COVID-19: Top tips for remote work

ARTURO ARRARTE

MARCH 18, 2020

The Australian

With thousands of Australians now working from home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, many of us are adapting to the reality of remote working.

First and foremost at Slack our concern is for the families and individuals affected by coronavirus. Like many other businesses, Slack itself is currently functioning as a temporary all-remote company, with more than 2000 people from 18 offices across 10 countries working from home.

Whether you work remotely 100 per cent of the time or find yourself navigating the situation for the very first time, working at a physical distance can pose a unique set of challenges. The opportunity lies in finding new ways to stay connected with your team and to keep work moving forward. The challenge facing those working remotely is knowing where to start and what to prioritise.

Remote working is of course not an entirely new concept, most companies today allow at least some level of work-from-home flexibility. Recently, Slack and research firm GlobalWebIndex surveyed 17,000 knowledge workers across 10 countries in 2019 and discovered that 75 per cent of employees were permitted to work from home.

However, the extent of this collective approach to remote working is something entirely unprecedented for Australia and we imagine that a lot of companies are currently reassessing their approach to flexible and remote work.

With this nationwide experiment in remote working currently underway, there are many best practices to help make remote work more streamlined, more pleasant and more productive. It’s true that not all of them may work for you or your company but there are some tried and tested approaches which can apply to (virtually) all situations.

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For many, this transition to remote working will understandably be a learning curve, particularly for managers, who might find a lack of visibility to their reports disorienting. All the while, the absence of face-to-face interactions — along with the natural rhythm and structure of office life — can be isolating for employees.

For managers – and in fact all team members – the most important thing is to over communicate, be available and create opportunities for connection. This can include checking in with your team to see how they’re going, it doesn’t always have to be work related, perhaps ask them what they had for lunch. The important thing is to maintain those human connections.

Throughout the day, make sure that you’re contactable and your team is clear on your goals. Having an open and shared to-do list where you can tick off your tasks as you go is a good approach. Ensuring you’re upfront about what you’re working on will create trust between you and your colleagues and you won’t find your boss suspiciously checking in for regular updates on your progress

On the flip-side, while you want to be contactable through the day, also be sure to set boundaries. Be clear when you’re working and when you’re not. Turn notifications off during the hours you are not working and use statuses on your communication tools to say when you’re busy, available or offline. This something easily done via a tool such as Slack. Boundaries will help you and others to manage expectations — just because you’re working from home no-one expects you to be online from dawn until dusk.

You won’t be surprised to hear me say this but technology is your friend. Cloud-based tools such as Slack, Zoom and G-suite allow the majority of office workers to do their jobs from anywhere in the world. If your workforce is not currently operating in the cloud, now might be the time to start considering it. Making use of these cloud-based tools and their various integrations will allow you to remain productive whether you’re in a cafe, on the move or at home.

These are certainly unique times and many of us are learning how to adapt in ever changing circumstances. However, by keeping a level-head and, where possible, using technology to communicate and collaborate, we can maintain some form of routine and keep fulfilling our daily jobs.

Arturo Arrarte is Head of Growth APAC, Slack