Five Steps to Successfully Transition to Long Term Remote Work

Remote work has become the new reality for many workers around the world. Now that workers are entering their ninth month of telecommuting, what started as something they had to reckon with for just a few weeks is turning into a more long-term arrangement, forcing enterprises to shift their entire working culture to figure out what works (and what doesn’t) as they go along. Now that companies are expecting to extend telecommuting through 2021, they are faced with effectively transitioning employees into working from home for the long term. If your company has decided to turn its remote situation into a more permanent solution, there are steps you can take to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

Encourage Employees to Create a Dedicated Workspace

If your team is used to commuting to an office, it can be difficult to trick the mind into focusing elsewhere. The best way to compensate for this is by encouraging your team members to put together a dedicated space in their home and try to emulate a working environment as much as possible. Even if it’s just a computer monitor on the dining room table or a desk in their room, having a space to walk away from at the end of the day can help facilitate healthy mental transitions between work and personal time. And speaking of which…

Set Boundaries Between Work Time and Personal Time

One of the most common complaints about remote work from employees revolves around an inability to demarcate between their job and their home life. And now, since work is at home, that line is becoming even more blurred which can lead to a litany of issues like employee burnout, lost productivity, and general worker unhappiness.  In fact, “a global study conducted by Qualtrics, SAP and Mind Share Partners found that over 40% of respondents said their mental health has declined since the outbreak of COVID-19, with more workers reporting high levels of anxiety and stress.”

Do your best to create firm working hours for your team and encourage all team members to stick to them (that means in their own interactions as well). Nine times out of ten, that after-hours Slack message or work email can wait until the morning. It will be okay. 

Power Up Productivity With Out-of-the-Box Communication Tactics

If you’re anything like some of the companies we talk to, your inbox has been overflowing and overwhelming since the beginning of the pandemic. You’re probably also suffering from some severe “Zoom burnout” as well since businesses are increasingly using video conferencing solutions to conduct meetings. And while both of these are convenient ways to communicate, they both exacerbate the daily stressors your employees are already contending with. That’s why some of the most forward-thinking leaders are reimagining what the corporate communication and training structure should look like in order to better suit the needs of their workers and the demands of the current climate. And many are finding video is the solution they need for the moment. 

Not only does recording a quick video do a good job of capturing essential information quickly, but it also gives your workers a point of reference to refer back to at a later time in case they forget something. The best part is that you don’t just need to use video to capture one-off communications. It can also be used for:

• All-hands, team, or department meetings: Employees are usually spread out across many different time zones and have other commitments so it can be difficult to get everyone together at the same time, in the same way. Video enables you to share key company communications with your employees and guarantee they are able to access the information at a time that works for them, whether it’s while multitasking at work, exercising at the gym, or just doing chores around the house.
• Policy updates
• Providing a central repository for company communications, announcements, and onboarding modules
• Amplifying executive-employee communications
• Encourage on-the-job training and continuous learning
• Tips the department can use
• A use case they are working on and how they solved the problem
• Product updates
• Fun content that shows their office or workspace
• How they are spending their day

The numbers don’t lie: “According to a recent study, 76 percent of companies who used video found improved communications among remote employees, while 58 percent of companies found “increased alignment with company and organizational goals.”

Overcommunicate

It might seem antithetical to the point we laid out above but it’s really not. The fact is, overcommunication is critical for teams working remotely, as there are significant nuance and nonverbal cues that are removed when teams go virtual. This is particularly troublesome when tones are misread or something is assumed..but it’s just another reason to consider capturing communications on video. Not only does this extra layer of personability become essential to maintaining bonds between team members, but it can also help you continue to cultivate a positive company culture, even when you can’t be in the same room. 

Implement the Proper Communication Tools

Of course, creating these great communications really is only half the battle: you also need a place to store them and create a tech infrastructure that works. For video to become a seamless part of your company’s communication and training efforts, you should implement an enterprise video management platform that seamlessly integrates with your existing tech stack. These features are especially important:

• Enterprise-grade security: You’ll likely be sharing sensitive information, so your platform needs to incorporate the latest security protocols to keep communication from getting leaked. 
• Access controls: The capability to restrict viewing to specific groups, teams, and individuals should be available. 
• Mobile-friendly: Information should be readily available, allowing your employees to access the most up-to-date information at any time, from anywhere, regardless of if they have wifi access or not.
• Analytics: Communication managers should have access to an extensive analytics suite that gives them insight into who is watching content, what they are watching, and when. Utilizing these data points can help you create a data-informed strategy that can help your company drive better ROI, even if you’re in the middle of a pandemic. 

By putting the proper tools and protocols in place, you can set your employees up for a long-term remote work experience that is productive and contributes to the overall well-being of team members and company alike. 

If you’d like to learn more about how CircleHD’s Enterprise Video Management platform can help you communicate better at your enterprise, we’d love to chat.