By
April 02, 2020
Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been declared a pandemic, shocking the global economy and affecting Kiwi businesses overnight.
Scary as this virus may be, there’s no need to start panic shopping for toilet paper just yet. Kiwis are learning from the rest of the world and doing everything they can to prevent the pandemic from taking over, including urging those who feel unwell to self-isolate.
Naturally, business owners might be worried about self-isolation and how it could affect the way they run their operations. As such, many businesses are revamping continuity plans to make sure they can support employees as they work remotely.
Chorus has confirmed that our high-speed fibre broadband network has the national and regional capacity to accommodate wide-scale uptake of teleworking - perfect support for people who are working from home.
With that in mind, we’ve put together some quick tips for working from home (WFH) to help make the transition easier for you and your business.
Get your team set up to work from home
When working from home it’s absolutely essential that you and your employees have a reliable, high-speed internet connection. Share this broadband checker with your employees or team to see which connection is available at their addresses. If they have access to broadband fibre recommend that they upgrade their connections to high-speed fibre ASAP.
Next, take a moment to think about the systems you use to collaborate. Your team will need access to high quality, cloud-based programs that will enable them to work together no matter where they are.
To communicate consider instant messaging and video conferencing tools like:
To manage projects try:
-
Asana
-
Monday.com
-
Redbooth
-
Trello
For collaborating on projects use:
If you’re not using a cloud system already, you may need to transfer key documents which may take some time, so it’s always better to start sooner rather than later. Of course, a high-speed internet connection will help you upload and download faster.
Work out your collaboration plan
To make working from home a success, your company needs to start with a solid plan to ensure employees remain productive. This plan needs to be communicated clearly with staff so that they’re all on the same page.
Your plan might include:
-
Frequency of contact required throughout the day
-
Minimum technology requirements that employees need to work from home (i.e. a high-speed internet connection and a laptop)
-
Clear expectations around workloads and responsibilities
For businesses that haven’t done it before, working from home can feel like a huge change, but when managed correctly your employees will continue being productive. Once COVID-19 has blown over, you may just wish to keep that WFH policy in place.
There’s no doubt that coronavirus is scary, but it is the sort of event that strengthens the resiliency of your business. If you take a few simple precautions you’ll be able to keep yourself and your family as safe as houses. It’s as simple as washing your hands, avoiding crowds, self-isolating if you’re sick and setting up a plan to allow your employees to work from home.