These days are hard for everyone. COVID-19 has turned the lives of millions of people upside in the shortest amount of time possible. The lives of many people are ruined without even them being infected, the virus has left its footprint on almost everyone.

As you probably know, the majority of companies, including a software development company from Belarus Smartym Pro, has gone remote. Same work, same projects, same people – the only difference is that instead of having colleagues around and people that can actually control your activities and somehow motivate, now employees have dirty cups on the table, a lazy cat on the lap and a PlayStation nearby that is so tempting, that it makes them want to postpone their work for a couple of hours.

How to avoid team efficiency and productivity decrease? How to make your employees stay motivated? Smartym Pro has tried some techniques on its own experience, and now they are ready to share some of their best practices with you.

1. Recognize your employees’ work and provide positive feedback

Everyone deserves to feel valuable, it is a huge mistake and a gigantic demotivational step when employees are being noticed only when they do something wrong. It makes them think that whatever they do is meaningless, and they are useless themselves. During these hard times, it is especially important to support your employees’ contributions and provide positive feedback on their work. Just send a few nice words to your employee once they do something really good, spend a minute of your time – it is easy for you, but it will have a motivational effect on him/her.

2. Don’t exaggerate with control

Yes, everyone knows that some people that aren’t used to working remotely can be a bit lazier than while being in the office. But that doesn’t mean that you as a manager or any other executive should check the status of your team members every 10 minutes to make sure they’re not being couch potatoes instead of working hard. First of all, it is annoying, secondly – it’s distracting. Instead of disturbing your precious people make sure you gave them clarified instructions and tasks, everyone is aware of the deadlines and has access to all the necessary resources.

3. Use the best online collaboration tools

Smartym Pro team has prepared in advance for the lockdown, asking each of the members which tools will be the most comfortable for them to work with in remote work conditions. Thus, based on the survey results, Smartym Pro has chosen the best combination of tools and practices to preserve the efficiency and productivity level, and then made sure everyone from our team has a fast internet connection and a PC that is capable enough to process the employees’ daily operations. For some of them, Smartym Pro has provided home delivery of their office computers and other appliances.

We hope everyone’s staying safe in their homes and keep making the world a better place even sitting in an armchair with a pajama on. Some simple yet powerful methods mentioned in this publication will help you maintain the same level of efficiency in the software development industry. Smartym Pro is always glad to receive your messages asking for advice on how to organize remote work competently.