In order to remain profitable during a pandemic, you might have had to make so many changes to your company at the minute including making it a remote business. There are so many ways in which the world has changed. From having to wear face masks in every store that you go into, to kids not being in school for months on end now.
Pretty much everything about life is different now, especially when it comes to running a business.
Your business is going to have developed in such a way that it no doubt relies on everything you have in place at the minute. To completely switch it up would mean considering so many different factors as the ripple effect of change could be big. One change you might have to have quickly made is to where you work.
It’s traditional to think employees should be in the office at the desk, or behind the tills. However, it’s now safer to work remotely and many businesses are wanting to do so for the foreseeable future now. So, we’re going to talk to you about remote working, why we think it’s better, and how you can make it work easier for your business.
Levels Of Productivity from a Remote Office
This is probably the main set back for any business wanting to work remotely. There’s always the worry that you won’t be able to see what your employees are doing and it’ll be far easier for them to not work as hard as they would if they knew you were watching over them. However, it’s probably proving to be detrimental to office morale and productivity to be in the office.
In the comfort of their own home employees are going to feel far more relaxed, comfortable, and ready to work if they haven’t had to have a stressful morning getting ready to do so.
For some employees it might mean they have an extra hour of sleep, meaning they’re going to be far more productive. We think it’s a very old school view to think that the office is going to be a more productive environment.
It’ll still be just as easy to tell who’s being productive by the workload that they’re completing, whether it be through seeing the number of emails that they’ve done or the number of sales that have been made.
Managing Issues
This is another big worry that ties in closely with productivity. At least if something went wrong in the office you know that it would be a rare occasion and that you could ring an IT company and they’d help you fix it. At home, there are more chances of individual issues due to connectivity, for example.
To sidestep this you could pay for your employees to have some of the best Wi-Fi to be installed therefore reducing any downtime in your remote business.
For the bigger issues such as a server issue if you have a database that many people access, is something bigger to try and sort. Managed IT services can be the answer to your prayers here. The services can connect to your dashboard or server, whatever it might be that’s causing the issue, and fix it for you. Everything that can be done in the office can be done at home!
Keeping Connected To Customers
This is a really important one for your remote business. You want to make sure that there is a direct number that customers have to contact you on. They’re easily created by phone brands that are designed for aiding remote working.
It will usually be the case that your employees are hooked up to headphones linked to a server that’s picking up all the incoming calls. The only risk here is if the equipment breaks, but it’ll be so easy to get a replacement.
Your customers will be able to tell you if they’re having any issues at their end. Thanks to technology there are very few issues relating to telephone systems and remote working because they are so advanced.
Set Office Days
Finally, make sure that you have set office days so that you can keep the sense of team spirit and morality going. Set office days can be used as meeting days to bring the whole team together and to share ideas that might be being missed now that everyone does not face to face.
Plus, it helps to remind your employees that they’re still working for a business and there are still aims that need to be met.
You as the boss can have as many office days as you like, this is just a general one to bring the whole team together.
