Menu

Search

  |   Business

Menu

  |   Business

Search

How to Help Employees Thrive While Working From Home

Even though 3.4% of the American workforce had already worked from home pre-Covid-19, the practice will certainly become even more popular post-pandemic.

Implementing a work-from-home routine that allows both your employees and your company to thrive is challenging at the best of times. Undoubtedly, it becomes even more of a challenge when it is done at short notice and with very little warning.

Let’s explore what you can do to help your team do its best.

Health comes first

Healthcare benefits have been a burning topic since the pandemic has hit the US. However, there is more you can (and should) do to keep your employees healthy than offering comprehensive healthcare insurance.

Working from home can be very taxing on both mental and physical health, so encourage your staff to step away from their screens and get as much exercise and fresh air as they can. You can offer subscriptions to online workout classes, or even host a team workout session.

Offering mental health counseling for those who are particularly struggling with the situation and are having a tough time adjusting to the new way of working can also be an incredible gesture.

Finally, enforce the importance of sleep among your staff. Sleeping on a comfortable mattress is essential, so help your team out and enable them to get the best possible mattresses for their own needs.

Remember that healthy and happy employees are productive employees, so never allow their wellbeing to suffer.

Time for social interaction

The main challenge of working from home (especially during a pandemic) is the lack of social interaction. Making the time and space for it should also be one of your priorities.

However, do bear in mind that virtual call and chat fatigue is a reality, so don’t take up too much time every day with video calls. A weekly catch up should be enough – or better yet, make two, one exclusively for work, and the other exclusively for non-work.

Remember to remind your employees to get as much human contact as they safely can – and when the pandemic lifts, if you still choose to work from home, make weekly group meals a routine.

Invest in the right tools

Unless all members of your team have taken some tech from the office home with them, make sure you check with them individually about the resources they have at home – as someone might simply not have a computer that is fast enough to be able to work on every day.

Make sure to get everyone all the technology they need. Don’t just believe them when they tell you they don’t mind if the internet connection is a bit slower – upgrade them to a better package from your own budget.

Working from home only works if the right setting is available. So, if someone doesn’t have the space at home, have plenty of understanding for them and let them work at different times if they need to. Not everyone has a spare room ready to be turned into an office.

Communicate better and more often

When everyone is in the same space at the same time, it’s easy to pass on information – even the most trivial things get passed the grapevine and people hear about them in time.

When you are all working from home, knowing what is going on in another department is quite a challenge, so make sure you enforce clearer and more open lines of communication.

Every piece of information that would help an employee out should be shared. You can organize a virtual bulletin board where every important notice will be posted (Notion can be a great option, as can Padlet), as opposed to resorting to meetings or emails.

Even something as simple as a general overview of the week can be helpful – as your staff will feel more uncertain and less in the loop about what is going on and how it impacts their jobs.

Set the right time

Working from home is a trap for working all day – and even the best organized among your staff will sometimes stay at work late just because they can.

This certainly is the best possible time to allow your employees all the flexibility working from home can offer, but you should still set some sort of working hours. This will not only help all of you communicate better, but it will also provide a basic timeframe everyone can work around.

You don’t need to make this the whole eight hours – four hours a day when you are all present will be enough, and the other four (or three or five) can be worked around.

Make sure all meetings are scheduled in advance, so that everyone has time to organize things like lunch, kids, and so on.

Final thoughts

Working from home will need a bit of getting used to. But as it is one of the most coveted perks of most modern-day employees, take it as is, and do your best to make the transition to it as seamless and stress-free as you can.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes

  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.