The show must go on and so do the business!
The recent COVID-19 outbreak has caused almost all organizations to deploy remote work strategies for their employees. Most of the organizations have released contingency plans for their employees that include mandatory working from home. The key area to address from a technology perspective is the ability for all the employees to collaborate with their teams and customers while being able to access all the tools and business applications that they would need to get their work done.
For some of the companies that haven’t managed remote employees in any great number, the transition to this new working style could prove to be complex. To make things easier for you, here’s a checklist of actions that you should be considering. This checklist has been put together based on our experience in successfully implementing a business continuity plan. We understand that the list might not appear to be very detailed, considering the fact that every business is different. However, this list will help you put the right foot forward while rolling out a business continuity plan.
We conducted this survey two weeks prior to rolling out Work From Home across the organization. This survey helped us to determine the availability of systems that can be used for work as well as the availability of high-speed internet access with our employees. Based on the data points gathered from this survey, right steps were taken by the Business Continuity team to ensure all our employees are well-equipped with all the resources required.
Sample Employee Survey for Work For Home Readiness
While Project managers are ensuring they adhere to delivery deadlines even during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the onus falls on the System Administrators or IT Admins to provide the technologies necessary for employees to work remotely and enable the project managers to maintain business continuity. Here we discuss the top things that IT admins need to start thinking about to implement a remote working plan.
Data Security
VPN Connections
Devices and Systems
Home Networks
The unprecedented coronavirus pandemic has thrust project managers with perhaps their greatest career challenge. While countries are going into lockdowns and people are staying indoors, it is upto the project managers to take care of their team members while also ensuring business operations run as usual. Here are a few tips for project managers to help them build an agile, collaborative work environment for remote team members that facilitates good project performance.
Standup Meetings
Tracking Team Performance
Hiring and Onboarding recruits during a situation like COVID-19 could prove to be a herculean task if one is not organized and well prepared for the situation.
Hiring
Pre-Joining and Onboarding
Training and Development
Technology has helped people connect irrespective of the distance, and thus it could be safely said that ‘Remote Work’ does not put an end to the process of learning.
Here are some items to consider when implementing a work from home policy so that companies are ready for working remotely:
Work From Home – Best Practices