7 Policies for Managing Work-From-Home Employees

With a call for social distancing to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the United States and globally, it’s likely your business is navigating work-from-home status with all or most of your employees.

While this brings a slew of new challenges, chief among them is managing productivity and policies for your employees now experiencing the freedom of work-from-home. With any type of crisis, the future strength and success of your business will depend on how you react and adapt to the current situation. When it comes to managing work-from-home employees, there are a few common themes: Clear Communication, Clear Expectations, and Clear Metrics. 

Below we’re breaking down our top 7 policies for managing work-from-home employees–anytime, but especially during COVID-19. 

7 Policies for Managing Work-From-Home Employees

1. Require active and frequent communication to avoid any communication gaps while remote. Example: CC and BCC as much as reasonably possible to keep the team in the loop.
2. Establish clear objectives, benchmarks and tracking methods for each employee and each sub-team.
3. Establish company approved applications to streamline communication and remote workflow. Examples: Slack, Zoom, Trello, and Asana.
4. Help employees solve work-from-home challenges early-on by defining the ideal workspace. Examples: dedicated work area, dual monitors, protecting data from others in the household, and a good quality webcam/microphone.
5. Establish regular company WFM routines, such as daily Zoom huddle, weekly all-staff meetings, and an end of day progress report email.
6. Have clear metrics reports at the conclusion of each day to track progress and make adjustments in work flow as needed on a daily basis.
7. Plan on challenges. Have a backup plan for accomplishing key tasks remotely. Examples: if Zoom is down, do a Slack call or a plain old telephone conference call. If you’re remoting into a computer at the office to email, and it goes offline, know how to use the webmail version of your email as a backup.

If your business needs assistance with remote work set-ups, internet connectivity speeds, software installs and updates or general advice on remote technology solutions- don’t hesitate to reach out to PK Tech. We are here to support your essential business needs. Contact us here.