Tips, best practices and guides to help you and your team work efficiently from home.
For many businesses, COVID-19 has forced a quick transition to remote working, often without concrete policies in place. Fortunately, it’s easy to maintain productivity while your team is separated.
Remote Working Considerations
- Ensure each team member has the tools they need to fulfill their task
- Consider setting up regular check-ins with team members so you can stay in contact and provide support
- Try to focus on outcomes rather than activity
Each individual will find their own process for working remotely and flexibility during their adjustment will help smooth the transition.
Employers have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of workers when they are working from home. The WorkSafe BC resources below provide tips and best practices for setting up a safe and ergonomic home workspace.
- Working from home: A guide to keeping your workers healthy and safe
- Setting up, organizing, and working comfortably in your home workspace
Managing a Remote Team
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Governments of Canada and British Columbia have urged businesses to be flexible and allow employees to work remotely if they have an ability to do so. With non-essential trips actively discouraged, it is strongly recommended for employees to work from home when possible.
That being said, as with any situation, you cannot make an employee work in conditions they are not willing to. If your business has adapted to a remote working environment, and an in-office work environment is no longer available to your employees, it is your employees’ right to decide whether or not they wish to continue their employment.
To help make the transition to remote working easier, ensure your business is doing everything it can to support these efforts by helping employees set up safe and ergonomic work stations in their home.
Threats From Remote Working
Remote working can result in security challenges if employees are using their own computers, mobile devices, and email accounts to access information relating to your business. Risks include:
- Weaker security if computers and devices are not updated centrally
- Insecure password practices on personal computers
- Sensitive business information being stored on personal computers
- Information being sent over vulnerable wi-fi connections
How to Protect Yourself
Understand the threats to remote workers and put in place policies and procedures around the use of personal computers, secure passwords, and the storage and sharing of company information. Educate employees on the dangers of phishing and other scams.
- Learn more about protecting against COVID-19 scams
Staying Connected
As businesses switch to remote working, they're faced with the dilemma of which video conferencing software is best to use. Depending on the needs of your business, there are several options available to you, including:
Slack: Slack allows one-on-one video calls on their free plan, while up to 15 people can join calls on their business plans.
Zoom: With the popular Zoom software, up to 100 people can join the same video conference call on an entry-level plan. Up to 500 users can be accommodated in their premium plan tiers.
Microsoft Teams: This is another great option, allowing up to 80 users attend meetings at once.
Other more casual video conferencing tool also exist, including WhatsApp, which allows for up to four users simultaneously; FaceTime, which allows for up to 32 users on Apple devices only; and Google Hangouts, which can host up to ten people at once.
