By Winnie Kabintie

Over the last couple of weeks, organizations are encouraging their employees to work remotely from home, as one of the major ways of maintaining social distancing in an effort to control the spreading of COVID-19.

Working remotely has its fair share of challenges including different time zones for organizations that have staff across different regions, which becomes quite a challenge for virtual meetings or even day-to-day engagement with staff, but whatever the case, Communication remains a key component of remote work.

In this article, we have compiled 5 tips to guide organizations on how they can get to help their employees stay productive while working remotely.

1. Develop an internal communications strategy – Effective Communication is crucial for a virtual work environment and especially in times of crisis.  It’s therefore very important for organizations to maintain clear, reliable and regular communication with staff members. This can be through emails, newsletters, phone calls, WhatsApp, etc.
2. Have Regular video conferencing – Make use of virtual conferencing tools to schedule both formal and informal video conferencing with staff members. This will go along away in maintaining a connection with team members and also in getting updates on what they are working on. The informal video conferencing is also a good time for the management to show staff members that you care about their well being and will definitely go along way in boosting their morale.
3.  Provide technical support – for employees to work productively from home, they need access to tools and gadgets to facilitate their work. This includes; Airtime, laptops and high-speed internet.  It’s therefore important for organizations to extend support on this area and also ensure that any expectations and deliverables from staff members are laid out with this knowledge in mind.
4.  Be Flexible – While there is work to be done, the mental wellness of your employees is also just as crucial. Other than work, employees are also worried about the coronavirus epidemic and the challenges it has brought forth. They are concerned about their families and where to get basic supplies. Therefore, this is not the time to micro-manage them. It’s, therefore, important for organizations to maintain realistic expectations, set goals and trust that employees will do their job, without attempting to control what they are doing with their time by the hour.
5. Give regular updates on the status of COVID-19 – While the government and relevant health organizations are providing updates on the status of CODID-19. It’s important for organizations to provide their own updates to their employees especially on relevant crucial information like travel and lockdown restrictions.