5 Important aspects business owners should consider when switching to home office

The current situation with the pandemic forced a lot of companies to switch to home office. Everyone needed to adapt quickly and we all thought it’s going to be something temporary, right? Well, you might want to reconsider that. It looks like this situation will stick with us a bit more. Since we are doing this, let’s do it right. If you are the owner of a company and you already did that, here are 5 aspects you might reflect on:

1. Technology Resources:

The internet is something vital when talking about remote work, but I am pretty sure everyone has access to internet at home. What about computers/laptops? If your company used desktop computers while working from the office, you should consider replacing them with some laptops. Of course, you can send your people home with the computers but is it really necessary? It will be a much more complicated transition and their maintenance will be even harder. People used computers because they thought they are better and yes, you need a strong one if you have complicated programs such as those for architecture. But technology evolved! Laptops can also do that now! Some are better than computers so trust technology!

What about printing and faxing machines? Your accountant might need them so make sure you provide her/him all the necessary tools. You can buy new ones or give them the ones that already are in the office. No one uses them anyway, right?

Depending on the business, technology resources that are needed might be different but, in the end, adapting means surviving ( 1 )

2. Communication Tools:

When switching to home office, communication becomes essential. It helps keeping your employees in the loop and connected with their teams. Here are the most important communication tools you must have:

• E-mails – suitable for longer messages that require lots of details;
• WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram etc. – suitable for group chats, where you can talk about urgent things;
• Online Meeting Tools – suitable for video conferencing. For this, you can check my article about 4 Online Meeting Tools you Didn’t Know About 
• Virtual offices (SOCOCO) – this is a great tool to help your employees interact in a virtual simulation of your company’s office.

3. Results are more important than the number of working hours:

When everyone worked at the office, it was easier to monitor the work. You could check the time when they arrived, when they left, how long was their lunch break and so on. Now you have to trust your employees more and measure their work through results. This is even better since monitoring their hours spent in the office doesn’t mean their work was qualitative as well. Of course, you can monitor your employees via tracking softwares, but is this really the path you want to take? If you don’t choose that path, your employees will feel trusted and will be even more motivated to deliver qualitative results.

4. Clearly defined expectations:

Since we just talked about results, let’s link them to expectations. Providing your team clear expectations, performance evaluation, achievable targets and deadlines, can increase their productivity. Because it will be easier for them to manage their time and workload, they can provide qualitative results. Which you can later measure with client satisfaction.

5. Pay attention to Burnout:

The employees are experiencing a life changing situation. This can be very stressful for them and what you wish the least is to feed their anxiety. In order to understand what is happening with them right now, I highly recommend you to read my article about Switching to home office – The psychological impact 

Switching to home office can be hard. But you have to take responsibility and take care of your employees. Look at the bright side, this can bring you closer to your people!

Sources:

1. http://www.eniscuola.net/en/argomento/biodiversity1/biodiversity-and-adaptation/adapting-in-order-to-survive/
2. https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/moving-home-office/
3. https://www.flexjobs.com/employer-blog/remote-work-considerations-for-companies/
4. https://www.flexjobs.com/employer-blog/remote-work-integration-for-employers/