As much of Australia transitions to remote work solutions, many businesses are seeing a decrease in their employees’ productivity. While some decrease might be unavoidable, there are ways to minimize any loss in efficiency. If your business has recently set up at-home solutions for employees, use these strategies to keep the teams productive even when they’re working remotely.
Set Up Collaboration Software
Employees first need a platform over which they can work efficiently together, for no other strategies will be effective if there’s not an efficient mode of communication in place. In fact, employees don’t just need a way to communicate but they also need to be able to collaborate so that they can truly work together.
It’s the collaboration aspect of working together that businesses should pay particular attention to when selecting a software platform to connect remote workers over. While programs like Skype and Zoom might be fine for direct communication, they don’t offer full-fledged collaboration like Microsoft Teams does. Not only can employees communicate in real time over Microsoft Teams, but they also can work on the same project simultaneously and see each other’s edits as they’re made.
Businesses that don’t already have a robust collaboration software in place ought to set a platform up as soon as possible. Such software will provide the essential framework on which all the other strategies listed here depend.
In some technical cases, creating a software solution might also require setting up industry-specific software for remote collaboration.
Provide Technical Training to Employees
Once any software that employees will be using is put in place, all employees ought to be trained on the software they’re expected to use. This training doesn’t necessarily have to be mandatory, but it does need to be offered to every employee who needs it. Some employees will require more assistance than others, and making training available to everyone will ensure that those who need extra assistance will be able to get it.
If training isn’t made available, the resources that are invested in a remote software platform might be wasted. Software only serves its purpose when employees know how to use it.
Maintain Active Communication Channels
Once the initial software setup and training are complete, the focus shifts to maintaining active use of the provided platform. Specifically, many businesses need to regularly remind employees to use the provided communication channels. If businesses don’t provide regular reminders, usage can fall to the wayside.
Maintaining active communication channels isn’t so much a technical issue as an operational one. Regularly scheduled meetings, check-ins, due dates and official communications can all help keep communication fluid when working at home. Exactly how these should be set up depends on a business’ operations, but almost every business can benefit from them.
When creating a schedule for meetings, check-ins, due dates and other official interactions, businesses should consult IT professionals, HR professionals, managers and workers. IT professionals may know what’s worked and what hasn’t worked for other businesses, and HR professionals, managers and workers will all have input that’s specific to the business. With all of this input, a schedule that works well for everyone should be easy to create.
Get Help Setting Up Collaboration Software
If your business needs help setting up collaboration software, contact Steadfast Solutions. Our professionals assist businesses throughout Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne with all manner of technological needs, and we’re able to get your business outfitted with a collaboration software if you don’t already have one.