The pros, cons, and best bets… Many companies are planning to give employees more flexibility with remote working, even when COVID-19 is behind us. That comes with positives and negatives for employers and employees alike.
Businesses have found that productivity and morale haven’t suffered during the pandemic. In fact, employees are trading commuting time for productive time, and most people appreciate the flexibility to control their own environment and schedule that comes from remote work.
Of course, some employees are feeling isolated while others juggling childcare, homeschooling, and work are feeling exhausted. For these individuals, work-at-home success is more challenging. If you want to be more productive and less stressed or know of a colleague who is struggling, here are some tips.
Develop a routine. The most productive workers adopt their former workplace routine to their home offices. This includes scheduled breaks and clocking in and out at the same time every day.
Have a designated work space. Whether it’s a backyard table repurposed as a desk or a guest room reclaimed as your home office, a quiet, private space for work is essential.
Use to-do-lists. Daily goal setting is important. A personalized daily list prioritized by critical activities will keep you on track.
Connect with colleagues frequently. Those who have regular updates with managers and coworkers (think: virtual happy hour) tend to be more effective and happy.
Another remote work challenge facing businesses and their team members is keeping information private and secure. Here are some tips to help users when connecting online from home.
VPNs. Make sure you are using a secure connection to your work environment via a virtual private network (VPN) which encrypts the line of communication between your home device and work network.
Cloud storage. Make sure that you know and follow your company’s procedure if you are accessing confidential data remotely via cloud storage (for example, Dropbox, or One Drive).
Backup. Important files should be backed up regularly. Understand your company’s policy so files aren’t lost.
Beware of phishing and malware attacks. Make sure your passwords are strong and unique, use multi-factor authentication when possible and be careful of opening and clicking links in emails about COVID-19.
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