The way we used to work has changed completely and dramatically. In just a few months, the mode of working has evolved. Employees are now performing their corporate duties from home instead of making their way to their workplace. Organizations are not only thinking of coming to terms with the current situation, work from home is being considered as a permanent solution. While this will be the right step to take considering the coronavirus spread in the country but are companies doing their part to help employees adjust in this new normal?
Remote working has its pros and cons. While it is extremely beneficial to save the commute time and use it to complete your task from home but with remote work comes internet connection, equipment, and distraction issues. Apart from this, it is reported that more than half of employees have become lonelier while working from home during coronavirus pandemic. All of this has brought difficulties in maintaining work-life balance and to separate the house chores from work-related tasks.
Therefore, before companies start thinking of making employees settle for remote work for the long haul, they should plan out how they are going to support employees in this journey.
Following are some of the ways through which companies can help employees in making their work from home routine better and also make sure they are on the same page as them when it comes to extending the remote working mode:
How Companies Should Help Employees While They Are Working From Home
Frequent Check-in with Employees
One of the major problems that started arising with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and remote working was that companies didn’t figure how to take care of their employees and how to monitor work from home. This ill-conceived decision of putting employees at work from home schedules resulted in them feeling alienated and eventually demotivated towards their work.
Therefore, companies need to learn their lesson in the second half of the year. It is extremely important especially for the GEN Z employees to receive frequent and effective communication to help them stay motivated towards the companies’ duties. This is because these young employees have just entered the corporate scene and had started learning the office norms and then pandemic happened.
While managers and employees can’t stop on each employees inbox but what they can do is have a combined video conferencing with departments to bridge the communication gap.
Provide Them the Right Tools
One thing that had employees long for their workplaces was the unavailability of the right working tools and internet connection at home. The coronavirus outbreak had been sudden in all ways and because of this, companies had little knowledge on how to take this new normal effectively.
However, now that we have a clear picture of what the employees’ needs and wants are while working from home, it is the responsibility of companies to make sure they provide the workforce with necessities. This includes having the right high-speed internet connection that comes with reliability and affordability. It should be the responsibility of companies to make sure they connect their employees to household high-speed internet services like Spectrum internet. Spectrum packages comes with reliability that makes work from home convenient for employees.
Other than, these employers should provide the remote workers with the right work tools such as noise-canceling headphones, good webcam, and more.
Organize Virtual Happy Hours
One thing that working remotely brings is that it collapses the physical distance. Therefore, if your company’s offices are spread across countries then it is the perfect time to bring them closer, virtually. You can arrange an informal happy hour and everyday lunch and learning sessions to encourage workers to know each other better.
Also due to coronavirus outbreak and remote working employees have already started feeling lonely. Therefore, these virtual events will help them connect with colleagues and friends at work and also give them some stress-free time, which is important for effective working.
Reduce Work Load
Companies need to be extremely empathetic towards employees in times like these. While employers are struggling with their own financial and economic issues, employees are coping with their battles. The coronavirus aftermath affected people in different ways and because of this, employees are finding it hard to concentrate fully on their work.
Also because of the coronavirus outbreak, people working from their homes are facing digital and human-caused distractions more than ever. So make sure you put less workload on your employees to help them achieve their basic corporate goals.
