Are you shifting your business to remote working in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and feeling and little unsure about exactly how to do it?

Supporting businesses with Flexible Working is what we do. So in light of the current crises we’ve put together a checklist of what you need to implement now to help you navigate through the change and ensure you and your team are connected, safe, supported and maintain morale.

So make a cup of coffee, take a deep breath and work through this checklist one step at a time:

• Test your technology. Does everyone have secure access to the files they need, and can they save and edit documents? If you don’t have a cloud-based filing system, then now is the time to move shared files onto a platform that everyone can access such as Onedrive.

• Stay connected and collaborate. There are a range of online tools available which make staying connected and collaborating easier than ever. Our favourite is Slack, which is available on desktop and can also be downloaded as an app on your mobile phone. This app makes collaboration easy whether it be in large or small groups and you can set up customised channels to suit your needs e.g. company news, win of the week, personal conversations with a colleague or specific projects. Anyone in your team working from home can set their status on Slack to “Working Remotely” so it’s clear to keep track of everyone’s whereabouts.

• Have virtual face-to-face meetings. Schedule face-to-face meetings with your teams and external stakeholders using video conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Slack. Schedule meetings this week to test out the systems access and draft some instructions on how to use the technology which you can share with the rest of your team. When working from home becomes mandatory you can set times for connecting with team members each day via Slack conference calls.

• Maintain team morale. Out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. Acknowledge and praise achievements, celebrate work aninversaries and recognise personal milestones and losses via your online internal communications tool. This is an important part of maintaining morale which in turn boosts engagement and productivity.

• Safe workstation set-up. Make sure your team members are aware of the basics of ergonomic workstation set-up. Have each team member photograph their home workspace so that you can take comfort knowing they are working safely. Here is a checklist you can send your team to help them get set-up.

• Have clear outputs. When it comes to performance, shift the focus to outcomes instead of hours worked. This can be done by reviewing and updating Role/Position Descriptions so that people are clear about what they are expected to deliver. If you don’t have time to review and update your Position Descriptions with everything else that’s going on, let us know and we can sort them out for you.

• Update calendars. Ensure that you and your team members keep your online calendars up to date with the days / times that you’re available to make scheduling meetings quick and easy.

• Get feedback. Ask your team to feedback so that you can address the challenges and successes and make improvements as needed. Don’t wait for a set review period or annual survey to get feedback,instead discuss it in regular virtual face-to-face meetings or make it part of your daily collaboration.

• Take your laptop home every day. The current environment is changing daily so make sure you and your team members take home laptops every day, so you’re prepared to work from home when we move to alert level 3.

This is an uncertain time and we’re here to support you through it. If you have any questions as you transition to remote working, get in touch with the team at Freerange Works 0800 04 FLEX or hello@freerangeworks.co.nz.