Given the daily changing situation with the Corona virus, with thought it would be helpful to take you through the basics of how your intranet can help you work from home.
As companies around the world roll out mandatory working from home. Your company might already work from home on a regular basis or this might all be new to you. We've written this blog to help you understand what you need to do to ensure your business stays productive during the coming weeks.
You might be used to working from home already, or this may all be new to you. We think because of the sudden change in volume of us working from home and for longer durations, it could put pressure on existing working practices and it might:
- reveal gaps in your business processes
- It could make it difficult to connect and manage your productivity
- Your employees might feel isolated and disconnected
- Your business productivity might decline.
Here at Sorce we ran our own total office virtual experiment last summer and the most common piece of feedback was the feeling of isolation and not feeling connected.
We all work for a range of reasons, obviously to earn money but also for social interaction, feeling we are making a difference, doing something we love.
We really need to think not only about the business outcomes but keeping everyone connected.
There are some simple things we can all do to help:
Stay in touch
Many of us see our teams and bosses on a daily basis and comms are effortless but that is all by the by if we are working from home. Staying in contact will help you feel engaged and connected with your colleagues and the business.
If this is all new to you, your business might not have the tools you need to work remotely, such as Teams, Planner, Slack. Let your Manager know as soon as possible if you have any issues.
Set daily expectations
We all have a to do list, we understand what we need to achieve, but its about setting and managing those expectations with your colleagues and alerting colleagues to issues early on.
Create a daily routine
A daily routine will help everyone and it’s something you need to do on your own. You might be juggling work with educating your children, but finding your own rhythm will help you be more productive. Set a start and an end to your work day, as you would if you were in the office.
Find your own work area
And finally it’s really important to find a space to work and as well as a daily routine, try and work in the same place each day. It will help you feel in work mode and sends signals to everyone in your home that you are working and not to be disturbed.
How can your intranet help you?
Finding people and skills
Your intranet will have a fantastic contact directory, helping you to find people by name or by job role. It might be a good idea to check that everyone's details are correct and if anyone has moved job role that they are tagged correctly.
Keeping everyone up to date
Your intranet was made to do this! From microblogs, vlogs, news articles and team pages, you can keep everyone up to date. You could create your own Coronavirus page, with all of your business updates, policies and news in one place.
Getting the job done
To help you keep your business moving, use your intranet to store your documents securely. It's what they are made for! It means everyone, can find the documents they need and know they have the latest version. If documents are being worked on, you can check them in and out.
We hope these simple ideas will help you have a productive week and help you stay positive and connected with your employees. If you would like to know more about how we can help support you during these challenging times, get in touch or email us at hello@sorce.co.uk.
