The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 put forth a challenge for all belonging to the world’s working class. We all now create our workplace whenever and wherever we log-in to work. It may be the new normal. Thus, professionals around the world need to become habituated and comfortable working from home.
Working from home offers different challenges to every person engaged in it. Whether you are a crew member or at the helm, it is easy to be overwhelmed. But that does not warrant for acting irresponsibly. Even in the lack of office space, one must maintain the utmost professional standards. If you are starting on this new experience, knowing a few ground rules is essential.
If you are a leader…
Check-in with your team: Every person faces their issues getting familiarised with this work culture. Differing home atmospheres, accessibility to the required infrastructure, and problem-solving abilities make every team member different. Check-in with every member personally, making sure things are in place as they should be to ensure maximum productivity. Offer help in case of any problem, professional or otherwise.
Stick to the same schedule: Constantly changing daily schedules can confuse people. Maintaining a regular schedule can offer some sense of balance and reliability. It also establishes exact working hours that can help the team members develop a schedule of their own to devote time to work and life.
Non-monetary incentives: Sometimes offering financial benefits to your employees can be difficult, if not impossible. Offer better creative incentives in the form of regular appreciations for innovative solutions, celebrate on-time performance, acknowledge and reward consistency in performance, and more. These efforts will ensure more engaged participation of your team members.
Maintaining morale: Once everything is set up, it is essential to keep it running smoothly. Regular, well-planned meetings and online group activities encourage team-participation and engagement. It is easy for employees to feel dejected if they do not have regular contact and revaluation with the leader and the rest of the team members. Don’t shy away from compliments or dishing out some constructive criticism. As long as everyone feels involved and stays that way, do what it takes.
Clear-cut communication: Maintain a constant and consistent flow of information among your team members. Share your expectations of your team members. Please encourage them to be timely and openly share their criticism of you. Misalignment and miscommunication of goals can prove detrimental during crisis resolution and hamper productivity. Work-from-home will further aggravate the situation compared to the physical-world in-office, face-to-face interactions.
If you are a team member…
Availability: Working from home sure does offer flexible working hours. However, at such times, a vital member of the team might be unavailable when critically necessary. Consistency of availability is the key. Therefore, establishing individual operating hours may be allowed in the interest of one’s freedom; the team member must inform about the availability well in advance. Thus, other members of the team get enough and the much needed time to align their schedules.
Speak up; not out: In case of inconvenience or personal issues faced during working from home, it is better to speak up and let the leaders know, instead of bearing the inconvenience beyond the level of tolerance. Raising the right questions at the right time without causing conflict is essential. Or else it can easily take the form of misinformation, and you can be held accountable for such mistakes.
Get tech-savvy: Working from home means digital life. Learning the basics of working online will make the work easier. A little more advanced knowledge of data-sharing, data-security will make you a valuable part of the team. Educating yourself about the latest in technology is the key, or it might put the entire operation’s interests in danger.
The work chat: Establish contact with the rest of the team members under an environment not supervised by the team leader. It will enable a much more comfortable sharing of ideas, problems, and thereby, quicker resolution of issues without the team leader’s dependence. Good communication leads to even better teamwork and overall impressive results on the part of every individual.
WFH goals
We all play both the roles – professional and personal – in some capacity or the other, whether at home or office. It is critical to remember that the ultimate goal is the same, even though the method of working might differ. Even when working from home, you are still working to your optimal capability, and of course, to earn your living. We must always remember the age-old saying: we are all sailing the same boat, and we must work together to stay afloat.
Drafted by Isha Gokhale, Editorial Consultant (From November 2020), Ascharya Creative Communications