May 14, 2020 Colleen Trinkaus Manager, Content Marketing
A
few months into the COVID-19 pandemic and companies are in all different stages
of 'getting back to work'. Organizations are thinking very carefully about how
to keep employees safe and prevent a second spike in the pandemic. For many,
that means no return to the office at all! Leading tech companies like Twitter have
announced they're keeping their offices closed for the foreseeable future, and
employees can work from home "forever" if they want to. Others are
planning a slow, phased approach, with employees returning a little at a time,
or with certain restrictions like closed community spaces.
But
as leaders debate the options on the table, they must not forget arguably the
most important consideration - keeping employees comfortable during this
uncertain time. After all, a happy and content employee means a better output
of work, higher retention, and overall better business outcomes. In March, we
partnered with OnePoll to survey over 2,200 global workers to examine how they
feel about the role of remote work and the perceived positives and negatives.
We shared the myriad of benefits of remote work -
but there were significant worries too. Click below to see what our survey
revealed as the top concerns with remote work:
Remote
work brings challenges in communication and personal habits, but it's not
anything your teams can't overcome! Here are a few simple remote work tips to
combat the top 3 concerns we uncovered:
·
Household
Distractions - if the laundry
is piling up or the kids are hungry for lunch, it can be hard not to step away
from work to address these things. But that's not necessarily a bad thing!
Encourage employees to view this new environment as flexible; bringing an end
to the traditional 9-5. If a break in the middle of the day for some chores,
family time or even simply a mental break is what makes someone more productive
when they come back to their desk afterwards, they should embrace it.
Multinational companies already operate this way with people in different time
zones. Managers should focus on overall productivity, rather than exactly when
or how the work gets done.
·
Poor
Team Communication -
Communication problems can have long lasting impacts on everything from team
camaraderie to individual productivity, and it's a cross-functional
responsibility to fix. IT leaders need to empower teams with multi-channel
tools to communicate all the ways way they want to - from messaging to
telephony to video conferencing. Cideo is especially important to include as
remote workers who connect face-to-face virtually will establish more
meaningful connections with the people they work with, as well as customers or
clients. Creating a video conference culture starts from the top - leadership
and HR partnering together to encourage all managers and groups to quit being
camera shy, and use video in meetings.
·
Lack
of Human Connection - this
goes hand-in-hand with team communication. When you're accustomed to working
right next to your colleagues, it can be extremely lonely to all of a sudden be
working from home. This is where managers need to lean in and get creative.
Informal meetings such as regular coffee-talks, cocktail hours, or trivia
nights (over video conferencing) can help teams bond and feel close in the way
they used to at the office. Encourage teams to get together on their own as
well, setting aside regular "coffee chat" or "water cooler"
time on their calendars with their friends at work. Creating a culture of
camaraderie over video conferencing will help battle isolation.
With
the right tools, trainings and management policies, leaders can tackle these
challenges head-on and empower their remote workforce to feel confident and
productive. That's why we put together the Anywhere Worker Guidebook,
full of tips for managers, team leads and IT to lead their businesses into the
future of work.
https://www.goto.com/blog/posts/employees-top-concerns-with-working-remotely
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