Five Tips for Transitioning to a Remote Worker Model
May 2020
By Alan Hubbard
As companies across the nation are faced with quickly adopting a work remote model for their employees, I’m noticing many of them are grappling with some of the challenges I’ve seen during my 10 years at the National Telecommuting Institute (NTI). For those who may not know, the National Telecommuting Institute has been at the forefront of the remote worker model for the last 25 years. In fact, we started the first remote call center in the U.S. government with the IRS. During my time at NTI, I have trained workers with disabilities and placed them in work from home jobs at major companies across the country.
Below are my top five tips for transitioning your team to a telecommuter model:
Schedule regular check-ins. Do everything you can to make sure your employees are communicating as effectively as they would be able to in the office. If you don’t have it already, gain access to communications software that enables video chat, messaging, screen sharing, and mobile collaboration. Managers should make an effort to connect with their teams on a consistent basis and ensure employees have the appropriate technology to do so.
Take precautions to protect sensitive data. When company servers can be accessed from remote locations, clients and employees wonder about data safety. At NTI, we use technology to alleviate these concerns in two ways, and make sure our employees and clients are aware: First, all applications should utilize virtual clients. In this model, all data and processing reside on a separate server behind the company’s firewall, providing an added layer of protection (i.e., none of the data or processing is performed on the actual client server). There are also applications called end-point security applications which prevent access to certain peripherals (printers, thumb drives). Both solutions will keep the telecommuter from potentially misusing company and client data.
Communicate with your employees about their individual needs for their “home office” – and provide tips for office setup. While your employees’ “home office” might be temporary, taking the right steps can enable them to be more productive, avoid unnecessary trips back to the office, and even sidestep unexpected security risks. Meet with your employees to identify their needs outside of their computer and access to the VPN. Do they need access to a printer, a large computer monitor, specific office supplies or a particular application? If your employees use eavesdropping screen protectors, make sure their laptops or home computers have these protections as well. Make sure your employees’ antivirus software is up to date, their passwords are secure, and warn them against writing passwords on sticky notes, bulletin boards or notebooks where they can be seen by others on video chat, in person, or even through photos.
Use productivity apps. If your team isn’t already doing time sheets or keeping track of goals that are being met, consider putting a system in place to monitor progress. Make sure teams are in agreement surrounding productivity-tracking approaches and ensure managers are facilitating such methods.
Maintain company culture and a sense of camaraderie. When those of us at NTI receive feedback from the work from home employees we hire, they almost always mention how important it is to have a channel through which they can connect with and confide in their colleagues. Whether they want to share tips and advice or simply vent, encourage and facilitate ways for employees to connect with others in a way that maintains your existing company culture.