It’s almost been a year already! In March of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic officially changed our lives as we knew them. Sadly, the countless deaths, caused by COVID-19, have made this an incredibly sad era to live in. Of course, we are all doing our best to stop the spread and stay safe. Working from home has become the norm, as a result. And because so many of us now work remotely, business owners have been forced to manage their companies virtually.
Are you still getting used to the concept of managing your employees while they’re not in the office? If you’re having a bit of a tough go, consider taking the following steps.
Allow for a flexible work schedule.
Don’t assume that working from home is easy. For many people, working from home means having to balance job-related responsibilities with parenting, cooking, cleaning and a myriad of other household chores. Ideally, your employees are working on schedules that suit their working-from-home needs. If you’re particularly stringent about work hours, it may only further exacerbate the frustrations associated with the pandemic.
“People working from home will rightly want flexibility with their work hours,” says Rob Rawson of Time Doctor, “And it’s important to allow a degree of flexibility when managing remote employees. On the other hand, if things are totally erratic then it will be difficult to get a shared collaboration window when all of your team are online at the same time and able to chat.”
Encourage team engagement.
Easily, one of the toughest aspects of working from home is not being around other co-workers. Feelings of loneliness and isolation have definitely set in for many an employee over the past year. Do your best to make it so that your team members don’t fall out of touch. Sometimes, it may be worth it to call a Zoom meeting just for the fun of it!
“Have a chat room that is always open with a ‘watercooler’ channel, or something similar,” encourages The Virtual Hub, “This encourages those casual conversations that help to build rapport. Have team meetings on some kind of regular schedule. This helps reinforce the team dynamic and helps people to get to know each other.”
Check in with your team members regularly.
This is especially important if the roles of your employees don’t involve regular Zoom meetings. Be sure to initiate one-on-one, face-to-face virtual meetings on a regular basis. Naturally, it’s wise to discuss work-related tasks with your team members. But you should definitely set aside some time for “How are you doing?” conversations. Never underestimate the importance of employee morale.
“One of the issues with working from home is that people can feel lonely and isolated,” Rawson reminds us, “Not everyone copes well with this style of working. Most people do not have this issue and love the freedom that comes with working from home, but it’s important to check in from time to time and make sure everything is working for them.”
Accept credit card and debit card payments.
With Unity Payments’ Virtual Terminals, you can turn your smartphone into a POS terminal and start taking payments anytime and anywhere. It allows you to process payments in-person, online or on the road! To learn more, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca.