How we connect and conduct ourselves during this tough period will make a lot of difference. We need to stay focussed on growth, innovation, and customer obsessiveness.
COVID-19 and lockdown(s) have forced us to work from home. The mainstream workforce, who had no experience of working remotely, have been forced by the pandemic situation to work from their homes. The virus has changed us and our nature of work. A study reveals that around 41% of employees are afraid to go to work due to the worldwide spread of the deadly virus.
Therefore, the remote work culture has/will become the new normal. Even when we return to workplaces post-lock-down, devising a strategy that gives importance to both remote working and working from the office is inevitable. Flexible and distributed workforce had always been one of the leading HR trends in the future of work. For many, working from home was a fantasy. Now, with the forced lock-down and work from home situation, we have learned newer ways of working, collaborating with our colleagues/customers/vendors, etc. This is going to change our work culture, expectations on business travel, etc.
“In today’s world, the flexibility of where, when, and how employees work is no longer a trend but rather a requirement if you want to be competitive in the market.”
-Patti Clarke, the Chief Talent Officer, Havas Group
Remote working or working from the office, choosing one of the two options depends on your business needs; but being prepared for both ensure your business continuity and economically ahead of the curve.
Challenges Confronted by the Remote Employees
In many organizations, the mainstream workforce started working remotely once the lock-down is announced. The primary focus is to ensure employee safety, well-being, and business continuity. As there was no time to formulate a concrete plan to make things work, organizations faced many predicaments and came up with various solutions to address the issues of the remote workers. Some of the challenges they had to solve were:
1. Formulating the policies related to work from home (or) remote working. Right from equipping them with computers / related work tools, diverting the support phone calls to remote employees, leave policies, core hours policies, timesheet reporting policies, etc.
2. The engaging employee is a challenge. The team collaboration and morale of the remote workforce are diminishing, and the workers are losing their sense of belonging.
3. Measuring the work output – how do I know my team member is completing the assignments, solving my customer needs, etc. Is my project on schedule, what are the risks, etc.
4. Maintaining the company culture – how do I instill the same customer obsessiveness when people are distributed and under stress due to COVID 19?
5. Many parts of the world are in lockdown for more than a month now and looks like it will go for a longer period of time. We are not used to this long period of isolations and working remotely creates stress. How do I manage the adverse effects of this isolation?
Ways to Overcome the Adversities
Some of the solutions to overcome these challenges are as follows.
1. Implement tech tools that allow the employees to collaborate and communicate. Virtual coffee break is the buzzword. Frequent video calls with colleagues assure engagement and synergistic teamwork. There are several tools such as Zoom, Zoho, Google Hang-outs, Microsoft Office 365, etc.
2. Through chat apps and collaboration tools, set clear expectations and goals to the employees, take their inputs to overcome the issues, and work on their feedback or concern, to make them feel included and valued.
3. Peer recognition always boosts the morale. Install a digital tool that can help in peer recognition and encourage people to share their appreciation openly.
4. Engage employees through regular communication, webinars, and training sessions.
5. Encourage employees to take online therapy sessions to cope with their stress and relax. Some organizations have provided gaming sessions during the employees’ work hours to help them relax and also not lose touch with their colleagues.
6. Encourage managers to coach their team members to follow the time schedule. The employees need not work more than the required hours, but they are supposed to work with focus during the work hours to meet the deadlines.
7. This is also a time for colleagues to get to know each other and their families better. Working from home is not an easy thing when everyone is at home. It is okay to have kids jump in the middle of an “office meeting” and say hi to your colleagues. Be tolerant and cool.
How we connect and conduct ourselves during this tough period will make lot of difference. We need to stay focussed on growth, innovation and customer obsessiveness. It is critical to build a sense of togetherness among the remote employees. Stay safe and stay engaged.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house