Tips For Supporting Your Remote Workers

After more than two years, it’s obvious everyone is exhausted by this pandemic. With the acknowledgement that we will never fully eradicate the virus, and with new variants sure to emerge in the coming years, businesses are questioning, and attempting to establish, how to move forward in an ever-evolving and confusing landscape.

Much has been written on returning to the office full time, various hybrid model approaches, how corporate spaces must adapt to ensure safe working environments for their employees, etc. The debates around these, and how and when to implement these strategies, are quite vast. It seems everyone, from business leaders and politicians, to medical professionals and even your next door neighbor, has a different view on how to best achieve some sense of forward progress. Here are two articles with such thoughts, Reevaluating the Return to Office for the Modern Workforce and How to Pick the Right Hybrid Work Model.

While I won’t get into what I think are the right or wrong ways to solve the above issues, one thing that is distinctly clear in this challenging puzzle is that the remote work option is surely here to stay. Many companies have already decided to go fully remote indefinitely (33 companies going permanently remote), some have decided the hybrid model is the way to evolve, while others could be forced to fade in and out of remote-mode circumstances as work conditions change, new variants and viruses emerge, and as the world attempts to navigate an unknown path onward. Additionally, as large swathes of people have moved to new locations throughout the pandemic, the workforce for many companies now lives and operates virtually in numerous places all across the globe. In fact, even contact centers believe that fewer than 12% of their agents will be working in the office full time. (2021 CCW Market Study: Future Of The Contact Center: A Forecast)

Since this is likely to provide an ongoing challenge for the foreseeable future, let’s lay down a few ideas companies should consider when thinking about their remote workers and how to best support them in these continuing conditions.

Deliver your employees the tools they need to thrive. 

First and foremost, just as you would do in any traditional office environment, ensure that your at-home employees are equipped with the best possible computers, updated smartphones and high-tech audio / visual equipment for their virtual meetings. Moreover, consider providing them with desks, chairs, printers and storage units such as drawers and cabinets to give your workers the most optimal setup in which to be productive members of your team. Maybe even throw in some company swag or room decor items to boost their mood and make them feel a part of that company family that businesses are always so keen on preaching about. Put your money where your mouth is. If there was ever a time to make employees feel a little bit more included, now would be as good as any. Send remote workers plants or wall art to make their environments that much more inviting in which to work.

You can even give them a stipend to be used specifically for establishing their at-home setup. “Also in March, job marketplace Indeed said it would reimburse its employees up to $500 for standing desks, chairs or lighting in their home. Basecamp, a software company headquartered in Chicago, offers workers $1,000 to get their work station up and running at home, and online textbook company Chegg pays its remote workers’ monthly internet bill and gives them $500 for home office furnishings.” (Annie Nova via CNBC)

With many companies downsizing their office floor plans or ending office rental leases altogether, surely some of the additional budgetary savings could be reallocated to help remote employees achieve a more productive setup. Also, businesses that previously offered employees travel reimbursements may have additional resources to spend here as they no longer need to provide this service to those employees who are not commuting into the office on a regular basis. Again, use the difference to invest in your team.

Support your workers with virtual meetings.

As most have already become accustomed to, continue to utilize the virtual meeting option to check in on your employees throughout the week. Here at CCW, my boss does this a few times each week. It’s an excellent way to stay connected, feel supported and on track for the objectives which I need to accomplish each week. It also builds community and the more of this we can create, I think we can all agree, the better off we’ll all be in the long run.

Additionally, have virtual hangouts that aren’t just about work. 

In order to help build that teamwork atmosphere that everyone knows and loves, do your best to recreate that same experience with those working virtually. If the business model currently requires some members to work in the office or in a hybrid manner, this is an option that can help bring everyone together. Activities like Zoom games, trivia, magic shows and just general online happy hour events help build team connections. You can send everyone working from home a fun package, a bottle of wine, or a Lego set which they can all build together over Teams or Webex.

Provide employees with a monthly budget for delivery food.

Prior to the pandemic, many employees took advantage of the discounted company cafeterias, street food trucks and the delivery service offerings in many cities. Particularly on overly busy work days, these options significantly enhanced employees abilities to quickly obtain a quality meal while also keeping up with the high demands of the day.

Consider offering a monthly food budget for those working remotely too. Just as there are busy days in the office, the same goes for the remote locations. Having the option to order Seamless or Uber Eats on those days when work is a bit overwhelming will ensure your employees are fueled to perform to the best of their abilities.

Consider online training courses to support employee growth.

Since so much can be achieved virtually these days, endless opportunities abound for you to provide various services to improve the lives of your employees. Virtual gym memberships with access to classes, bringing in an online ergonomics expert to ensure employees’ home setups are optimized, mental health opportunities to engage in meditations or to speak with a mental health professional over video, chances to learn about how to best present oneself on camera, etc. are all excellent chances to enhance the at-home experience.

Remember to give your employees the space to allocate their work day in their own unique and personal way.

As we’re all adjusting to these new ways of operating in our daily lives and interacting with our at-home setups, remember to exercise patience, something our society at times seems to be ever short on these days. Everyone is learning and doing their best, and it’s important to keep this top of mind. In addition, remember to not bombard your employees 24/7 with work emails and Slack team messages. Just because they are operating remotely, doesn’t mean they don’t need their own time to “live” in other ways. Perhaps obvious, but easily and often forgotten. Just something to keep in mind here.

A final thought.

Even prior to the pandemic, we were all accelerating towards this digital and virtual direction of work and life. The pandemic has clearly only hastened this movement. The sooner companies jump onboard and embrace this change, the more likely they are to create happy and productive employees for the metaverse or whatever other wild worlds in which we’re all going to be living. I’m not saying I like it. I don’t even like my smartphone, but as with so many other things in this life, I’ve got to carry one with me in order to operate in today’s quick moving society. Companies that recognize these seismic shifts and that can adapt appropriately will be the ones that set themselves up for success.