Forced to work from home (#Covid19)? Tools to keep your "virtual" teams engaged!
It’s an uncertain time and, for many, it’s suddenly necessary to work from home. Having the right tools can help keep your team engaged with their work and retain a sense of connection to one another. To help make sure you’re well-equipped for the coming weeks, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best tools for Work from home (WFH).
Meet Face-to-Face
Video conferencing is a must and happily, there’s a number of terrific resources available. Consider one of our favorites:
Webex – This video conferencing tool is a little more streamlined for users, helping to give an in-person feel to meetings without complicating the interface. Bonus! It gives the host a private panel to control screen sharing and extra features without the watchful eyes of other participants.
Zoom – This dynamic platform allows your team to join via webcam (or call in by phone number if they don’t want to be on camera.) You can even download fun backgrounds for your meetings. Zoom also offers 24/7 support and reasonably priced subscriptions.
Google Hangouts – This is a great solution if you use Google for other business tools; it automatically integrates with Gmail and Google Calendars. Plus, the service is free to use!
Message Instantly
While email is a great way keep-in-touch and offers a virtual ‘paper trail’ to better track project details, sometimes team members just need to ask a quick question. Messenger apps are a great tool for these short inquiries. Plus, during these long, stressful days at home, offering a way for employees to ‘chat’ will help keep morale up.
Slack – Slack offers more than just messaging. It allows team members to share files, create different group chats (if they need to communicate with different teams), screen share, and support the integration of hundreds of other apps.
Google Hangouts – There’s a text chat feature too! Another free offering, Hangouts allows team members to easily message anyone who is on their Google Business Account.
Map It Out
One of our favorite things about being in office? Easy outlining plans on our whiteboards. It’s a great way to brainstorm and can help your team visualize the next steps. Luckily, there are a few online options that can help replicate this experience.
Sketchboard – Employees can collaborate using Sketchboard, working on the same ‘board’ from different devices, at the same time. You can freewrite and draw, or select from a number of pre-designed icons. With a paid subscription to Sketchboard, workers can tag their work, protect files by password, and send files to the appropriate team members. Bonus! This can be integrated with Slack!
Train Online
Even if your team is working from home, there are still ways to foster professional development. Specifically, you can arrange for team training through the use of webinars.
GoToWebinar – This platform allows you to host live webinars and then send recordings of these sessions by email after you’ve concluded the training. You can also make sure your workforce shows up for training with automated email reminders and notifications.
Demio – Demio might be a better fit you want to offer pre-recorded and live webinars. In addition to the video itself, Demio also allows users to post interactive polls, supporting documentation, and host Q&As during sessions.
Learn New Skills
Many have found themselves with a little more time on their hands. In addition to internally-generated professional development, there are also external resources that allow employees to upskill.
Khan Academy – Khan Academy has online instructional videos and partners with institutions like NASA and MIT to generate highly specialized material. Plus, this resource is provided for free!
Learn@Forbes – Learn@Forbes is a great post-secondary education resource for working professionals. With over 60 self-paced courses available, this is a great alternative for those demanding schedules. The courses themselves are developed by top industry experts and include subjects like leadership, IT, cybersecurity, software, entrepreneurship, and business. Bonus! They offers a number of certifications too.
Hold Events
As precautionary measures have rolled out nationwide, events have been cancelled and postponed. While it’s important keep social distancing, there are tools that can allow for certain events to be shared virtually.
Facebook Live – Facebook’s streaming feature allows companies to bring events directly to their followers. It’s free and because it’s part of Facebook, it’s easy for viewers to share and comment, increasing exposure in others’ feeds.
YouTube Live – A great option for Google users, YouTube Live supports email invitations, chat, and scheduling.
What are we missing?
While work-from-home is new to many of us, remote workers have been a growing part of the workplace for several years. Do you have experience working remotely and have some favorite tools? We’d love to hear about them below!
#covid19 #virtualengagement