Dress-up to work from home!

A pandemic outbreak at a global level is something we are used to seeing in the movies and not in the real world. As the novel Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to spread across communities and countries, it is an imperative for companies to figure out ways to ensure complete safety of the employees while also running their business with minimal impact on workflows and productivity.

Social Distancing

Over the past one month, many companies have taken proactive steps to immediately implement ‘Work from Home’ measures to ensure each employee is in the safe confines of their homes. Various state governments also made it mandatory to shut offices and directed businesses to implement Work From Home for everyone. Medical experts have issued advisory for everyone to avoid crowded public places till the threat recedes. 

At a time when social activity is highly praised and sought after, it is time to surrender ourselves to the temporary but required measure of ‘Social Distancing’.

Technology as a savior

One of the main concerns that companies with allowing work from home measures is to quantify the work done as well as ensure that people living in different corners are all in sync, like they would be if they were all in the same room. This is where technology can play a key role and in 2020, we do have the technology to tackle this. There are several platforms and apps like Telegram, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jamvee etc., which allow members to coordinate, communicate and collaborate effectively, thus enhancing the efficiency of remote working.

These apps have various abilities, right from creating specific chat to mass emailing to even video-conferencing. The only requirement is to ensure clear planning and communication. If there’s a meeting, inform people in advance so they can all be present online without disturbances in the background. Calendars, an often ignored feature, can not only enable better also enhance time management.

Employee Capital

While ‘Work from Home’ is a feasible option for isolation for some types of jobs that need just a laptop and an internet connection, yet there are many other jobs that can’t be done remotely. Companies that are involved in retail or trade or consumer-facing requirements have employed people who are routinely on the ground. In such cases, companies need to manifest greater empathy and compassion towards their workforce by providing them safe travel options to minimize dependency on crowded public transport. Additionally, companies can also provide them with adequate facilities such as a face mask, hand sanitizer and even cut down their work hours as much as possible.

There is no company without employees and it is in the interest of employers to show concern for their people. By using the right technological resources, companies will be able to discover the benefits of remote working, which is where the world is headed in the future. Not only does teleconferencing and remote working options boost the productivity of employees, it also means lesser expenses incurred by companies on office space rentals and infrastructure.

Dressing up!

Employees also need to realize that working from home does not mean a holiday. Get up, get dressed and a corner in your house with minimal disturbances. Get into the work zone, be available phone during working hours, communicate when needed and inform your boss if anything goes wrong at their end.

Women's Perspective

We can expect the women professionals to adapt more quickly to this paradigm shift of working style, compared to their male counterparts. Women, have so far been managing home remotely while working in offices and now they have to manage office remotely while working home.

In the nutshell

Communication is the key to effective virtual work. It`s all about embracing new habits and a culture of managing remotely. With the ‘Work from Home’ approach, we get into new status updates like- ‘Will be right back’, ‘Away for lunch’, ‘In a meeting’. It’s about managing calendars for others and their occupancy, as you may not have their access like the regular days!

Bring it on! WFH the new norm for 2020.