The covid-19 pandemic has created a global crisis, affecting all aspects of the society be it medical, industrial, manufacturing or service sector. With major cities under a lockdown for extended periods and the contagion continuing unabated for over 6 months to date.
With the outspread of the fatal virus, companies around the globe are obligated to shift their paradigm of work to the remote working culture. This arbitrary change of work-life is posing a challenge for businesses especially from the SME sector with little to no exposure to remote working tools.
This culture however, is far from the state-of-art and has been a widely accepted practice among gig workers, freelancers and creative professionals since decades. While business professionals and 9-5 workers are adapting to the change, there are certain challenges they face in the day-to-day life.
Let’s look at the common problems and the measures to overcome them.
1.The Communication Barrier
It is a major challenge faced by most firms. When the face-to-face interactions and meetings are missing, it gets difficult for employees to work as a team and may also give rise to confusion, cynicism among the team and even conflicts.
How to overcome?
A plethora of old and new tools are being promoted for this purpose. Online conference tools such as WebEx, Microsoft teams, Google meets, Slack etc. are some common ones used widely in an attempt to bridge this gap. However, it is important as an employer to provide the necessary training to the employees regarding the usage and functioning of such tools.
2. Employee Management
Another arduous challenge employer face is to manage the employees in the absence of infrastructure technology. It becomes difficult to charge accountability as the workers are not a cubicle away and have to be connected with, virtually for any sort of communication.
How to overcome?
There are certain cloud-based management tools that helps in the process of aligning team members, adding new tasks and tracking progress reports such as Trello for organizing tasks, Basecamp for project management or popular google tools like Sheets, to-do lists and shareable documents.
3. Technical Constraints
This issue is more applicable to tier-II cities and SME businesses as they do not have access to a stable internet connection. It could also be middle-class employees who cannot afford a Wi-Fi connection due to which the work is suffering to a great extent. It leads to a slowdown in production, communication, and the quality of operations.
How to overcome?
Grant your employees the right technology to work with, as you did earlier in the office. Earlier with the daily commute form of work culture, you provided your employees with an office space consisting of a desktop and fast speed internet, didn’t you? So, don’t hesitate to make the same expenditure in these troubled times if needed.
4. Security Concerns
Employees are more likely to forge or steal data working remotely than being in a physical office, research revealed. When under the cameras of an office, there is a fear of being caught that is reduced when at home, with no surveillance. They use their personal desktops(usually) and can easily expose confidential company data or may explore to malware viruses.
How to overcome?
To overcome this barrier, you need to educate your employees on the risk factors and the measures to mitigate them. In addition, it is suggested to install the right VPN tunnels, Firewall software, and endpoint verification channels. During this process, you need to assure the employee that their personal data would not be at risk, and these measures are taken to protect the company from any malware attacks.
The Bottom Line
We are living in troublesome times, and each one of us is trying to cope with it at our own pace. It is therefore crucial for you as an employer to be a mentor and guide for your employees and give them time to process the sudden change. Communicate with them, make them feel valued at the organization and assure them that things will go back to the way they were, sooner or later.
Learn to adapt to new technologies and think of innovative ways your business can flourish during this transition of a world. Remember, INNOVATE, ADAPT, OVERCOME!
