COVID-19 has forced many businesses to operate 100% remotely, and for many companies, this is uncharted territory. On top of navigating typical work from home challenges, during the coronavirus outbreak, schools are closed and activities canceled, making work prioritization all the more difficult. While there are certainly challenges, working from home full-time presents an opportunity to make process improvements and finish up projects that are otherwise neglected. Luckily, with improvements in technology, streamlining your workflow is easier than ever; below we’ll touch on our favorite work from home technologies and how they can improve your life in this otherwise chaotic time.

Communication Tools

No longer will you run into your colleagues at the coffee station, but communication is as important as ever, so you need to rely on virtual communication tools to fill the gap. Try one of these chat or video tools to stay up-to-date with coworkers and clients.

Slack

No longer will you run into your colleagues at the coffee station, but communication is as important as ever, so you need to rely on virtual communication tools to fill the gap. Try one of these chat or video tools to stay up-to-date with coworkers and clients.

Zoom

Video conferencing gives you the opportunity to recoup the missed facetime you receive in the office and the chance to personally connect with clients that you may not be able to see otherwise. Zoom is easily accessible, so there will be a minimal learning curve for all parties involved.

Google Hangouts

If you’re looking for a free, all-in-one tool, Google Hangouts may be your best bet. With both chat and video call functionality Google Hangouts will streamline your communication both within the company and outside it. All you need is a Gmail account to get started!

Collaboration

Projects don’t need to halt just because you’re not sharing an office space, instead, take advantage of the various collaboration and document sharing software available on the market.

GSuite

With Google Documents, Google Sheets, and Google Drive, all your group project needs will live in one place. Share documents, spreadsheets, videos, and images and invite your colleagues to edit them; or send the finished products directly to your clients for their final approval.

Trello and Asana

Stay on task with project management software like Trello or Asana. These tools give every team member a space to notate and track their individual moving parts in relation to the final project goals and timeline. With user-friendly interfaces and the ability to add referencing documentation, you can keep everything together in the same place.

Jira

An internal ticketing system, Jira allows you to submit tickets for website bugs, website updates, content optimizations, or whatever projects you need to keep a digital paper trail of. Jira differs from Trello or Asana in that workers can log the time it takes them to work on the project, but it’s similar in that participants can communicate directly in the ticket.

What Employers Can Do

Whether you own the company or are in management, you have a responsibility to make the work from home transition as easy as possible and to ensure everyone feels connected. If you’re struggling to make those connections with your virtual employees, try one or more of these methods.

Daily Standup

If you don’t already have a daily standup or meeting in place, now is the perfect time to add one to your calendar. Set aside 15 minutes every morning to go over in-progress projects and share company or department announcements. Depending on the size of your company, you may choose to do a single standup, or separate them by department. These meetings will ensure the entire company still feels connected.

Daily Email

If your schedule can’t stand another meeting, try sending out a daily email. No matter if it includes updates or inspiration, your daily update email will remind your employees that you’re still here for them and are still a team working towards the same goal. Best of all, sending an email only takes a few minutes of your time, so it shouldn’t be too much of an interruption to your daily schedule.

Regular 1:1

Hopefully, prior to this new work from home schedule you had already implemented regular one-to-one meetings with your direct reports, but if you hadn’t, this is the perfect time to instill the routine. Whether they’re weekly or biweekly, ensure you have a regular time to touch base with each employee to make sure they feel supported in this turbulent time. 

 

Read this for tips for successful one-on-ones. While we hope these software and workflow suggestions will provide value to your work from home routine if you need a custom software solution to streamline your business’ unique needs, contact our experts at Inventive.

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