2020 was indeed a drastic year for the corporate world as COVID-19 pushed businesses into a new era of remote work, where working from home was not a choice or an added advantage but a necessary precaution for employee safety. Consequently, the world almost shut down, and numerous companies were forced to implement Business Continuity Plans (BCP). Since remote work was not a widely adopted business practice, most organizations did not have policies to manage such a drastic shift. They had no way to gauge and monitor productivity.
This global shift towards remote work highlighted two significant challenges for corporations: maintaining trust and communicating effectively with clients, employees, and related stakeholders. This article will discuss how companies can address these challenges and maintain a smooth relationship built on trust and effective communication with their stakeholders.
Trust
Building trust is a two-way process. The management must have faith in their employees and gain their trust by leading them by example. Similarly, employees must ensure that they are loyal to the company and do their best to optimize their performance. They need to uphold values like accountability since they represent the company’s interests around the globe. Employees also need to ensure that all confidential data and company resources are safe and secure.
Communication
Improving communication is another crucial aspect of working in a remote model. All internal employees, especially those working in a team, should spend time connecting via Microsoft Teams or any other collaborative platform. By doing so, they can share essential emails on internal email distribution lists, make regular phone calls, schedule daily 15 to 30 minutes of remote meetings with each other, etc. All these are necessary to eliminate any confusion, miscommunication, or problem due to dispersed employees.
Here are a few of the best practices that help implement the work from home model effectively:
1. Select a noise-free space for office tasks:
Select a noise-free environment to resume your work while working from home (WFH). It is crucial to maintain your momentum and focus on your tasks with complete dedication.
2. Small Breaks/ Intervals
While working from home, it is beneficial to take small breaks instead of sitting for long consecutive periods as they tend to make you exhausted and less productive. The Pomodoro Technique may help to maintain the energy level you need.
3. Select a time for domestic tasks after work hours:
Do not try to manage both office and domestic tasks at once as it will become chaotic. After working regular hours, set up a dedicated time for your family; you can also have short conversations with your family during lunch or coffee breaks to make yourself feel connected.
4. Consume Healthy food:
It is imperative during this situation to properly monitor your eating habits. Consume healthy foods as much as possible to boost your immunity. Try your best to avoid any junk food or any other food that is not healthy.
5. Virtually connected:
Staying at home does not mean that we must remain silent; the best way to connect is to use multiple communication mediums to connect virtually. Regularly make calls to colleagues and coworkers to boost morale. We should always support each other to keep motivation levels high.
6. Avoid social media:
You do not need to watch every news source and get stressed; while being informed is essential, to take things on to the extent that they scare you is not. It is better to rely only on authorized information available at official government portals.
Conclusion:
Everyone across the globe is managing challenges forced upon us by the ongoing pandemic. During these challenging times, we encourage everyone to stay focused on keeping a positive attitude, doing our best to be productive in serving customers and taking care of one another, and doubling down on safety protocols as instructed by governments. Our social and ethical responsibility is to play our part to reduce the threat as it will benefit us and others.
