It has already been nine months into this global pandemic and so much has changed since then. This current crisis continues to challenge the workforce day by day through work-from-home struggles. These sudden changes proved how determined and resilient most companies are despite these difficult times. Thankfully, there are tools that help make work-from-home effective and make communication much more efficient. 

Working from home can provide many benefits such as increased flexibility, saving time and money by avoiding the hassles of commute, and having more time at home with your family. However, not everyone has the privilege and the necessities to be able to work-from-home successfully. These disadvantages include lack of access to information and certain updates, lack of supervision, social isolation, and unstable internet connection resulting in inefficient communication. Due to all these problems occurring ever since the pandemic started, companies like Nezda have created solutions for their employees and continue to exert effort in maintaining flexible work-from-home policies. 

This might be uncharted territory for new or starting remote teams. However, Nezda is here to help share ideas on how to implement practices for supporting remote work. Here are 5 tips on how to make WFH work for your team.  

Maintain a smooth sailing communication  

Communication is always to the to a team’s success. As a manager, always make it a point to frequently check-in on how your team is holding up. It is easy to overlook those you don’t see or interact with daily. By regularly checking up on your team, it can show them how valuable their work and contributions are to the team. You can effectively do so by leveraging technology and utilizing various communication tools to ensure better communication with your team.  

Take advantage of various software or video and messaging applications like Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams and instant messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Viber, or Discord. Make use of these tools by conducting weekly team meetings and one-on-one meetings where important work updates are discussed and allow everyone to have casual and personal conversations. 

However, trying to get in touch with your team too much is a thing. Give them their space to do their tasks but check up on them only when necessary.  

Keep the workflows moving 

Productivity check! Keep your team’s productivity and morale high even when working from home can be quite tough at times. The best solution to this is to track how many hours everyone has worked, keeping track of attendance, and other basic measures of productivity. Make sure to set specific and clear deliverables to accomplish within the day. This will enable you to track outcomes and measure results effectively. 

There are convenient online document sharing tools like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox that can assist you in tracking all the work your team has done. These tools provide massive storage for important files where your whole team can have shared access to.  

Lead with passion 

Be a leader who is empathetic, compassionate, and patient. Work-from-home or remote teams from across the globe are likely dealing with a multitude of obstacles at home and work from food scarcity, taking care of their children, financial strain, and the inability to freely go outside to run errands. As a leader, always be prepared to understand these struggles and encourage your team to not be shy about sharing these with you. This might take more time and effort than usual while everyone adjusts, so be prepared to also anticipate work-from-home obstacles and accept everything as it is to help your team navigate your way around it and mitigate work challenges. Never forget to do your best in empowering your team by giving them pep talks. If you don’t feel like it today, it is okay to show human emotions and accept help from your team. 

Celebrate contributions 

Keep your team engaged with recognition, rewards, and celebrations to help boost their morale. This is the simplest and most cost-effective way of showing your appreciation towards your team and their meaningful contributions. It fuels their zeal to do better and earn appreciation from their managers and peers. 

Unlike in a regular office setup, where a ceremony is organized for giving out employee awards, employee recognition can now be rewarded instantly wherever your team is around the world. 

Promote Health and Wellness 

With the current outbreak of the coronavirus, giving utmost importance to having good physical health and good mental state. Ensure that everyone in your team stays motivated at work and these can depend on their physical and mental well-being. Show that you care by giving updates regarding the current situation and reminding your team about safety precautions that they have to take every day.  

Looking out for your team’s and your own mental health should also be on top priority. Offer words of encouragement and emotional support as best as you can. Support and respect your team’s work and life boundaries and allow them to take breaks when necessary. Value their right to disconnect at the end of the workday. 

With the global pandemic being a massive threat to, not only everyone’s health but also the businesses around the world, the only way to get through all of this is to accept it and find ways to keep the business up and running. Adopting work-from-home practices is the most viable and responsible way to deal with this situation and it is the only way of sustaining the business in times like this. Thanks to technology, your team can still be productive even when working from home.