The recent pandemic has taken the world by storm, causing mass lockdowns in countries all over. The rapid speed of transmission threatens to skyrocket the number of patients inflicted by COVID-19. Worry-stricken world leaders have decided to practice social distancing to flatten the curve of this virus.
In light of this, major businesses and companies have halted traditional work and switched to work from home as the only alternative to continue operations amidst the pandemic. Since many of these companies have done so in a hurry, or without any preparation at all, perhaps employers are at a loss of ways to manage their remote employees effectively.
Going Digital
The onset of COVID-19 has changed the business landscape of the new decade. While many people view this aspect as a nuisance, it is actually the ideal opportunity for companies to test the waters for how work from home pans out for them. This way, they can shift to remote work to boost employee satisfaction even when things are normalized.
With increasing technological advancements, companies can leverage popular tools, apps, and platforms to increase productivity and keep track of employees within the confines of their home.
Whether you are the head of your company trying to give some direction to your team now working remotely or you are an employee who simply needs the scoop on some of the basic apps to use at home (you can share with your boss!), here are a few tools you’ll need to know about for daily organization in your company.
Strategize a Communication Channel
Communication is the biggest barrier that companies face with remote work. You can’t expect email to be a sufficient way of communicating with individuals or even to discuss current work projects. This leaves employees directionless unless the tools at your disposal are used to excavate maximum benefit.
Increased digital awareness has led to the advent of apps that allow efficient coordination from home. It is important for employers to set the following standards:
- Outline what questions and concerns necessitate group meetings and which can be solved through an email or message
- Establish expectations with promptness of replies during work hours
How do you manage this? There are numerous apps that make communication much simpler. Once the employees get the hang of it, it is more convenient and time-saving for everyone and work can get done efficiently.
Zoom
A widely popular app, Zoom allows you to conduct video conferences with over 1,000 participants and 10,000 viewers. This makes it the ideal solution for communication in both small and large organizations.
The benefits of this app are that it is easy to use, completely free of cost and takes little bandwidth, allowing it to function without high-speed internet, which will most likely not be available at the homes of all your employees.
If you’re not familiar with this app by now, you should know that Zoom allows face-to-face interaction online, with the ability to share your screen to explain projects or assignments, and allows each person to participate by either speaking or sharing their screen as well.
Slack
This app has become a favorite when it comes to communication among organizations. The best thing about slack is its easy interface, allowing employees to quickly get used to it.
For enhanced communication, Slack allows integration of apps like Google Drive, benefiting organizations that use Google drive as the primary content management platform.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams creates the ideal platform for collaboration and communication within companies. This is especially useful during remote work to keep all employees in the loop.
Teams is free for users of Office 365. It is easy to use with all the tools in one place, sometimes too many that could confuse you. Moreover, it also allows the integration of third-party tools and has the added benefit of emojis during chats to make up for the occasional humor during in-office meetings.
Track Office Hours
Without physical check-ins, it is important to establish a work routine at home. Remote work does not usually mean employees can sign in to work any time they like (unless they are a freelancer or contractor) so it is important to set virtual working hours. Since the office hours remain the same, you need to find a way to monitor when employees ‘check-in’ and ‘check out’ from work and how they spread out their work throughout the day.
The online tools available can help revamp the traditional check-ins. This allows you to create a work environment with specific office hours.
While it is difficult to monitor attendance and track office hours in remote work, certain apps make this possible.
Toggl
It is one of the most popular time-tracking platforms. It helps you record time entries and records the daily activity across various platforms. Toggl can be used to track work hours, to measure employee productivity and improve results.
Clockify
The best thing about Clockify is that it is free for unlimited users. Large companies can use this to track the productivity of a number of employees. Employers can invite their whole team on this app and track the time they spend on tasks and projects. This can be integrated with almost any of the apps mentioned in this article as well.
Timely
This automated time tracking app helps you record all the time spent on various work apps. This gives employers a complete picture of their employees’ workday. It records everything from documents, websites, meetings, emails, as well as GPS locations.
Everhour
Simple and accurate, Everhour measures the hours spent on daily tasks. Employers can assess the time of the whole team if they share the same projects.
TimeDoctor
This app ensures the employees get more work done in less time. When employers can track where employees spend their time, they can take appropriate action to boost productivity. It silently records all the websites and internet usage of employees while they are working at home. Managers will receive a weekly report of this to keep a check on employees.
Assign Projects as Needed
Setting clear work standards and expectations can synchronize the work and help employees achieve their goals better. Since part of the appeal of working from home is autonomy, assigning projects to employees can help enhance their motivation.
In order to efficiently achieve this while every employee is at home, there are effective tools to help you delegate and avoid micromanaging that can give the impression that you mistrust your employees.
Asana
This is a task management application that allows you to effectively manage multiple projects and sub-tasks. Since managers usually assign their employees tasks through emails during remote work, it can cause an incoherent record of the communication, raise problems in monitoring the progress, and managing multiple projects.
Asana will ping someone when a task has been assigned to him or her, along with the due date and any details you’ve included. Each task can be visible to one, or multiple people, responsible for completing.
Trello
Since employees can get confused with virtual communication over projects, employers can use Trello as a project management tool to help their team organize their projects and collaborate better. Trello records all the details of a project as boards. It also has the added feature of Power-ups that can turn each board into living applications for further integrations.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a simple collaborative project management tool to help complete small projects. Employers can use this tool to set up a project for employees, track the tasks, include people for communication, and supervise the message board.
Make a Recording
When you don’t have time for a live virtual meetup or to write out an explanation that may not come across the way it should in writing, making a quick pre-recorded video might be the answer to this issue. There are quick apps available that can even be installed as Chrome extensions to utilize at the click of a button.
Zoom
This one should look familiar as it is currently the most popular tool being used right now while everyone is working remotely. However, this can not only be used for virtual meetings or lessons, but you can simply go solo here to record a quick how-to or update for an employee.
Loom
If you need quick access to record something without having to sign into a platform, simply use the Loom Chrome Extension. With this, you have the option to share your screen or show only one tab that you have open to remain discreet.
VideoYard
VideoYard was created as a means to increase sales, for marketing teams, but also for corporate communications. You can create engaging videos for your employees for onboarding, training, or much more. Track who watches the videos and see how engaged they are. This app is great for videos needed on a more professional scale.
Keep Files and SOPs in one place
With multiple people working from different domains, seamless operations might be interrupted. There needs to be one platform that contains files and SOPs to avoid any discrepancies during work. This can only be possible with one solid platform for all members of the organization to refer to.
The ability to access information from anywhere, as well as the ability to access the document your employees are currently working on, can prove highly beneficial for a company. More and more businesses are using Google Docs for this purpose.
Google Docs
This application allows employees to access the database at their convenience. It helps boost the efficiency and usability of information, especially with people operating from home. It allows users flexibility in accessing and sending files to and from colleagues.
Keep Passwords Secure
If employees are operating from their personal computers, it is important to safeguard the company’s privacy as security may be compromised. Once things resume to normalcy, the company will want to change all the passwords to cut off further access.
LastPass
Employers can use this app during remote work to store all usernames and passwords in one place. This app helps with your daily work and ensures online safety. With stronger security and increased convenience, LastPass is all your company needs to maintain its safety.
With the following tools in hand, it is much simpler to make the transition from traditional work to remote work. Since research claims, remote workers are likely to exhibit higher productivity and satisfaction, use this time to test how this works out for your company as it could be the prospective future of your workplace!