Working from home may be a foreign concept to you and your team – especially for the lengths of time we’re having to due to COVID-19. Don’t worry though, there are lots of things you can do to manage your team from home as best as you can - even if it's your second time round this year!
You’re probably going to have to send people home with laptops set up with software like VPNs to make sure they can access files from the main system, at the very least. A good way to make sure everyone has what they need is to make a list and get everyone to check off what they already have and what they need. Then you can go and delight the IT department with their requests!
You may be able to help them with some problems, e.g. they may need to go and pick up their children at 3pm and then finish up their work when they get back, or they may be confused as to what you expect them to do at home and need more communication from you. Just ask the question!
Don’t worry so much about having children or pets in the background. You’ll naturally want to limit this but at the end of the day, everyone is human. It might be refreshing for your team to see some of your home life – however embarrassing it may seem at the time!
It doesn’t all have to be about work either, you should be maintaining good relationships with your team just like you would at work and a good chat is just what you need sometimes.
People may find their job is harder when working from home, so make sure you keep reviewing their situation and help them in any way you can. Others will find working from home the same or even easier than being in the office, but may not be able to stick to their 9-5 schedule due to childcare, caring for relatives, etc.
It may be a good idea to switch the focus from ‘time’ to ‘productivity’ because if people are still their jobs done, it shouldn’t matter too much if they need to pop out during the day. Just stay in contact and try to be understanding, as your team will thank you for it and continue to work hard for you.
Last updated: 02 November 2020