Last updated on October 18th, 2023
With widespread coronavirus impact, businesses all over the world are looking forward to implementing mandatory work-from-home policies. If you’re a business owner, read on these tips to help your employees stay productive during the COVID-19 outbreak.
With over quarter of a million new coronavirus cases, the pandemic looks horrible. This has sent shockwaves around the world. COVID-19 is something that we have never seen before.
As a business owner, it’s something we have most likely never thought of. Feeling overwhelmed, thinking of the business impact it would have 24*7 is apparent.
Drastic business impacts are apparent but that doesn’t mean your business should surrender to coronavirus pandemic. At Designhill, working remotely with flexibility has been our core philosophy since inception.
During such tragic times we take it as a responsibility to share our expertise of having helped more than 1Million businesses and individuals to hire professional designers for sourcing high quality designs and buy unique products created by independent artists.
It’s not just us but businesses like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Hitachi, Apple, and many others in the last few days are shifting to remote working culture to contain the spread of the highly-contagious coronavirus.
Why Your Business Needs A Work From Home Policy To Be Rolled Out With Immediate Effect?
Just take a look at the below infographic to understand it better:
[Source: BING – CORONA TRACKER]
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus as a pandemic on March 11.
The outbreak has spread from Wuhan (China) to more than 157 countries and territories. Efforts to contain the spread of the virus have led to the lockdown of cities, countries closing their borders, international flight cancellations, and more.
Now, you know why your business needs a WFH policy immediately.
With so many offices joining the work from home culture, how will you ensure that your employees remain productive? A change in the working environment can boost productivity scale for some, but it can lead to a steep dip in productivity for others.
Managing those who have not experienced work from home culture, distractions can disrupt their productivity. Factors as listed below are what will create a great obstruction between you and your employees.
● Laundry has to be done,
● House cleaning,
● Dishwashing,
● A new Netflix movie,
● Pooch caring etc.
They may seem common household chores, but during the work-from-home policy, these factors can prove to be risky for your business. Well, we don’t want to scare you!
If your business is new to this concept and searching for ways to boost the productivity of your team, we have compiled a few suggestions for you.
Keep Scrolling As We Share Super Seven Ways Your Employees Can Rise Above The Rest For Success While Working From Home During The Coronavirus Outbreak
01. Remind Your Employees To Start Their Mornings As A Normal Official Hour
Sounds simple, right? But it’s the most important pointer to remember.
Here is how you can remind your employees to carry out their normal official schedules at home:
● Help your team to start their mornings as a normal official hour and follow a schedule.
● Advise them to get ready as if they have to go the office though casual and comfortable dress code is recommended.
● Tell them to have their breakfast as they would do while getting ready for the office.
This will all help them have a clear mind when it comes to log in for work.
02. Tell Them To Prepare A Safe Home-Based Workstation
It’s your employees who are working from home, so it becomes your responsibility to ensure that they are working safely. Ask them if their home-based workstation is safely and effectively set-up as it’s important for productivity.
What You Can Do Is:
● A designated work area or a comfortable workstation helps focus and work productively, so ask them to get a comfortable sitting area.
● Create a guide that includes safety tips for setting up a home-based workstation.
● Advise them to get a good broadband or Wi-Fi service that allows them to work efficiently.
Quick Fact: According to ILO (International Labour Organization) there are about 340 million occupational accidents plus 160 million victims of work-related diseases every year worldwide.
03. Encourage Your Team To Prioritize Their Mental And Physical Health
This time of coronavirus outbreak when we all have been advised to stay indoors (at home) it can be really easy for some of us to show carelessness regarding our health.
The same is applicable to your employees. Until now, it has never been so important to focus on your mental and physical health. This also will greatly help employees remain productive.
During an unsettling time like this, here is how you can encourage your employees to prioritize their mental and physical wellness:
● Suggest them to drink at least 2L of water every day.
● Suggest them to exercise at their home for about 15-30 minutes pre or post-work. They could either take a walk around their house or practice yoga.
● Advise them to take healthy diet and incorporate healthy snacking.
How To Do So:
● Send a daily Slack reminder.
● Send an email reminding them of their health first.
04. Encourage Them For Regular Tea/Lunch Breaks
It’s a basic concept, but we all know how hard it can be to spend long hours at the desk without taking a break. To make sure your employees are taking regular breaks, send them a calendar invite.
Here Is How You Can Encourage Them For The Same:
● Create a ‘no eating at desk’ policy.
● Encourage them to get up and stretch at regular intervals and walk during calls.
● Send them calendar invites.
● Brief them about this rule in the video conferencing.
How It Will Benefit Your Business
● Employees will be more productive.
● They will have improved mental health.
● They will be more creative.
05. Have A Short/Huddle Meeting
During this Novel Coronavirus spread, if your business can survive the sudden shutdown, it’s just because of your employees. You can remind them of their accountability and help them achieve their productivity from home.
Here Is How:
● Arrange a morning huddle meeting.
● Discuss what they achieved from their previous day.
● Talk about what they want to achieve in advance.
● Address their issues and concerns.
It Will Help And Assist In:
● Aligning the goals and tasks.
● Improving communications with employees across various departments.
● Enhancing accountability and productivity.
● Regularly update them and keep them in the loop about the impact of the ongoing situation with the business.
06. Streamline Online Communication Channels For Uninterrupted Communications
It is really important to make sure your employees are connected on the official front.
Here Is How You Can Create An Uninterrupted Communication Channel:
● Streamline online communication channels for uninterrupted communications. Use Slack, Microsoft teams and Google Handgout, Zoom, etc.
● Encourage your employees to connect with each other on these channels.
● Schedule virtual team building exercises and coffee breaks to remove monotony and avoid boredom, It would help in boosting their morale.
● Promote and exercise a culture of fun and friendship. No one needs more stress right now!.
● Make it know that it’s acceptable to have noisy calls with children, pets or family all quarantined together.
● Encourage extracurricular activities and gamification to help people to utilize the spare time in the rest of the day.
● Allow flexibility and promote trust rather than micro managing tasks. Avoid taking and giving stress.
07. Help Your Employees Use Task Management Tools
Planning out your days simplify a lot of things during work from home. Staying productive is the core essence during this work-from-home provision. You can map everyone’s tasks and responsibilities with transparency.
Here Is How:
● Use project management tools such as Trello, Asana, Quilo to manage work and outcomes.
● Use time monitoring and productivity tools such as Time Doctor, Hubstaff to give managers as well as employees an insight into their productivity.
● Assign tasks and to-dos on these tools to each employee.
Looking For Pro-Tips To Protect Your Business During The Coronavirus Outbreak?
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to batter businesses, business experts at Designhill have shared several tips to keep your business healthy as a horse. Here’s the best advice on how to protect your business and stay well-prepared for a coronavirus outbreak.
Get Survival Tips For Businesses
The Bottom Line
Work from home is limited to just big companies like Apple, Facebook, Hitachi, Microsoft, etc. if you think so, you’re wrong. With COVID-19 pandemic isolating everything from businesses to shops, malls, and markets, it’s the right time to implement work-from-home provision and save your business from falling down.
Consider the above working from home tips to help your employees stay productive during a coronavirus outbreak. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to comment. Till then-
Stay safe from coronavirus.
