Telecommuting is rapidly becoming one of most attractive benefits a company can offer their employees. More people are working remotely than ever before, and the number will continue to increase. It's easy to see why flexible work options have steadily gained popularity among employers and employees in recent years. Companies with a mobile workforce can save money on office space and tech equipment while increasing their overall productivity. Meanwhile, remote workers can enjoy the freedom to work from anywhere they choose, reduce time and money spent on transportation, and find a greater sense of work-life balance. At the same time, professionals working at information technology (IT) help desks and in human resource IT are reporting a rise in the number of tickets filed by remote workers. A survey from technology company Riverbed found that 94 percent of company leaders reported that technology problems had impacted their business and employees working remotely. Survey respondents said the four biggest problems they face are 1) being frequently disconnected from corporate networks, 2) slow file downloads, 3) poor quality of video meetings and 4) long response times when loading apps. Business leaders in the survey also cited a need for greater visibility into network and application performance to reduce problems that remote workers encounter and also encouraging employees to speak up when the have an issue. Workers often don't raise their hands to say they're having a problem because they're embarrassed or don't want to appear less than tech-savvy.  Learn how businesses tackle the challenges of remote working.

Reducing Cybersecurity Risks at Home

A rising concern is data security and cyberattacks. Chief information officers are seeing an increase in risks due to the use of personal devices and software as more people work remotely. In some cases, employees are breaking security rules by downloading unsecure apps or sharing their work devices with family members. Unfortunately, the training and communication efforts companies provide workers on cybersecurity and cyber acumen often fall short. Many employees report that their employers offer little guidance on the do's and don'ts of protecting company and personal digital information and assets. Human resource departments can work in tandem with IT to produce short videos that educate employees about risky data practices they're more likely to engage in while working in distracted home environments. These include actions such as leaving browsers open, downloading unapproved apps, or sharing work laptops with children, all of which security pros say can widen the "attack surface" for hackers.

Gauging Productivity

Beyond preventing technology problems, businesses also are looking for ways to gauge their workers productivity while working from home. Employees also want management to know how they're performing while working remotely to ease bosses' minds that they're using their "unseen time" wisely. When you can't physically see your employees every day, it can be difficult to track the amount of work they complete daily. While many telecommuters are motivated self-starters, some will take advantage of the fact that there's no boss looking over their shoulder. Monitoring software can be used, but keep in mind that you should be fully transparent with employees when using monitoring software, and the tools should not be employed punitively. Instead, management should use monitoring selectively to help employees improve how they spend their work time at home. Misuse of the software can damage worker trust, make employees feel their privacy is being invaded and negatively impact morale.

Communication

As a manager, it's your job to keep your employees informed. While it's easy to effectively communicate with staff members face-to-face, remote employees must rely on technology. Don’t let remote team members become "out of sight, out of mind." Employees report that the lack of information from management and the timeliness of the information are some of the biggest obstacles of working from home. The best way to communicate with remote employees is through technology. Some common apps remote workers use to communicate with co-workers are text messages, Skype, Facebook, Zoom, Twitter, and Google Hangouts. In addition to having reliable communication solutions, it's important to make sure that your employees know when and how to reach one another. Establish set hours when all team members will be online and available. Commit to responding to each other within a set period. Collaboration tools such as shared storage and cloud-based project management software can also help a scattered team work together efficiently.

Employee trust

While you should check in and make sure your employees are doing what they should, a successful remote work arrangement ultimately comes down to trust. Managers must trust that their workers are doing what they are paid to do, even if they aren’t always there to check in. While many of the personality traits and behaviors required for telecommuting can be vetted during the hiring process, you never really know if their personality is a good teleworking fit until actually hired. Trust is earned over time and it’s a 2-way street. To be an effective virtual manager, your team needs to trust in you too. Let employees know that you're there to help them solve problems, eliminate workflow obstacles and give direction, as needed.

Unified company culture

Remote workers often say that while they love the flexibility, they do miss being part of office culture and interacting with their colleagues. When possible, have your remote employees schedule a day to come into the office. If your team can't coordinate a quarterly in-person meeting, the next best thing is frequent virtual meetings to maintain that connection. Employees collaborate best when they have personal connections with each other. To maintain this connection while working remotely, teams can have a short daily conference call to discuss hot topics and unanswered questions and use video chat for team meetings. Feeling disconnected?  We can provide solutions to help you tackle the technology challenges of remote working and keep your employees connected and engaged. Contact us.