Executive Summary
- According to government data, almost 50% of us worked from home during April 2020. Since then, many of have continued to do our work away from the office – but how does this impact productivity?
- In this article, we’ll explore the potential issues of home working, specifically around productivity, and how you can use IT-based solutions to solve them.
Introduction
2020 has been an adjustment for all of us.
Whether that’s getting used to having the kids around while you’re trying to work, or adjusting to digital forms of socialising, it’s not been an easy ride for any of us.
One particular area where many have struggled is the world of work. With almost 50% of the UK workforce working from home as of April 2020, it’ll come as no surprise that teething pains are inevitable – especially around productivity.
If you manage a team and they’re having some issues with motivation and productivity, proper IT support can be the solution.
So, let’s get more specific.
Here are 6 of the most common work-from-home issues – and how you can solve them with technology.
#1: Your employees feel cut off and team cohesion is suffering
Many employees have had a similar experience when moving to a work-from-home situation: they love it at first, but it gets tough over time. The main reason for this is that working alone at home can become very isolating – even with phone calls and emails.
Technology can help here in a significant way, because it delivers as close to face-to-face contact as it’s possible to get outside of the office. With a collaborative tool like Microsoft Teams, you’ll be able to set up regular “stand-up” meetings where you all connect and talk about what you’re working on.
This helps the business, no doubt – but it’s great for mental health too.
#2: Your team is facing technical issues at home with nobody around to help them
What happens if you’re in the office and you hit the “blue screen of death” or your laptop is just running slowly? If you don’t have a dedicated IT department, there’s often a single IT person to help… or perhaps your team simply resorts to Googling it.
Whatever the case, when your team is flying solo at home and they hit technical issues, the isolation can amplify the problem and make resolution take even longer than it normally would. That’s not a very effective use of company time and can lead to unnecessary stress for your team.
Need a solution to all these technical headaches? We’ve got one.
Choosing an IT support company like Get Support is the perfect cost-effective alternative to a dedicated IT department. With our support team’s ability to remotely solve IT problems, it’ll be like your employees have someone right there with them fixing the issue on the spot – and all while socially distanced, of course.
Even better, our remote team can continue to help your business solve technical problems even after you return to the office – no Googling required!
#3: Employees are having a hard time prioritising their tasks
One of the first things to prove difficult when moving to a WFH arrangement is often prioritisation of tasks.
In the office, it’s easy to judge the importance of a task based on how many people are breathing down your neck for it. When you’re at home? It’s not so clear. Luckily, there are plenty of digital solutions for helping your employees to triage their workload.
Microsoft actually has a brand-new project tracking and organisation tool called Microsoft Lists which is set to be added to the 365 line-up during late 2020. In the meantime, your team can start tracking their day-to-day tasks using Microsoft To Do. This free to-do list app is based on the popular Wunderlist, meaning it’s got some serious prioritization tech powering it under the hood.
#4: Remote desktop connections to the office are slow or unreliable
While apps like Microsoft Teams are excellent for collaborating on files, sharing documents, and so on, there are times when your team will need files from your on-site server. In this case, they’ll often use a Remote Desktop tool to log in as though they were at their desk.
Sounds great, right? But without a reliable business connection, the volume of concurrent users can sometimes result in slow transfers or simply a laggy experience.
The solution is simple: ensure your business internet line is up to scratch.
And wouldn’t you just know it? We have a sister company, Public Internet, which specialises in exactly that. Even better, with our very own infrastructure installed across the UK, we don’t resell anyone else’s services – meaning we have direct access to solve problems. And fast.
#5: Your team wants the flexibility of using their own devices, but can’t
Your team will only be as productive as the tools they have at their disposal, which is usually their work laptop.
But, when working from home is so unpredictable, there might be times when using a laptop isn’t practical or even possible. In these cases, giving your team the option to use their own smartphone or tablet can be the best way to go. Known as “Bring Your Own Device”, or BYOD, it can be as comprehensive as you want it to be – from simply setting up email access to installing special software to protect your business-critical files.
Want to know more about getting your remote team mobile? Just get in touch.
#6: The line between home life and work life is getting blurry
When your home is your office and your office is your home, it’s no surprise that a lot of us have a hard time “switching off”. This doesn’t just go for employees, either – managers and business owners are not immune.
If the line between work and home has become blurry, there are several IT-based options you can try. Our trusty Microsoft Teams allows you to add any of your Microsoft Outlook calendars to view within the app, so you could create a team calendar showing each of your employee’s working hours – or their meetings – to ensure colleagues don’t add pressure by inviting them to meetings that are technically out of hours.
Doing this has two positive impacts: first, it’ll mean meetings won’t be scheduled outside of people’s hours; and second, it’ll create the distinction between work and home, giving employees mental permission to actually clock off for the day.
Supercharge your home workforce with a support agreement from Get Support
With decades of experience setting up UK businesses with the right IT infrastructure, our team are experts when it comes to working from home.
If you’d like the peace-of-mind of knowing that your remote team is able to do their best work and stay motivated, get in touch today. With an IT support agreement from Get Support, you’ll be able to do all of that and much more.
Start the conversation today by calling us on 01865 59 4000.
