Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has caused your employees to work from home or you are trying to improve your already existing work-from-home structure, here are four ways you can help your employees work better.
1. Hire an Agile Coach
If you are not familiar with agile coaching, you should know that is could be very helpful when your team is working from home. You will be able to ensure you have the procedures in place to make the most of your team’s work from home situation. These coaches can help you address any changes that need to be made now for immediate results. And you can expect to see long-term results, too.
Agile coaching will not only identify what changes you all need to make, but it also will help you make those changes a reality. These coaches serve as your mentor, and they help ensure you are able to stay on track with the plans best suited for your business.
And did you know that you can become an agile coach, too? Part of the agile coaching process can include ensuring you or someone on your team develops enough expertise in the field to always make sure you have someone that can coach your team internally for years to come.
2. Maximize Your Information Technology
You need to make sure you are making the most of your information technology. In fact, you can not have maximum productivity with your remote situation if you run into IT issues.
It might even be a good idea for you to enlist the services of IT consultants or IT services providers to help ensure your IT is in tip-top shape. What would you do if your network stopped working? Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra set of eyes to remedy network issues and also prevent interruptions from occurring?
You will be able to make sure your team and/or customers can make the most of mobile apps, and you also get assistance with your social media and website integration. You ensure there is 24/7 remote access to your data, and you can better defend your company from data crimes.
3. Focus on Strong Internal Communications
Work-from-home scenarios mean that your internal communications must be stronger than ever. You do not have the “around the corner” or “down the hall” in-person access to one-another that you used to have.
However, you can make the most of technology and still limit your chances for communications-based errors. Be certain that all of your team’s files are organized. And make sure everyone knows how to access files and how to properly label and save work.
Make sure that you take advantage of online calendaring and reminders. And be certain that you have all the products and bandwidth in place so that your team has no issues getting communications to one another on time. Hold regular video meetings and have a designated time set aside for internal communications protocols during those meetings.
4. Consider Employees’ Overall Well-Being
It is very important that you keep an eye out for your employees’ overall well-being. And if you are being forced into a work-from-home situation as with something like the COVID-19 pandemic, this is even more important.
Make sure that your employees know the various ways they can decompress throughout their workday and when off the clock. You could send out online videos and other resources that help promote health and wellness. Some of the topics you could share information on include maximizing home-office organization, nutrition tips, mindfulness meditation, and low-impact exercises and stretching that can be done from home.
It also is important for you to regularly check in with as many employees as possible. You need to get an accurate assessment of everyone’s well-being. Be sure you utilize your managers and leads in those efforts, too.
You Can Get the Most Out of Your Work-from-Home Employees
By turning to one or more of the strategies above, you can ensure your workers are doing a good job. No matter if you are being impacted by a public health crisis or you need to just improve your existing work structure, you can get the most out of your employees.
