Work From Home Needs High Level of Employee Integrity to Succeed

Work from home is an excellent technique for surviving COVID-19. But a lack of employee commitment could hamper its effectiveness. Timely measures are needed to address this issue.

COVID-19 has transformed the entire business world. Though we are past the worst stage, the pandemic is here to stay for a while. The downturn caused by the pandemic still lingers, causing far-reaching damage to businesses.?

Many companies have hit the bottom and were forced to wind up. Others have implemented cost-cutting measures and are struggling to stay afloat and survive the pandemic. Among the many changes that happened due to the pandemic, what stands out is the shift to remote working by the majority of the businesses.?

Initially, the concept of remote working was a challenge for many companies. But fortunately, the business world adapted rapidly to technology and remote work, making it easy to use and ensure business continuity.?

However, remote work has its pitfalls. Since there is a physical distance between the management and the employees, it reduces the visibility in workflows. Many employees resort to dishonest practices where they rob the company of its productive hours. Often employees fill out their timesheets with wrong information or use the work from home time to attend to their personal needs.

I was shocked to understand that this situation is prevalent in many organizations. In many cases, we see even the senior management resorting to such tactics. This is double damaging as it demotivates the junior staff and simultaneously affects the overall organizational productivity. When managers stay away from work and also do not delegate tasks to the team, it undermines the whole work process.?

Some common incidents that I have come across are employees trying alternate business during remote work or doing household chores, spending time watching TV or browsing, taking frequent and long breaks, or even logging in more time than they actually spent.

Such practices would hurt productivity and also lower the morale of all employees within the organization.? Given the seriousness of COVID-19, organizations need high levels of commitment from employees for ensuring long-term sustainability.?

I’m not pointing fingers at all employees. The majority is genuine and put in their maximum efforts during work from home. However, a small percentage does resort to such tactics, and this could affect the productivity of the entire organization.? We need measures to identify and track these employees and take steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again.?

Let’s what measures can be implemented to prevent such unwanted incidents during work from home.?

Steps to ensure employee integrity during work from home

As I already mentioned, success at work from home depends largely on the employee's commitment. Try these measures to keep your employees on track and ensure that they work according to the specified schedule.?

• Establish clear rules - Company policies have to be clear on this issue. Modify the rules to define the expected behaviors during remote work and the consequences of deterring from the same. The policies must be comprehensive and specify the expected workweek hours. It should also cover the rules regarding employee availability during remote work. This can reduce incidents like uninformed absence during virtual meetings or unavailability during phone calls.
• Check regularly - All companies use time tracking software to track the work of the employees. However, this is not enough as many are logging in the wrong work hours or using buddy punching methods. Managers have to regularly check in with the employees and find out the progress of their work. This will discourage employees from such malpractices and allow the company to have a better track of the work.
• Improve employee engagement - Companies must focus on increasing employee engagement. Introduce rewards and recognition programs that are appropriate for remote work. You can reward them for innovation, punctuality, and good conduct that suit the work from home etiquette. Appreciation will increase their commitment and keep them motivated to put in their best towards work.
• Use the latest technology - Work from home needs the support of the latest technologies for an uninterrupted flow. Install the latest time management software and ensure that the employee time is tracked as accurately as possible. Studies have shown that the right time tracking software can bring down productivity leaks by around 80%. Consider introducing the latest advancements such as IP address recognition and GPS location in the time tracking software to improve compliance.
• Encourages transparent communication - Remote work diminishes the face-to-face interaction and thereby affects the quality of communication. Establish clear channels of communication so that employees feel connected to the team and organization. This will encourage them to put their maximum towards the shared organizational goals.? Communication will prevent employees from feeling left out and boost their engagement at work.

The bottom line

Work from home experiment will definitely be the new normal after COVID-19. However, the success of this work model depends to a large extent on the employees. When employees regularly engage in practices such as time theft, the model is bound to fail. Companies need to make this a top priority in their agenda to avoid long-term loss of productivity.?

Try including the above measures in your work from home strategy to gain employee commitment to the tasks. But it is not recommended to go overboard on this. Employees might have genuine challenges when they work from home environment. Understand their concerns and have an open discussion to arrive at the best possible solution. Educate the employees and make them realize how their lack of commitment would affect the organization's profitability. You can win their confidence and cooperation through such open discussions.

Let’s make work from home a huge success by building a solid relationship between the management and employees where both are committed to the cause of giving the best towards the overall organizational objectives.