Since last year, businesses have switched their employees to a remote format. For those who have never experienced remote working, this decision has become a challenge. It is one thing to spend the usual productive hours at the workplace and know where the boundaries of rest from activity begin and end. It’s another to combine household chores with tasks, get lost in time, and not understand how to keep up with everything.
In this article, we’ll look at the positives and negatives of switching to a remote format. What apps to use and how not to mess up the regimen. For example, the use of Projecto will reduce the time spent on making a plan, organizing the activities of employees and checking the completed tasks.
Immediately note that the organization of work in remote mode is applicable to those specialists who are not tied to a stationary place of work:
- designer, layout designer;
- illustrator, artist;
- copywriter, editor, proofreader;
- Software developer;
- support service specialist;
- English teacher, translator;
- call center operator, online consultant, sales manager.
Advantages of remote work in the company
The possibilities of the Internet allow you to be anywhere in the world. You can do all the things you need to do in applications and special programs. However, some are still skeptical of this format, considering it a «fake job».
Let’s take a look at what advantages there are to organizing remote work in the office:
- Time saving
Working remotely, an employee can get out of bed and in 5 minutes begin his duties. There is no need to get up 3 hours before the start of the working day, you can take time to yourself and fully prepare for the tasks. And most importantly — saving on transportation, whether it is a bus ride or buying gasoline for the car.
- No territorial restrictions
The remote format allows not only to hire employees from different parts of the world, but also the employees themselves to travel and not worry about downsizing — the main thing is to always have a stable connection, fulfill their duties and not to break deadlines.
- Quiet environment
In your own apartment, you can organize your workflow in complete silence or turn on music for better concentration. In the office, you are surrounded by extraneous noise, conversations, other distractions.
- Lower risk of infection
This is another reason for choosing remote work. Now a simple acute respiratory infection is a reason to ask to work from home. Who would not take the opportunity to protect their health and not be around sick colleagues?
The main challenges while switching to a remote working format
- Lack of ability to properly organize the process of completing assignments
Employees who are not used to the remote format may find it difficult to immediately readjust to the independent organization of the work process;
- Household chores and family members get in the way
Family members have a particularly difficult time with the transition to telecommuting. Household members can be difficult to persuade to stay out of the way;
- Lack of equipment
Not every employee and not all companies can afford the necessary technology;
- Risk of data loss or leakage
Working from home, employees may use unsecured connections, which can lead to data leakage or loss;
- Unfriendly and unclear interface of work programs
How can you properly organize your work in a remote workplace
- Define your boundaries
You can’t fulfill work and home responsibilities at the same time. It’s important to realize that you’re not at home so you easily switch to extraneous chores, do the dishes, walk the dog, watch TV in the background. You are still at your workplace, but a little further away from the office. Make a schedule, set yourself a time frame in which you normally work and stick to it as if there is no remote work. At first, we’d recommend sticking to your usual morning routine and dress to fit the corporate rules. This will create the right atmosphere and you will mentally prepare yourself for the working activity.
- Don’t forget to take breaks
You may think that you don’t need breaks, because you already rest whenever you want. Again, this is a matter of self-organization. Think about it, you can’t physically sit at your desk for 9 hours without movement and breaks.
You have to allocate your time wisely to give your brain the rest it needs and to be able to fully immerse yourself in your work.
- Stick to the set hours
This can also include working outside the office hours. When the whole team continues to work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you swing by lunchtime and complete your activities late at night. Working at night is a bad idea when your responsibilities overlap with your coworkers and you are needed during fixed hours.
- Think about quality, not quantity
The main feature of organizing remote work is control with the help of trackers. With the help of tracking programs, the employer can monitor activity without invading personal space, observe the progress of tasks and immediately leave comments.
However, keep in mind that what matters is not how long an employee has sat at the workplace, but how much they have done in the allotted time. You can be connected to the tracker for 24 hours in a row and look busy, or you can connect periodically and report on the work done. Plans are met — employees don’t hate you.
Put in place a reporting system at the beginning and end of the day. Instead of monitoring workers every minute, let them manage their own time and prioritize tasks. Remember that we are all adults and can be held accountable for our work under any circumstances.
- Set up the necessary programs and equipment
Make sure you have all the necessary programs and equipment installed. You will need a headset for communication, task tracking and collaboration applications. Technology and all necessary applications should be provided by the employee’s supervisor. Corporate accounts, group chats in Zoom. If you have one old computer at home for the whole family, the management should provide you with a corporate laptop with installed programs. This way the employer will be sure everyone is in touch and can quickly resolve issues that arise.
You should not be afraid of communicating within messengers. The issue for which they gather everyone for a meeting can be solved with a couple of clearly formulated sentences in a chat room. For some, this type of communication may seem like a negative trait, but this way employees learn to formulate their thoughts clearly and communicate tasks more quickly and clearly.
Popular programs for organizing remote work of employees
Task tracking programs:
Slack — is an online collaboration program. In it, you can create private and group channels. Slack’s interface may seem complicated at first glance, but if you figure it out, you can get access to a convenient multi-disciplinary program with a lot of integrations.
All Google services are for working with spreadsheets, documents, presentations. In them you can make changes, monitor progress and make edits in real time.
Next Cloud — a platform for online work and task tracking, its main advantage is the ability to install on your own hosting and prevent data leakage from work servers.
Projecto is a collaboration program. It includes a set of tools: task tracker, calendar, Gantt Chart, that the user can put as he needs.
Programs for communication and video calls:
Discord — allows you to support video communication, create group chats and personal channels, customize permissions for participants and assign them to destinations.
Zoom — supports video communication, allows you to broadcast your screen, it is convenient for conferences and briefings.
MSTeams — a tool for corporate video calls, with its help you can control the entire workflow and view documents in real time.
Skype lets you make video calls across many different devices.
How to organize remote business work online with Projecto:
To successfully switch to a remote format, install Projecto on computers and mobile devices. You can choose between two modes: general and corporate. Register your employees, create work chats and teams. Start completing tasks and enjoy all the benefits of Projecto:
- Custom structure
Prioritize pages and customize a personalized home screen.
- Offline mode
Projecto has the option to go completely offline. When the network is connected, all data is synchronized.
- Mobile device integration
Access documents and task scheduling from any device.
- Data Security
Your personal data will be protected according to GDPR regulations, databases are backed up every hour and only verified connections are used.
Important points that should not be missed when an organization switches into remote work format:
- Documentation and working conditions
Organizing remote work of the enterprise, we will immediately note the importance of the correct registration of the employment contract. The employee on a remote format has exactly the same rights as the usual one. Team travel, vacations, full salary. All this in no way depends on the fact that you work in the office from morning to evening or perform tasks while sitting in your armchair at home.
- Data protection
Employers should also consider the issue of information security. When organizing a remote workplace, the data on employees’ devices isn’t at risk of being leaked the way it might be while working in a cafeteria or library. Choose the right cloud storage, change passwords more often, use corporate accounts with data protection or programs that allow you to not move data to third-party hosting.
We’ve covered the basic rules for going remote. By adhering to all these aspects, you will be able to continue working without a decrease in performance and loss of profit.
