At the commencement of 2020, according to the latest Eurostat data, the percentage of Spanish workers who regularly teleworked was 4.3%, a figure far removed from the 6.2% who did so in Europe. However, the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. After the declaration of the State of Alarm, thousands of companies were forced to implement teleworking, moving the office to the living room of their employees.
Now in summer many
organizations continue with this type of work. To facilitate the proper
development of the professional tasks of employees and promote their work-life
balance, there are a number of aspects to be taken into account by companies.
Guide for employees
The
first and most important thing is that employees are very clear about what the work methodology is going to be . For
this reason, the company should develop a telework plan as a guide. It
must include the objectives to
be met, which must be realistic and measurable, in such a way that all workers
row in the same direction. The plan must also specify the steps to follow
in their workday from home: whether or not they should sign in through a time
control software, how they should contact the person in charge ... It is the
best way to achieve transparency, involvement and knowledge .
Digital applications in the cloud
New
technologies are the best allies to promote teleworking. There are
numerous digital tools and applications in the cloud so employees can work
anytime, anywhere. Thanks to these resources, sharing files and developing
team tasks is greatly facilitated.
Collaborative tools
Any
company, regardless of its activity sector and size, must know which
collaborative tools are best suited to it. For proper team management
there are a wide range of platforms to organize work and track tasks, such as Trello or Epicflow .
Communication
is one of the basic pillars of the job. Well, Slack is one of the best tools out there
for video conferencing and meetings remotely.
In
case it is necessary to organize group work sessions, Mural is the most
recommended tool. And finally, to teach training, nothing better than ClickMeeting or GoToWebinar , for example.
Evaluation of the telework plan
Of
course, those responsible for the company must know the evolution of the professional tasks that
their employees are performing. For this reason, it is very important to
develop a plan on the different evaluation methodologies: interviews with
workers, tools ... An essential aspect for working outside the office to be
efficient.
Periodic meetings
And
finally, the fact that each employee works from home does not imply that they
should be “isolated”. Communication is essential in any company, so it is
of special interest to organize regular meetings. It is better to forget
about informal tools like WhatsApp and
bet on others like Skype or Zoom , much more professional. In
these meetings, the head of each department can explain what are the objectives
to be met and the evolution of the projects, and each worker can present their
progress.
These
are the main tips for telecommuting in the summer. Finally, it should be
noted that teleworking can increase productivity by
nothing more and nothing less than 23%. Of course, much of the success
lies in the responsibility and self-discipline of the employees. In
addition, productivity can be increased by 23%.