If no one gives it much thought, it can be easy to make a remote worker feel like a space alien, completely disconnected from the team. The practices and technology exist to precisely avoid these situations though. A slideshow for IT Business Edge offers five best practices to create the best remote work experience:
- Evaluate the technology infrastructure.
- Establish a remote work policy.
- Invest in equipment to maintain efficiency.
- Determine a scale plan of action.
- Update the management program.
Promoting the Remoting
When it comes to infrastructure, cloud platforms that allow virtual access to assets will be valued. Microsoft 365 and Slack are welcome friends of the remote worker. But in general, just make sure the business technology is up to snuff for enabling employees to work outside the office. Then follow that up with a formal remote work policy. Establish which employees are eligible for the possibility of working from home, whether role- or performance-based (for example). Perhaps also dictate, at least for certain defined roles, how much productivity is expected when working at home. Managers can establish performance metrics of their own for their remote employees if it creates a more structured situation.
About investing in equipment, what is most important is just ensuring remote employees feel confident about their ability to do their work. If a BYOD policy is enough for that, then great. But also consider offering niceties like paying for wireless mice and maybe supplementing the cost of high-speed Internet.
To determine a scale plan of action, the slideshow offers this:
It is important to have a crisis plan of action in place while employees are remote. If an unexpected problem occurs but the team is working from home, make sure there is a way to quickly connect with everyone at once. For example, contact centers face high volumes of calls and inquiries when there is a service breach and must scale operations as a result. It is important for all agents to quickly get on the same page and tackle the problem as a unit.
You can view the original slideshow here: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/5-best-practices-to-enable-remote-workers.html
