The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to switch to large-scale remote working for their employees to ensure business continuity. Many experts think that ‘work from home‘ is likely to become the new normal going forward. This comprehensive guide for implementing ‘Work from Home‘ looks at the challenges and their possible solutions.
The whole idea of ‘Work from Home‘ is based on the ability of an employee to fulfill their daily office responsibilities from their homes with the same level of efficiency and commitment.
However, it requires organizations to provide employees with an adequate level of support to make ‘Work from Home’ a success.
Allowing employees to work from home can provide multiple benefits.
Firstly, it can ensure a better work-life balance for employees, which can, in turn, impact their motivation and efficiency positively.
Also, it can help employees get more out of a typical workday by saving the time usually spent commuting.
Most importantly, it can help organizations cut down on their real estate and overhead costs significantly.
Therefore, it can be a win-win situation for the organizations and their employees.
Read more about the Benefits of Work from Home for organizations as well as the employees.
The concept of ‘Work from Home‘ poses new challenges for organizations.
The most important of these challenges are as follows:
The biggest challenge faced by businesses in enabling work from home for their employees is maintaining their productivity and efficiency.
The question being asked by organizations is whether employees can work at the same level of efficiency and dedication from home as compared to working from the office.
Organizations also need to make the right digital tools and infrastructure available to employees to make it possible for them to work from home.
Employees also need to be comfortable using these technologies and tools
Internet connectivity is the most critical aspect for ensuring a smooth ‘work from home’ experience.
Arranging for a fast and stable internet connection can be a major challenge.
Most organizations find it difficult to understand how to maintain teamwork and collaboration between members of the workforce who are working remotely.
The other challenge posed to organizations when employees work alone from home is how to keep the employees engaged and sustain the organizational culture.
The above challenges make it difficult for organizations to adopt work from home as a permanent part of their operations strategy.
However, thankfully most of these challenges can be overcome with proper planning and well-thought-through policies and processes.
Here are a few tips that can help organizations get the most from their ‘work from home’ employees.
1. Enable a digital workplace
2. Support for infrastructure and connectivity
3. Training and coaching
4. Regular communication
5. Flexible working hours
Organizations need to invest in the right digital tools and technologies required for employees to work from home efficiently. Organizations should digitize all possible business processes.
They need to provide employees with digital tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) web conferencing platforms, online document storage and sharing platforms, etc.
They should have access to applications that they would normally use when they are operating from the office.
Remote technical support for these tools should also be made available.
Organizations need to formulate policies to address issues related to internet connectivity and infrastructure such as power backup.
Also, a stable internet connection from a reliable service provider is the bare minimum.
Additionally, organizations need to provide online training programs for employees for skill development and enhancement.
This should be supplemented by coaching from their supervisors and other identified subject matter experts.
Also, organizations should make constant efforts to assuage any discomfort that their remote-working employees may have through extensive communication.
Therefore, managers should conduct virtual team meetings, enable online informal interaction, recognize their efforts and achievements, and provide support and guidance.
Organizations need to adopt a more flexible approach toward the work schedules for their ‘work from home’ employees.
Hence, this would help employees with better work-life balance and maximize their productivity by adjusting their work timings.
Implementing ‘Work from Home’ may pose certain challenges for organizations; however, if planned and managed well it can yield long-term business benefits for the organizations as well as for the employees.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of experience in the corporate world and entrepreneurship. In the past, Sagar has worked with companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank, in leadership roles. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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