Business is hard these days. This unprecedented pandemic situation hit all of the business owners hard. There are companies that even though they were hit too, they still prosper well in those new conditions. Almost all of the firms have switched to remote work. For some, it was a good thing, not so much for the others.
It depends on many factors, such as the company’s culture, what sort of environment they built for themselves and how well they were prepared for that. For some companies, the switch brought great results, as employees became more productive, happier and less stressed.
One of the companies that I know that managed to make the most of this situation is UpperKey. They are a property management company based in London. Real estate branch, just like any other industry, got hit by the pandemic too. They had to make the switch for their office workers as well. UpperKey managed to create excellent conditions for home office by applying those tips.
What can you learn from them about creating an environment that’s the most viable for remote work? Here are their tips on building excellent conditions for home offices.
- Set communication expectations
You need to choose a way of communication, as it’s the most crucial aspect of remote work. You need to communicate efficiently and effectively.
Create a plan for meetings. Don’t make them too long, as your employees will suffer from the so-called Zoom fatigue. You need to set clear expectations on when you want to meet and what you want to talk about. Be prepared for the technical difficulties, as you don’t want to lose precious time. Make an effort to encourage feedback and discussions.
Choose the right tools for communication such as Slack – that’s what UpperKey uses, and a project management tool such as Trello. As for file sharing, choose a cloud-based platform like Google Drive.
For property management, it’s pretty hard to keep everything in a digital form. But as far as the office work goes, you can manage to do so.
- Take an individual approach to each employee.
In those uncertain times, you will need to be empathetic towards your employees. Management at UpperKey does just that. They might have some unexpected problems, for example, pandemic-wise. You need to be prepared to be understanding and forgiving.
Learn something about each of your employees; show that you care. People are suffering from social distancing, and giving them some natural attention can never hurt. But don’t be too pressing about it. It’s good to have monthly meetings with each of your employees to get to know their situation and progress better. If you’re a small business, then you can make it work.
You can get disconnected from your employees. That’s what frequent meetings and questions about their wellbeing are for. The need for contact right now is more prominent than ever.
You can even go as far as letting your employees make their own work hours, as they might work too much or underperform.
“People need contact now more than ever. When I switched to remote work, I’d fall in the trap of isolation. That doesn’t do good for mental health. That’s why frequent meetings are a must for businesses to keep track of your employees” said Dima Suponau, Managing Director at numberforliveperson.com
- Make sure to measure your employees’ engagement
Have your employees send you a status update monthly. That allows you to know their situation both work-wise and personal-wise. Don’t just focus on workplace matters. Ask about their wellbeing and a general mood they have. Such questions encourage them to be more open about themselves and their issues.
At UpperKey, they conduct surveys and ask about the employees’ progress and if they have any issues. That’s a good way of acquiring the data that you can later discuss and resolve the problems you may have.
- Provide new employees with detailed guidelines
You will need to create documentation about how your company conducts work. Or do an excellent onboarding for your new acquisitions. You will need to do this because contact right now can be problematic.
It’s not like a new employee can come up to anyone at the office and ask a question. They would need to contact them via some platform. People sometimes don’t respond; they don’t have the time, or they’re busy. Or they just simply miss it. Therefore, it’s a good practice to give your new employees in-depth guidelines on how you handle things.
Have the new employees in mind as much as you can, as they probably will come up with some questions. You need to be prepared to answer them as quickly as you can because it’s a very stressing thing not to know what you need to do next.
- Make sure that your employees don’t work too much.
It can be a real issue, as when people stay at home and their laptop is their office, they may get tempted to work when they should take a break. It might result in a quicker burnout, and that would make your workers much less productive. To prevent that from happening, you can create strict home office hours and that way; people will know when to stop and start working exactly.
A great method of creating office hours is conducting a survey. If most people in your team answer that they perform the best in the morning and the afternoon, make a plan according to that. For example, 4 hours of work 8-12 and 4 hours 15-19.
Conclusion
While it can be hard to adapt to the new conditions of work, it’s very much possible for businesses. They just need to take the right approach. Using those tips, you can build a sufficient, friendly environment for conducting remote work.
