Last week we brought you part one of our blog on the new working from home rules. A recent survey found that 71% of people want to continue working from home after the pandemic. However, if this is going to happen, organisations of all kinds will need to rethink the way they work long-term.

Part 1 looked at the implications of the new WFH normal – and how to manage them including productivity challenges, monitoring performance, and self-management support.

In this blog we bring you the remaining 3 rules and how best your organisation can implement them.

In case you missed last week’s blog – read it here.

#4. Communication is more vital than ever

We’ve already talked about some of the most communication tools to emerge from the pandemic: secure video and voice calling via Microsoft Teams, its messaging functionality and, of course, integration with email.

It’s probably worth noting here that while most new Teams users are already up to speed with video conferencing and messaging, it has some really useful extras that end users might not be quite so familiar with: whiteboards, video recording and dictation to name just a few.

However, perhaps the biggest advantages of Microsoft Teams are felt by organisations when Teams is deployed as part of a Microsoft integrated communications platform on the Azure cloud. The speed with which organisations have deployed Teams, the enthusiasm with which users have adopted it, and the lack of problems that have arisen from the kinds of high-speed rollouts that so many organisations had to manage have opened quite a few people’s eyes to the potential of such an integrated communications solution.

Now you can add a phone system designed for Microsoft 365(1) to your existing plan. This replaces any existing telecoms infrastructure and unifies voice calling, chat, meetings, calendar, and email for an all-in-one communication solution.

Ease of use, ease of management and high performance are, after all, pretty compelling bedfellows.

#5. Support should be 360˚

A lot of change has occurred over the last few months – many people report that several years of digital transformation have been condensed into just a few months. Grappling with this change at the same time and dealing with other business changes and the emotional fallout of a global pandemic hasn’t been easy.

Addressing these challenges is made more difficult for line managers because, in many cases, they are operating at a physical distance from the people they manage because of lockdowns and remote working trends.

One of the recommendations of the HBR survey we referenced earlier was to train managers on how to check in – rather than check up on.

EY suggests that companies need to put employees’ wellbeing above everything else(2). It says, “Companies will have to identify alternative working arrangements and reimagine business-as-usual while also complying with local labour laws in a way that puts first the health and safety of employees. Complement these efforts with relevant and timely communications, and employee support programmes.”

At the start of lockdown, the Harvard Business Review(3) identified a number of things that good managers should be doing to support workers who are newly working from home, beyond establishing the right/ flexible communication tools:

• Establish “rules of engagement”

• Have structured daily check-ins

• Provide opportunities for remote social interaction

• Offer encouragement and emotional support

With the latest set of lockdowns – and the emotional stress that can bring – these efforts need to be revisited and, where necessary, redoubled. Of course, not everyone finds it easy to ask for help. The British mental health charity Mind suggests that managers help their workers to develop wellness action plans. It has developed a number of support tools(4) to help teams through the crisis.

#6. Development must continue

The UK Government has recognised the importance of continuing employee development programmes throughout the pandemic. Furloughed workers(5) are allowed to continue with development and apprenticeships and are even allowed to start new apprenticeships.

This is important for organisations if they are going to emerge from the lockdown in good shape.

Business leaders have called for a national reskilling programme so that we can use this time to address long-running skills gaps in the UK economy. According to the CBI, nine out of 10 UK employees will need to reskill by 2030. Digital skills, critical thinking and information processing will be among the most in-demand skills, and millions of Britons will also need to develop their abilities in leadership, communication, and science and technology. The CBI estimates this national effort will require £13bn of funding.

McKinsey & Company has also suggested that the UK uses COVID-19 as an opportunity for the country to drive a national reskilling effort. It argues that such a programme would improve job satisfaction and raise living standards.

While the government is yet to put funding behind such initiatives, some organisations have made their training more accessible through lockdown to support their customers with reskilling efforts. Microsoft, for example, has launched an initiative to offer free training(6) to help more than 25 million people globally to acquire digital skills.

One area where this continues to be especially important is in cyber security training. The new ways of working expose new vulnerabilities. Phishing and spear phishing attacks have increased through the pandemic. Staff awareness programmes need to continue to ensure that employees are taking as much care while working at home as they would in a work environment.

Continuing personal and professional development activity via digital platforms has an important role to play for organisations in helping them to ensure remote staff remain motivated, engaged and productive – even when they are furloughed.

Find out more about Microsoft Teams here:

Or if you want to speak to us about anything else mentioned in this blog, here’s how to get in touch.

Sources:

1. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/voice-calling

2. https://www.ey.com/en_gl/covid-19/covid-19-crisis-management-essential-ten-better-questions-to-ask

3. https://hbr.org/2020/03/a-guide-to-managing-your-newly-remote-workers

4. https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/coronavirus-and-work/tips-for-supporting-yourself-and-your-team/

5. https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/employees/furlough

6. https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/06/30/microsoft-launches-initiative-to-help-25-million-people-worldwide-acquire-the-digital-skills-needed-in-a-covid-19-economy/