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The technological evolution contributed to make feasible substantial changes in the company/employee relationship, allowing the emergence of differentiated models of work. Working from home and delivering equivalent results, or even higher, than those delivered in the presential model, is the big challenge for companies and employees who want to get into the home officevibe.
Numbers are based on the idea that working from home offers advantages for both companies and employees. Reducing costs, increasing productivity, engaging and motivating employees are some benefits to the company. Comfort, flexibility and time are among the gains for employees. In short: In the United States, the largest economy in the world, 40% of employees work as home office, and in Brazil, 26% of large companies have already adopted this alternative.
Although it is a subject in evidence, home office still brings many doubts to employers and employees. After all, how to implement this modality of work? How to organize team workflow? What are the challenges of adopting home office? Continue reading the post and have access to answers to these questions.
How do I deploy home office in my company?
First, formalize the procedures and conduct for Home Officeactivities. Written rules considerably reduces further questioning and conflict. The transfer from presential to remote establishes a new relationship between employees and leaders. After all, there is no longer close and physical contact. Rules have changed, so it is important to establish how protocols and new procedures work. Perhaps effective communication is the biggest challenge in home officedeployment, along with maintaining/enhancing the quality of deliveries. In the following items, we will raise some points to facilitate the process of implanting the model.
Communication and task management
If your company does not have it yet, it is advisable to implement tools (softwares) that will be part of the employees’ work routine, facilitating the interaction between teams. Choose a tool for managing tasks, such as Pipefy, Trello, or any other tool of your choice. With the application of software it becomes easier, more tangible, to control employee deliveries and interact during the process.
It is also important to define tools for closer communication with the employee; in this case, a valid suggestion is Skype, which can offer chat and video conferencing functions, enabling efficient communication with employees and customers. In addition to the tools listed, there are other possibilities out in the market, focused on corporate collaboration, which can facilitate communication, ensuring integration between teams, regardless of where the employee is. Evaluate the options, and apply the one that best meets the needs of the business.
Ensure the confidentiality of corporate information
Undoubtedly, the greatest challenge for implementing the home-office work model is associated with the secrecy of information. Although we have a multitude of points to be treated in this sense, we will bring only those considered most relevant, so that your company can evaluate them and apply it, if convenient.
The first reflection is associated with the equipment that will be used in the home officeactivity. In this sense, we find two possibilities, each with a need for specific care. If your company chooses to offer equipment (laptop, tablet, etc.), for employee use, it is important to make sure that it has minimum safety requirements, to carry out the activities. The essential security requirements are original and updated operating system, antivirus, preferably not free and updated as well. The application of a domain controller in corporate laptops also helps in the control process, avoiding the installation of applications not homologated by the company. If the device used is the employee’s own, the application of controls is more restricted, however it would be up to the company to suggest the application of good practices, in order to avoid any type of inconvenience, especially loss or data leakage.
Another very important point is the establishment of secure connections, for access to files and systems, in the structure of the company. This measure is necessary since normally the networks used by employees, in their homes or other places where they carry out the activities (restaurants, malls, airports, etc.), do not have an adequate degree of security. Therefore, to ensure communications security it is advised to use VPNs, enabling the establishment of secure communication with the company.
If your company chooses to use Skype as a standard instant communicator, we also suggest the application of a specific tool audit solution inside and outside the company. Through the application of the Skype auditsolution, your company can qualitatively analyze calls, applying adjustments, when convenient.
Selecting personnel
Another very relevant point in the process of implementing a home officemodel is associated with the process of selecting personnel with an adequate profile to carry out this type of activity. It is a fact that employees need to have a high degree of maturity and commitment, so that home officeactivities bring satisfactory or superior results to the activities performed in the corporate environment. Another very important detail is to make it clear, early in the process, the benefits associated with this model, as well as the obligations of the participants elected in the selection process.
To exemplify the above, we will use the case of the Bank of Brazil, regarding the selection criteria for the home officemodel. In order to select the participants, Banco of Brazil adopted the following criteria: evaluating the performance of the candidates and interviews. In the case of BB, only employees with a history of performance and commitment to schedules are eligible for the home officeprocess.
Training employees to facilitate the process of adaptation to the new model is also of great value, as well as the gradual beginning of the application of the model, avoiding major organizational changes. The secret is to experiment it, adjusting to the reality of each business.
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