Your business operates on a work-from-home basis, which can be extremely advantageous. Certainly, you’ve run the numbers and figured out that working remotely saves an absolute fortune on office costs. There’s no need to pay rent, employees use their own equipment, you don’t have extortionate energy bills, etc.
The list can go on and on, but there are still elements of working from home that need to be…refined. Some issues can arise that might damage business productivity and efficiency. So, here are some work-from-home essentials your company needs right now:
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Health & safety checks
You might think health & safety is a thing of the past when working from home. But, as a business owner, you are still responsible for ensuring your workers operate in safe environments. While you can’t control everything, you can provide checks to see what their workspace looks like. From here, you can make recommendations for better equipment to ensure they’re comfortable while working.
This does two things.
Firstly, it shows that you are actively trying to help your employees, which means you can’t be hit with any health & safety penalties. Secondly, recommending better and more ergonomic equipment can make your employees more comfortable, leading to better work performance at home.
A mass texting service
Staying in contact with your employees is super important when working from home. We’ll talk about other things you need in a moment, but a business texting service should be near the top of the list. A service like this can allow you to send automated texts straight to your employee’s phones.
Why is this important?
Because your team could work different schedules as working from home allows them to be flexible. In fact, flexibility is encouraged to allow workers to find their most productive work patterns. So, sending texts ensures messages go directly to your employees when required, rather than being lost in an email inbox. You can also use these services to send out reminders for deadlines, preventing instances when people forget to finish work on time.
A cloud-based suite
There are lots of cloud-based suites out there for businesses to use these days. Essentially, we’re talking about software that includes lots of applications and features for a company to utilize. As an example, Microsoft Teams lets you host video conferences, send messages to employees, and collaborate on other Microsoft Office documents.
Everyone is based remotely, so you need to find ways of making collaboration easier. Cloud-based suites do exactly that. They bring you closer to your employees, letting you all talk together in real-time when needed. They also let employees work with each other at the same time, so it feels like you’re in an office, but you’re not.
An intranet
Put simply, an intranet is a private network that you and your employees can access. When used correctly, it can really empower your remote workers. Again, this can be a tool for collaboration, but it can also be where people access important information. Company documents and policies can be stored on the intranet, as can things like training videos and other educational resources for employees.
Your intranet could also be where employees go to request time off or speak to people in HR. It’s basically the online hub for your business, and it can’t be ignored.
Cybersecurity
Think about what it means to work from home. Every single thing that you do will be online in some form. For the most part, you’re working over the cloud, sending things to employees, sharing documents, sharing data, and so on. Unfortunately, the downside of working from home is that the cybersecurity risks increase.
Yes, having an intranet with excellent cyber protection can stop people from hacking your private network. However, you also have to worry about the networks of all your employees. What’s stopping them from being hacked, meaning someone has access to their computer, possibly gaining unauthorized access to business information?
This is why it is super important to educate your employees on cybersecurity, while also outlining some key policies. For instance, nobody is allowed to store company data on their PC. Everything should be in secure cloud folders, reducing the risk of breaches if an individual gets hacked. Show your employees how to recognize phishing emails or messages, stopping them from accidentally granting hackers access to their hardware. You simply cannot run a business from home if you don’t take cybersecurity seriously.
If you want to make WFH successful for your business, you need to have these five things. They are essential as they help you run a productive, efficient, and secure company.
