Remote work brings freedom and flexibility for employees and enables employers to cut down operational costs. Not to mention, it is the need of the hour in the new normal. Even traditional businesses that had never imagined going remote have adopted WFH for the long haul.
Despite the upsides of the arrangement, the biggest challenge for employers and employees relates to productivity in WFH settings. Employees often struggle to give their best because of distractions at home and the absence of the in-office feel. As an employer, securing top productivity from your team matters. Thankfully, you can try these tips to do it.
Set clear guidelines
When people work from home, they often fail to follow rules intentionally or unintentionally. Having clear WFH rules and guidelines will ensure that they follow them stringently. Create a policy for employees and ensure that everyone on board understands it and all are on the same page. It will make people adhere to schedules and processes while assuring you on critical aspects like the security of confidential corporate data and business networks.
Communicate constantly
Setting rules and guidelines for remote workers is only a start. Communicating with them constantly is the only way to make sure that they understand and follow these rules and guidelines. Good communication also fosters collaboration, which is vital to the productivity and efficiency of teams working remotely. It becomes even more crucial in the current extended WFH situation when people miss office and struggle with isolation.
Provide support and resources
Proper IT support and help resources can make a difference in the productivity of your remote team. Employees may face IT issues more than once when working out of the office, and proper IT support keeps them going without disruptions.
You can provide knowledge resources such as https://setapp.com/how-to/how-to-recover-data-from-failed-hard-drive to help them with day-to-day issues like data recovery. Employees will definitely be more productive if they can resolve glitches quickly.
Track but trust
You will want to track employees to make sure that they aren’t wasting time when working from home. Thankfully, you can use a wide range of scheduling, time tracking, and project management tools and apps to keep a watch.
However, even as you use these tools, trust them and steer clear of micromanagement. Trust in your people bolsters loyalty and keeps them happy and productive. Except for a few, most employees will live up to your expectations.
Help them create an ergonomic workspace
Employees can be at the top levels of productivity when they are comfortable and undisturbed. Both are hard to achieve at home, but you can help them create an ergonomic workspace to address these concerns.
A small allowance is a worthy expense for employers as WFH is here for the long haul. Ensure that employees use it to create a dedicated home office where they can work comfortably and without distractions.
Securing the highest level of productivity from your remote workers may take some effort and investment. But they are both worthwhile because productive teams boost sustainability, value, and growth.
