient way.
While applications like Slack and Zoom are great for meetings and networking, it’s also important to establish a system of communication within your business that is open and transparent for your employees. Staff should be continuously updated and kept in the loop, especially in terms of organizational changes. Ideas should also be welcomed so that everyone feels included. This will foster a feeling of inclusivity as remote working can cause people to feel more isolated than usual.
Improve Agility
Agility has become a buzzword in recent years, but its importance cannot be underestimated. To ensure that your business is flexible and adaptable to change, particularly during the pandemic, it’s important to adopt agile practices so that you can amend your business strategy, delivery, system and models in response to market demands. This is especially important while transitioning your business to remote working practices because the business will need to be able to change and adapt at speed.
Promote Health and Wellness
It goes without saying that health and wellness are being promoted more than ever before. In the wake of COVID-19, businesses and organizations need to find new ways to attend to the mental and physical health of their employees. If you are shifting to remote working, it’s a good idea to set up a health and wellness program and to check in with your staff frequently to find out how they are managing.
While working from home provides benefits such as comfort and reduced traveling, it can also cause workers to do more hours than usual, leading to burnout. Therefore, it’s important to ensure your staff are managing their stress levels — even at home.
