Most operations that happen for business during the pandemic have been classified under “remote work,” which refers to any office/industry work that is done outside of a traditional office environment. So, imagine that the only difference between the face-to-face (F-T-F) work setting and remote work is that remote work is everything you experience in F-T-F, but minus the hassle of sitting in traffic or commuting in crowded public transportation. However, while on paper, remote work seems very easy to adapt to and might be more convenient for the worker, the shift from an F-T-F work setup to an online one is not as easy as it seems.
In a way, employers need first to establish an excellent virtual office that can foster the same type of productivity as a face-to-face setup would. As much as virtual offices need to replicate a physical office, they must increase facilities to allow their employees to collaborate and communicate despite their distance. Internal communications software and virtual conferencing will enable teams to connect and deliberate tasks.
Still, they need a well-setup virtual office that will provide them with an organized structure and framework upon which they cannot see if work has been done and know who has done the job assigned to them.
So, if you’re an employer that aims to start or improve their virtual office to increase productivity, or whether you’re an employee who’s trying to figure out what suggestions they can give to management to better the experience of their team, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are three considerations that you need to consider to make the perfect virtual office for your team.
Introduce them to the setup, and spend time building up a positive perception.
Despite the hassle that exists in a face-to-face setup, most workers still agree that, for some reason, a face-to-face arrangement is better than an online one. Before you make your virtual office, you must ensure that your employees have come to terms with the idea that work shall now continue in the digital sphere. In a way, though the employer cannot fully control internet connection problems and AOL workers, they can do preventive measures to avoid this from happening often.
Motivating your employees through work incentives or fostering a healthy interaction through the facilities you’ve given them will make them likely to operate better despite the sudden shift. Hence, employers must first work on hitting every prerequisite that they need to fulfill before launching a full-on virtual office operation.
Equip your virtual office with sufficient digital tools
Apart from increasing efficiency, having a uniform set of tools that your employees can use to do their work reduces the time taken up by the average employee in testing which apps operate best for their line of work. Now, this may sound not very comforting, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. However, there’s always a helper for everybody, and in this case, you can always call IT management services. You can choose from many companies, but if you’re looking for recommendations, a notable few are known for their professional services that help with IT staff productivity, shorter downtime, and cost-efficiency.
Every virtual office must have essential tools that can be subdivided into three: technology stack, project tracking tools, and security tools. It will ultimately depend on your IT team for the tech stack, such as your web developers and tech support, so consult with them regarding this. For the project tracking, it essential that you have this tool to monitor the team’s progress regarding deliverables. You can look at some of the best productivity apps here. Lastly, for security tools, though often overlooked, cybersecurity must be a top concern for any company to prevent downtime or leakage of information to hackers.
Set up the communication strategy
In an online setup, communicating with the people involved with your business is the key to a successful virtual office. An efficient communication strategy boosts productivity and allows all the projects to be delivered on schedule. This category can be subdivided into three: communication with customers, intrateam communication, and overall team availability.
Your customers are the people that you want to please. There must be a specific framework in a virtual office that all employees must follow when responding to customers’ queries and concerns. In a way, since customer support may be scattered worldwide, the company must find a way to route a call to these numerous locations to increase the efficiency of talking to multiple customers each day.
Lastly, in discussing “remote work,” you have to consider that your workers can be anywhere. Thus, establishing where and when your workers can work is crucial. Determining team availability through planning out work hours is essential if you want everybody to be on board. Using a company-moderated social networking app like Skype can help disseminate information and control the flow.
Knowing these things can help you provide a better work setup for your employees, wherever they may be. Working remotely doesn’t have to create more challenges for you and your staff.