Remind your staff to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Both you and the members of your team who have been working from home for the first time in the past few months may have become aware of how the boundaries between business and personal life may be difficult to discern. Because of this, it may be worthwhile to remind workers that they should try to maintain a clear boundary between the times at work and home. This can be accomplished in a few different ways. Still, one possibility is to suggest that they establish a designated working environment only utilised for work-related activities. When your team members do this, they will know it is time to go into “work mode” when they sit down at their desks, and when they sit down on the sofa, they will know it is time to relax and decompress.
Regular team or one-on-one sessions keep teams focused and motivated.
If you are a manager or a company owner, it is in your best interest to urge the teams you oversee to get together frequently to keep in “face-to-face” touch with one another. Employees having a more difficult time transitioning to the new work-from-home environment may benefit from one-on-one catch-ups with their line supervisors. These meetings can be scheduled as needed. This is not just excellent for employees’ stress levels; it’s also a fantastic opportunity to discuss work-related subjects “face to face” instead of communicating about them over chat or email. In such situations, more modern digital technologies like Microsoft Teams might be invaluable assets. Teams are a strong tool that can be used for professional meetings and communication. However, it may also be the ideal approach to keep in touch with your team when you are physically distant from one another.
Make it simple for your teams to report IT support issues.
It can be frustrating enough to endure endless video calls without having to contend with technological difficulties. Your remote teams must notify your IT support team if they experience any technical issue, whether an echo caused by a damaged microphone, a pixelated mess during a video chat, or any other problem.
Suppose your team members are doing their jobs using gear owned by your organisation. In that case, your IT support team will still be able to troubleshoot and, in most cases, address any technical issues that arise remotely, even if they are working from home.
Establish a policy for employees who use their own devices.
When employees work from home for their employers, most businesses provide them with company-owned computers or laptops. However, there may be occasions when your team chooses to use their own devices instead, either purposefully or unintentionally. If you do not have a policy in place for “Bring Your Device,” also known as “BYOD,” you could potentially run into problems if your employees decide to access sensitive data or information that is critical to the operation of the business using their own personal laptop, desktop computer, or smartphone.
Ensure that your remote team is cyber-savvy.
Even if an employee takes cursory notice of potential IT support or cybersecurity issues when everyone is in the office, it is simple to bring them up and get them addressed. On the other side, when all your team members are at home together, they have more leeway to disregard possibly questionable stuff they come across online while working. That could be an email from a sender they aren’t familiar with, an attachment that seems fishy (or should that be “phishy”? ), or a pop-up that keeps coming back. You must advise your team on what to look out for and how they should react if they encounter something suspicious. You can guide them on what to look out for and what they should do.