How to Transition Employees to Working From Home

The best way to get started on drafting your company's policy regarding remote work is to consult and collaborate with internal stakeholders, such as management, team leads, HR, and legal.

You will need to assess what is needed to ensure that employees are well equipped to work from home and the processes that must be put into place to efficiently manage the workforce.

The very first step in transitioning employees to working from home is to draw up a remote work policy. The policy must be clear for your employees to understand without having to contract the help of a lawyer.

A remote work policy essentially defines how employees will work remotely and covers topics such as working hours, software tools, and how productivity is measured. A company's remote work policy should ideally be reviewed and updated at least once a year.

Basic topics covered in a remote work policy:

• Who is eligible to work from home.
• How frequent employees may work from home (e.g. part-time or full-time).
• What the availability requirements and specifics regarding working hours are.
• Which software applications and tools are to be used (e.g. for collaboration, storage, security, meetings).
• How employees should communicate.
• How time and deliverables are tracked.

In your remote work policy, you may have already defined the specific programs and tools employees should use when they are working from home. These may include workflow automation tools, software, and hardware, depending on the type of work they're required to perform.

Software tools for remote work:

• Project management software is incredibly useful and convenient for teams to plan, budget, organize, and manage projects. Many project management software tools are cloud-based, making them ideal for remotely managing and streamlining workflows.

• Collaboration tools are another vital tool for businesses to organize and store information, communicate within teams and across departments, share files, and more. When evaluating which collaboration tool to use, keep in mind that it should be easy for every employee to use, integrate well with other software you currently use, and ensure adequate data security.

• Cloud services are a convenient solution that allows users to back up and access data from different devices that are internet enabled. Rather than storing information on a central computer, cloud services provide the convenience and flexibility of online storage that is needed for businesses with a remote workforce.

• Video conferencing software is already commonly used by many businesses and is a key tool for businesses with remote workers to maintain regular meetings and contact. There are both paid and free options available. Most collaboration tools also support video calls, in which case you may not need a separate program for this.

• Learning management systems are a great way to keep your employees updated with organizational news, processes, and learning materials. Learning management systems make it easy to disseminate learning materials and provide employee training completely remotely.

• Time tracking software can be used to capture employees' working hours, overtime hours, and often includes several additional features, such as scheduling tools and integrations with popular HR and payroll platforms. There are both paid and free options.

• Performance management software makes it easier to track employee productivity and allows for real-time feedback. A useful tool for managers of a remote workforce, performance management software makes it easy to improve employee performance.

• Security is a major concern for any business and especially so for those undergoing a digital transformation. For employees working from home, a VPN (virtual private network) can be used to create a more secure connection and guard against online security threats. See and compare some of the top cybersecurity solutions.

• Remote access software is used to access remote computers to provide technical support, such as troubleshooting system issues and updating software. Discover and compare some of the leading paid and free options.

• Password managers can be very useful if you have multiple programs for each of which your employees have separate login passwords. Both free and paid options are available.

Ideally, you should equip each of your employees with these tools, such as specific equipment, install software programs on the laptops they will use, and provide them with the necessary training while they are still in the office, as the setup and training, while not impossible, can be more challenging when done remotely.

Management practices and processes will inevitably change when a workforce transitions from a traditional office environment to working from home. Managers and team leaders will have to adjust to relinquishing some control and build trust. Collaborate with your managers and team leaders to establish your management strategy.

As a manager or team leader you should guide and support your employees throughout the transition process and manage expectations. Make sure they understand the new processes, have all the tools they need, and know how to use them.

Support your employees while they set themselves up to work from home. Not all employees may have the ideal home environment to accommodate a home office and perhaps there are some things you can do to help with this, such as supplying equipment and providing tips and best practice solutions for creating a boundary between their work and home life.

Help employees devise a daily work schedule and encourage them to establish a regular routine. A well-structured workday will help employees stay on track with what must be done.

Make sure that your employees know what you expect of them and set clear, achievable goals. Beyond assigning tasks and setting deadlines, employees are best prepared for remote work and most productive when they are given one-on-one guidance and reassurance with regard to their performance.

Keep checking in with employees, how they are managing with specific tasks, and build a strong feedback loop by also encouraging them to check in with you on a regular basis to voice their concerns and any issues or difficulties they may encounter.

While establishing your communication guidelines, you will have set out the types and frequency of meetings. Meetings should be regular and to keep company culture and social interaction up, it is good to start these off with a bit of small talk.

Ask employees how they are doing and encourage all to share their experiences and how they are coping. This type of interchange will not only help employees feel more connected to the team and the business but also afford the opportunity to share some best practices.

After a meeting, it is always good to follow up with an email or chat message, covering key points that were discussed in the meeting, the way forward or what you expect by the next meeting, and a few words of appreciation and motivation.

How to maintain and strengthen company culture within a remote workforce:

• Encourage employees to stay social.
• Have a breakroom or casual chat for employee socializing (water cooler talk).
• Keep up face-to-face communication with video conferencing.
• Offer online training modules to keep employees engaged.
• Hold virtual team-building activities.
• Reward accomplishments.