5 Benefits of Imposing a Remote Work Policy During COVID-19

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, many businesses have already been implementing a remote work setup. In fact, in the past decade, remote work has grown by 115%. And given the current situation, which calls for people to have less contact with the public for health and safety reasons, working from home makes a lot of sense. But more than just telling your employees to work remotely, it’s important that you first prepare an efficient work from home strategy. Here are some of the benefits of implementing a work from home policy for your business as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.

1. Safety of Employees

Your employees’ health should always be one of the top priorities of business owners. If you don’t want to halt your business operations while the coronavirus problem is in our midst, it’s important that you arm your team members with enough knowledge and tools to get some work done even without them leaving their houses. Thus, your remote work policy should cover your workplace safety. This is probably the biggest among the advantages of working from home, especially while the COVID-19 pandemic is in our midst. 

Your guidelines should cover the importance of maintaining a safe and healthy work environment at home. You should also see to it that you keep track of your employee’s whereabouts and make them understand that they are working from home to avoid being infected by the COVID-19, so they should see to it that they stay at home as much as possible.

2. Security of Company Data

Once your team works from home, they will need the same level of access that they have when they work in the office. But the challenge is how do you make sure that your business data will not be compromised and won’t get in the hands of the wrong people. To assure this, your policy should include security measures and confidentiality agreements. You should also require your team members to have security systems in place, either by providing a walkthrough document or video for self-installation, or with the help of your in-house IT team. If possible, you can consider providing your team members with work laptops that are already equipped with security apps and essential productivity tools to help them get their work done.

3. Business Continuity

By implementing a remote work policy, you can see to it that your business remains operational even while emergency situations such as the COVID-19 continues. While working from home your team can encounter other interruptions such as computer problems, power or network disruptions, and security issues. With a well-planned remote work policy, your team will know what to do in case of unexpected interruptions while they are working from home.

4. Work Efficiency 

Working from home requires a lot of trust and self-motivation. Not all employers are open to this setup because some tend to think that their remote employees might not be productive while working from home. At the same time, if you are a remote worker and have issues with self-motivation, a work from home setup might not be ideal. But since a remote work setup is necessary these days, a team manager should see to it that his team members have the right tools to do work and to stay productive. Team managers should also maintain constant communication to see to it that tasks are done on time and that the business is operating as usual. Remote work management tools such as a Kanban board, communication apps and cloud storage can all help improve your overall productivity while working from home.

5. Team Communication and Collaboration

The lack of constant physical interactions can also be a huge challenge to teams that are working from home. This is why you should take advantage of tech tools for working remotely to  help your team to maintain constant communication and collaboration. As a team manager, you should equip your team with some project management and team collaboration tools for remote working. This will enable you to delegate work and monitor tasks assigned to your team members.

When it comes to work from home apps, visual project management tools such as a Scrum, Kanban or a Scrumban board such as Kanban Zone can be very handy. It will make it easy for you to monitor your team’s productivity and communicate with them about their assignments. 

Conclusion

Implementing the remote work setup makes more sense now more than ever. As the count of COVID-19 cases continue to rise, companies should see to it that their team members are spared from the dangers of the virus. By imposing a proper remote work policy, you will be able to optimize your team’s efficiency and productivity amid the viral outbreak that is shaking today’s economy.