The spread of COVID-19 – also known as the coronavirus – is affecting how organisations do business on a massive scale. In the United States alone, tech companies and government officials have been asking employees to start working from home.

• Seattle’s King County is encouraging companies to allow remote work.
  
  
• Amazon has asked employees to test virtual private networks (or VPNs), which may mean that they may have to telecommute.
  
  
• JPMorgan has started a pilot program called “Project Kennedy“, which asks about 10% of its staff to work remotely as part of the financial institution’s resiliency testing.

Remote work is no longer a novelty

While the abrupt work-from-home growth is expected to be temporary, know that the overall trend of telecommuting isn’t. According to a FlexJobs and Global Workplace Analytics study, there’s been a 91% growth in remote work in the past 10 years (which has nothing to do with the coronavirus).

The sudden demand for remote work, however, will likely bring permanent change. Jennifer Christie, Twitter’s head of human resources told BuzzFeed News:

“We’ll never probably be the same. People who were reticent to work remotely will find that they really thrive that way. Managers who didn’t think they could manage teams that were remote will have a different perspective. I do think we won’t go back.”

What your team will need

However, switching to a telecommuting setup will pose challenges to newcomers. For your team to function remotely, you’ll need the following:

• Proper hardware – Each team member expected to work remotely will need laptops.
  
  
• Software – The list includes cloud integration, remote access VPNs, remote desktop, and team management tools (e.g. project management software, time-tracking software).
  
  
• Training – Each team member expected to work remotely have to be trained in using the hardware and software.
  
  
• Sufficient bandwidth – It’s not enough for remote employees to use public Wi-Fi; they need high-speed internet connectivity to do their work properly.
  
  
• IT support – Employees working from home will also need IT support when they encounter hardware or software issues – particularly for the remote newbies.
  
  
• A change in mindset – Telecommuting isn’t like regular office work; employees and leaders must change the way they approach it. When remote work starts, both should be more conscious of their collaboration and communication efforts.

Remote working tips

Remote Workmate has been running a distributed workforce for several years now, so we know a thing or two about telecommuting. Here are some tips to help further along your team’s transition to working from home:

Continue developing rapport with your remote team
Why? Because communicating is one of the major challenges in remote work, and moments that happen naturally in a traditional office (e.g. sharing cake, chatting by the cooler) never occurs in telecommuting.

And still, rapport is crucial in leadership. It motivates your employees, makes them more receptive to feedback, and fosters a positive environment. Here are a few ways how you can develop rapport:

Use video whenever you can
Because a major part of communication is non-verbal, you and your team are missing out a lot if you get in touch only through voice calls or emails. You won’t see body language, mood, and immediate reactions.

To get around this, have meetings via video whenever possible. Don’t forget to record meetings so those unable to attend can catch up.

Set up a dedicated workspace and establish boundaries
Each team member will need a dedicated space to do their work remotely. Otherwise, they’ll keep getting distracted by domestic concerns during work hours. Plus, having a home office will help them:

• Get into the proper work mindset.
• Get out of the work mindset when necessary. This helps people establish boundaries between their work and home life.

Build your remote team with us

If you’ve decided to wade deeper into remote work, then you’ll eventually need to hire a virtual assistant to reduce your recruitment and salary costs and gain access to a larger talent pool while enjoying the reliability of in-house staff.

To make your recruitment easier and more effective, partner with Remote Workmate. Unlike freelancing marketplaces where you do everything yourself, we handle all the heavy lifting for you, including processes like screening, recruitment, and payroll.

In fact, you can choose from our pool of notable candidates right away. Simply visit our Hotlist at https://remoteworkmate.com/hotlist

You can browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page. Once you find a qualified VA, simply fill out the form at the bottom of the page, and we’ll get in touch with you ASAP.