Has your team transitioned to remote work? Are you still trying to work out all the details? If so, we understand the challenges you may be facing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This crisis has disrupted daily life for most people across the globe. From self-quarantining to financial challenges, there is a lot to be anxious about right now.
Nevertheless, we know that in addition to all the other things you may be dealing with, navigating the steps of how to move your team from onsite work to remote work can feel downright stressful. Well, we want to help alleviate some of that stress. The best way to handle a crisis like COVID-19 is by taking one step at a time."
If you are in the process of helping your team move to remote work during the COVID-19 crisis, or have already done so but are still getting your footing, we have some steps to help you smoothly move through this time. Also, to make life a bit easier, we will include some critical new features from our FLUJO enterprise suite that can help you move through each step.
Here are six easy and stress-free ways to ease your company into working from home during the coronavirus outbreak.
Be Honest With Your Team
Before you send your employees and team members off to work at their homes with work-from-home apps, you want to be sure everyone understands what is happening and how you will keep everyone up-to-date on when things may be going back to normal. Let employees know the guidelines you are keeping an eye on (ex. The CDC, WHO, or your country's national health department). Also, discuss how things will change. Will you now have daily stand-up meetings that you didn't have before? Should everyone be signed into a specific remote work tool at all times for impromptu messaging? Look at all the ways life will change, and communicate that during this remote work arrangement as a result of COVID-19.
Decide on How Everyone Will Stay in Touch
Email is great, but you no longer have the privilege of jogging over to your team member's desk to run an idea by them. So, it would help if you mimicked this with WFH tools. Recently, our development team just set up audio and video meetings with screen sharing options and "@ mentions" on our messenger app. These features allow you to meet with colleagues immediately or directly refer to or speak to them throughout your workday. So, take the time to establish communication logistics that work for you and your team during this work from home setup due to COVID-19. Whether it be planned video meetings or an audio conference call, find the remote work tool that works for your workflow.
Establish Document Access and Storage Protocols
Next, it's time to decide how you and your team will share and access documents. We all know that documentation can pile up, especially if you are right in the middle of a project. It's important that you determine who has access to documents, how they will be organized and named, and where they will be stored. Our team has tried to make this easy for users by implementing an automated file management system that automatically groups your files and folders. Nevertheless, while our tool can make organization easy, take the time to decide who has access to various documents as well as who can edit and view them. Lastly, be sure to develop a process for granting request access efficiently with your WFH tool.
Choose a Process for Delegating Tasks and Tracking Process
This step may be one of the most important systems that you set up during this work-from-home situation caused by COVID-19. Choosing a process for keeping track of who is responsible for various tasks, and how to check their progress is critical to your workplace productivity during this time. Again, our team has stepped in to make this a streamlined and stress-free process for organizations with our work-from-home apps. We just added Kanbans cards, which is an efficient practice for tracking, sorting, and planning workflows. You can even attach to-do lists to each card. This process is an excellent way to track your team's progress visually; however, if you want additional oversight, you can also generate analytics reports of workspace activities.
Encourage Collaboration
Again, you and your team no longer have the opportunity to work through a problem together in the boardroom or brainstorm with the help of a physical whiteboard. Everything has to happen on your remote work tool. Fortunately, our enterprise-level features make it easy to do everything in one place. FLUJO allows you to encourage trust and collaboration among your team during this time of remote work due to COVID-19. Whether you want to hold a remote presentation and share your screen, take advantage of direct and group chats, or sync to Google Drive to simultaneously work on a document, your team's collaboration routines can thrive with our WFH tool.
Make a Practice of Checking-In
This is a tough time. The stress that COVID-19 brings to a remote work situation, as well as in our daily lives, can feel overwhelming. Your team is adjusting to a new reality. The daily routine of going to work and collaborating in person is temporarily on hold. This reason is why it is essential to set up a time during the week to check in to see how your team is managing their work and help them navigate any stressful situations arising because of this work from home scenario. It is also a great idea to encourage your team members to check in with one another using work-from-home apps. Whether they use features like group chat to send funny memes or set up video meetings for a virtual lunch, you want your team to have the option to mimic informal events with a remote work tool.
We Want to Help
Whether you go with FLUJO or choose another tool, we want you to find the enterprise-level app that will help you take the necessary steps to facilitate remote work. This work-from-home situation due to COVID-19 is stressful, but getting your team online doesn't have to be.
For more information about our enterprise-level offerings and how you can accomplish all your work processes in one place, visit our features page.
We wish you and your team health and safety during these challenging times.