As so many businesses have gone remote in the last year, employees are still adapting to working from home. With many deciding to stay remote in some capacity, it’s important to make your employees feel as prepared and supported as possible. If you are looking for ways to support your employees as they transition to working remote long term, read our tips below.
1. Make Sure They Have a Good Work from Home Set-Up
For your employees to excel at home, it’s important they have all the equipment necessary to be as productive as they would be in the office. Although it is expensive to supply equipment for both the office and at home, it can be cumbersome for employees to move their computers back and forth.
Another necessity to take note of is to ensure your employee has access to a good, reliable network connection at home. If they have slow connection speeds or poor service, you may want to consider getting them an LTE router or a mobile signal booster. Verizon signal boosters can be used to improve cell phone signal if they need to be on the phone or on video calls often for their position. This will help prevent dropped calls and improve connectivity to each other throughout the work day.
2. Stay Connected
When you used to be in the office everyday and are now working from your own homes, it is easy to feel disconnected to each other. Luckily, there are many online applications that can help you stay connected with each other. Video calls and instant messaging allows you to effectively communicate with your employees. Although you can’t all be in the same room together, you can organize virtual events and happy hours for the time being. Your employees will appreciate this and it can help create a stronger team dynamic.
3. Encourage Development
Being at home and not in the office can sometimes lead to employees feeling like they are not propelling their career forward. One way to combat this is to hold virtual networking events. This allows for your employees to talk with those in other departments that they may have had very little communication with since working from home.
Also, many employees may be interested in further professional development through certifications, conferences, and training available online. Encourage and give employees time to participate in these online courses. Make sure to schedule frequent one-on-ones about where they want to go in their career and what you can do to help.
4. Have a Schedule
Not going into the office everyday can make it easy to lose a routine. Encourage your employees to stick to a schedule throughout their work day. This can help improve their productivity, as well as keep their mental health in check. Having meetings at the same time every week, as well as using a system to manage their time, can help employees stick to a schedule. As it is many of their first experiences working from home, it can take some adjustment time. Work with employees that are having trouble working from home to see what could help them. Giving them more resources at home since they no longer have their co-worker next to them in the office is important.
5. Ask For Feedback
Remember that this has been a transition period for everyone, and you are not expected to know exactly how to handle it. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your employees. You no longer see them every work day, and you cannot possibly know every challenge that they run into working from home. You reading this article shows enough that you are a supportive boss that cares about your employees. Being a helpful resource will make this transition period much easier for them.