The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted everyone, regardless of your job. To cope, we have all had to find new ways to adapt to the ‘new normal’ in both our professional and personal lives. While some of these changes may be temporary, there is one that is going to persist, and that’s employees wanting the flexibility to work from home.
Almost every company we have spoken to since the pandemic began has changed their view on home working and many are not planning to ever return to 5 days a week in the office.
A few of the common findings from conversations with our customers:
The realisation that employees can be trusted to work from home and still be as (if not more) productive
Customer meetings do not need to be in person. It's not productive or cost-effective to spend half a day travelling long distances for a 1-2 hour meeting when it can be done remotely
It can be isolating for some to work from home
Organisations need to ensure that employees have the tools and technology required to successfully work from home
Organisations need to come up with new ways to maintain a culture within the business which supports all employees
A realisation that there are substantial savings to be had as a result of reduced office and travel costs
A few tips & tricks that we have used during the past 6 months that we would like to share:
Cameras on
Regular breaks to stretch legs or grab a tea/coffee
Have regular non-work related calls – quizzes, drinks and takeaways for example
Meetings are less formal – kids, amazon deliveries and all manner of other disruptions are going to happen. I’ve met more of my colleague's family members (with kids running into the room asking for a snack, through to the delivery of a fresh cup of tea from loved ones) than ever before and I feel that I know them better as a result
Use Yammer to build virtual communities to get together and share news and information around common interests
Be more flexible with your team. If you need to do school drop off’s or get the washing in from outside that’s fine. People are working more flexibly and organisations should support this
Don't share an entire screen on Teams, share the individual application to reduce the risk of oversharing!
It’s key that organisations focus on maintaining a strong, supportive culture at work to ensure that its employees are happy, motivated and more productive.