Coronavirus 2020: Effectively Working from Home

Coronavirus 2020: effectively working from home. A good remote work policy can help businesses maintain productivity while limiting the spread of COVID-19.

Businesses everywhere are implementing work from home policies to protect their employees but maintain business operations while federal, state and local governments impose various restrictions on public gatherings to limit the spread of the Coronavirus.

Establishing a successful work-from-home program is not easy. Communicating with employees to stay on track while minimizing panic about COVID-19 in the coming weeks and months is critical.

Establishing a Work from Home Policy

Organizations without a remote work plan in place can begin to assess their ability to do so in four steps:

Review Operations. Determine what processes and procedures can be completed digitally. Explore remote solutions for things like team meetings, data security and certain HR functions.
Evaluate Equipment. Make a list of the equipment employees need to get their work done and see what that looks like from home. Find out if employees already own laptops or computers and if they don’t, decide if loaning out office equipment will be worthwhile.
Plan Procedure. Figure out how the team will communicate with one another to stay on track to reach business goals. Think about how frequently group and individual check ins should occur and how to monitor remote work performance.
Communicate. Let employees know about your new work from home policy and ask for their feedback. Employees want to be involved in organizational change and they might be able to fill in any unforeseen gaps in the policy with their on-the-job knowledge.

A good remote work strategy is the best way to keep both your employees and your business safe during the Coronavirus outbreak and if you don’t have one yet, now is the time to put one together.

Coronavirus 2020: Effectively Working from Home

Here are three tips for effectively working from home during the Coronavirus outbreak:

Keep the Routine. It’s important in times like these to keep certain routines to minimize stress and maintain a sense of normalcy. It’ll also be easier to monitor remote work performance if employees are expected to be online during specific hours.
Open Communications. More than half of remote workers feel lonely, according to research by Porch. Checking in with colleagues, asking them how they’re doing with everything going on, sharing something you think they’ll find funny, asking about their families, talking about a news headline, all of these things can increase social connectedness and stave off the loneliness.
Encourage Work/Life Balance. Recommend that employees get ready for work like they would on any other day. Encourage them to designate a space for work and take breaks at regular times to get in the working mindset. It can be nice on occasion to work from bed in your pajamas, especially if you’re sick, but it’s not good for productivity or mental health to continue to do so for an extended period of time.