alking about teleworking and COVID-19 in the same sentence is unfortunate, but they have to be brought up together because of the cause-effect between the two.
While the first pandemic safety measures were implemented at the beginning of 2020, businesses had to adapt to this situation in record time. To that end, many companies are adopting teleworking as their primary way of working, finding new ways to save costs, stay productive, and engage employees.
However, they have had to face important challenges derived from the change, such as management autonomy, technological adaptation to these circumstances, and confronting the cybersecurity vulnerabilities that this change introduced. So what have companies done to adapt to teleworking? We'll tell you!
What measures have companies taken to adapt to teleworking?
It is normal to have many doubts and unanswered questions. It’s not the same to be physically together, talk, and share ideas, as it is to do everything from a distance, and for this, companies have adapted by taking the following measures:
1. Invest in collaborative work solutions: It allows you to automate tasks, authorize people in different matters, prioritize them automatically, act according to the role, receive notices and notifications of the work that must be done, hold remote meetings, and know the status of all issues for staff.
2. Strengthen the company's cybersecurity and keep the infrastructure and systems safe from new computer risks arising from the usage of home resources (wifi, PC, printer) with appropriate security measures. Firewalls, virtual machines and cloud solutions can help here.
3. Keep the team motivated, efficient, and integrated to reduce the feeling of loneliness and avoid the tunnel effect, where employees only perceive a small part of what happens in the work environment and lose the perspective of the rest of the company. This may have to be a net new item for some organizations. But we now encourage our clients to use company events, bartenting classses online, games, anything that helps the team bond.
4. Support for the workplace conditions, advising on how to settle in, and even providing suitable chairs, desks, and computers.
How to achieve successful work implementation?
Equipping yourself with tools to make your workforce easier and increase productivity would be best. Working from home has its advantages but also its challenges. On the one hand, it makes it possible to reconcile personal and work life, reduces the time spent on transport, especially in large cities, increases time flexibility, etc. However, we risk emotionally detaching ourselves from the rest of the world and having a greater sense of isolation.
For this reason, we want to address some tips that allow you to excel working from home:
- Maintaining a normal routine is key to staying productive while working remotely.
- Take breaks, just like you would in your regular office job.
- Make yourself available to your teammates, especially if you work on a collaborative project requiring active communication lines.
- Make weekly video calls with your colleagues to discuss other formal and informal topics, such as tasks status and daily life. You'll be amazed at how they can boost camaraderie and spark new ideas.
- Try to wake up at the same time every morning.
- Dress as if you were going to go to the office, even if you are not going to leave home.
- Yes, we mean wear your pants!
- Find new ways to present tasks, receive feedback and get approvals. We assure you that long email chains are not the best solution. Plenty of apps are available to streamline and review your team's work.
In conclusion
Telework requires a true organizational overhaul of the corporate world and a shift in leadership culture. As part of their digital transformation, organizations must adapt to attract and retain tomorrow's talent while helping older generations find balance.
Millennials can't seem to imagine living in a corporate office. 90% of graduates want to work from home, and technology is now ready to support this revolution.
So if telecommuting makes employees happier and more efficient and leads to company success, it may eventually become the best way to work.
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