Working from Home During the Coronavirus? Here's What You Need to Know.

Here are some helpful tips for businesses who are preparing to stay productive while implementing a majority remote work solution. 

When done correctly, working from home can be just as productive as working in-office for many positions. It is crucial to set up consistent communication channels and align teams for success. 

For workers who have never worked from home before, this infographic offers a few helpful tips. Read on for more work from home success tips. 

Prepare Workers for Remote Access and Communication

1. Review your VPN access and systems access for all staff.
2. Make sure your team members know their passwords to email or the URLs frequently accessed in cloud systems.
3. Contact your IT administrator to review all access points.
4. If you don't already use something like Teams or Slack, consider deploying a free communication hub to keep everyone in sync. For the next six months, you can get the full version of Teams for free here. 

Manage Expectations and Information

1. Distribute a company contact list and make sure the information is accurate. 
2. Designate one place for workers to go to see internal company news and updates. 
3. Create a preparation checklist to ensure employees are ready for extended remote work. 
4. Draft a work from home notice and link to your company's HR policies, so people know what their options and boundaries are. 
5. Inform decision makers if employees need to take company devices home to work. (This is a safer option than allowing employees to use personal devices for work.)
6. Consider sending out links to trusted news and health information sites, and remind employees not to believe everything they read on social media about the Coronavirus. 
7. Designate one place for employees to ask questions and give feedback.
8. Make sure all upcoming meetings support remote mobile conferencing. 

More Remote Work Best Practices

1. Consider making video recordings to distribute information to groups instead of drafting long emails or scheduling live meetings. 
2. When a remote meeting is necessary, use video streaming to keep everyone feeling connected from anywhere.
3. Spend some time setting up your home work space. Make sure you select a quiet, clutter-free area with a good WiFi connection as far as possible from outside noise and distractions. 
4. Keep regular hours as much as possible. People who work from home will often say that establishing clear work time boundaries is the biggest challenge of working from home. 

Watch Out for COVID-19 Phishing Scams

Hackers love using a dominant news story to play on people's panic which makes them more susceptible to scams. 

Beware of malicious emails spreading disinformation about the Novel Coronavirus. Some hackers have even sent messages that spoof The World Health Organization. Avoid downloading attachments or clicking on links from unknown sources promising new information about the global spread of the Coronavirus.

A message from the real WHO would have the domain @who.int no close variation or misspelling of this domain should be trusted. You should also hover over any links to see where they are really taking you. 

Get the Work From Home Gear Checklist 

You can save a free infographic on the best tools for working from home here. 

If you have any further questions about VPNs, Teams, or testing your remote work infrastructure, contact us.