5 ways to ensure your staff stay productive when remote

Making the move from office-based to home-based working comes with its challenges. Particularly if your staff have not worked remotely before.

Here are five ways you can ensure your staff stay productive when working from home.

1. Create a dedicated working space
   

   Whether it’s a spare bedroom, at the dining table or in a study nook, your staff need to be working from a dedicated and organised space everyday. Designating a workplace to specifically get work done will ensure productivity and efficiency in your team - especially if there are other people working from the same home.

2. Ensure it’s distraction free
   

   Working from home can be fraught with distractions. Support your staff member in setting up their work space and ensure they limit noise and distractions. This will improve their focus, resulting in improved productivity. If your staff members will be sharing their workplace with other individuals, suggest for them to use noise cancelling headphones or to work in a room with a door.

3. Pre-plan each day
   

   Deliverables and deadlines can be easy to lose track off, especially when you’re at home. Add that to the lack of supervision and it can be extremely hard for your staff to stay motivated. So, have your staff pre-plan their day with to-do lists or work in progress documents to keep them accountable. Crossing off jobs when completed is a simple yet effective task that will fulfil your staff whilst keeping them motivated. Now might also be a good time to introduce a project management tool (e.g. Monday). This will help your staff manage their time efficiently, provide full transparency and will also give you a good understanding of their capacity.

4. Check the tech
   

   This one is crucial. Your staff need to have all necessary tools to be able to do their job properly. Without the right tech or equipment, they are going to struggle. Leverage great communication tools (e.g. Skype or Zoom) and the cloud - a place where you can save and collaborate on documents that are accessible to everyone in your team.

5. Communication is key
   

   Ensure your staff are aware of how they will be managed in a work from home environment. Whether that’s weekly WIP meetings or daily progress reporting - this will be based on what will work most effectively for the structure of your team and they way in which you want to work. Set the expectations on communication from the offset and have them stick to it.

What else can you do to support your team?

Encourage your team to eat healthy, stay active and to take their breaks as they normally would. This is an emotional time for everyone, so make sure that you are creating an open and safe space for your staff. If they are struggling and need a day off, let them know that’s okay. Happy staff will ensure a productive output for your organisation.

Want to know how else you can prepare your business for an uncertain future? Read this blog to find out how.