Corporations have been practicing different methods to increase the productivity and well-being of employees for years. However, most of the techniques are only proper for on-premises work environments. Since more and more companies switched their work systems to hybrid or remote work, they have started to look for new methods. Classic techniques are not adequate to provide productivity in remote work.
When covid-19 pandemic erupted and forced companies to move their systems online, enterprises understood that they could not rely on old methods to keep the same productivity and work quality in their businesses. For instance, remote work requires comprehensive and complicated protection processes. They need to use VPN, Zero Trust, and other security infrastructures to provide total security in the company network. They may lose their reputation and market value if they can not keep pace with the new requirements of new business environments. Since no enterprise wants its business to collapse, they are embracing new solutions.
The first concern of corporations is to protect their resources from being attacked. They also want to prevent data leakage. It is the technical and cyber dimension of remote work handicaps. On the other hand, remote work has a psychological part that affects employees and their productivity. It is not enough for companies to ensure online safety. They should also keep their work quality and employee well-being. It is stated that most employees feel depressed due to working from home and can not find ways to socialize. Although remote work has benefits and facilities, such as no need for transportation and time-saving, it negatively affects employees.
Furthermore, it is quite hard for managers to monitor and evaluate employee performance when they work remotely. Home conditions can be really distractive at times, and employees can lose their concentration and workability when working remotely. Some corporations set up regular meetings, online free-time activities, and side supports such as Netflix subscriptions. However, this is not sufficient and can not substitute the energy of the office environment.
When employees fall victim to depression or demoralization due to working remotely, it is hard for companies to expect the same performance from them. Luckily there are several ways that companies can implement remote work and keep their work performance the same and even make it better compared to on-premises work.
How to Ensure Well-Being For Remote Employees
Here, we recommend some ways to avoid downsides of the remote work and ensure employee well-being.
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- Meetings
Meetings are found boring in on-premises environments. However, meetings and one-to-ones are crucial in remote work. Remember that your employees are human-being and require effective and understanding communication. These communications should be both between managers and colleagues.
Listening to your employee’s complaints and recommendations is vital. There is no other way for organizations to make their employees feel safe and happy. Be sure that you know their problems and give them the trust of they can be solved.
- Work and Personal Time Distinction
Separating personal times from work times can be hard when working remotely. As an employer, you must prevent your employees from feeling they are always working. Technology and online work make work always available. Your employees can tend to answer phone calls or e-mails regardless of their working hours. Because they want to demonstrate that they are working at the same performance even at home, try to understand their feelings. Support them in arranging their working hours and be sure that they have sufficient free time.
How to Ensure Productivity For Remote Workers
When it comes to productivity in remote work, you should consider online safety. If your workforce feels insecure and uncomfortable about online activities, they can not perform their work. On the other hand, you must be sure that they can access the company resources they need to run their businesses without compromising online security. It is a challenge to provide both of them but not impossible.
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
IAM refers to the method that ensures a corporation’s identity verification and resource access monitoring. It is vital for companies to benefit from IAM solutions because other methods can be insufficient to ensure online safety on remote work. IAM allows corporations to manage authorizations, such as who can access which resources. In addition, IAM solutions enable managers to monitor user attempts and observe suspicious access tries.
By properly using IAM, companies can regulate access verifications and be informed about the user, consumer, and business partner activities. A comprehensive mandate on access permissions and identity control adds speed to corporations’ compatibility with the remote work environment.
IAM is important for the online safety part of remote work. We live in a digital era and companies can’t be successful without considering online security drawbacks. Besides, access permissions are considered the most important part of online safety so if companies are sure about their access verifications, they can feel confident about their safety. Of course, cyber security is not limited to access permissions but from the remote work productivity point of view, resource access comes forward.
- Regular Reports and Feedback
So as not to lose control over your employees and their work quality, you should encourage them to make regular reports. On the other hand, you should also give them constructive feedback so they can see what to improve or in what subject they are successful. Although these elements are also required in on-premises work environments, it becomes more vital in remote work because it is harder for managers to monitor employees and see what they are working on.
In Conclusion
Supporting the productivity and well-being of employees is the new challenge of the remote work model. Corporations know many things about how to maximize the performance and well-being of employees in office premises, but it is not the same for remote work. Employers should consider technical measures to maximize productivity, such as IAM solutions. IAM promotes both productivity and online security, so it is a multidirectional solution that corporations can use.
On the other hand, employee psychology should not be underestimated because it is a real challenge for them to work from home and keep pace with the new necessities. Be sure that they do not feel alone and desperate. You can not expect performance or productivity from depressed employees.
