5 Organizational Hacks to Boost Employee Productivity While Working from Home

A year ago, if you’d have asked someone how the summer of 2020 would look like, the current situation would not have been the answer. It has been unpredictable, to the say the least. None anticipates a pandemic. Nevertheless, the corona scare is here, and somehow, we all are adjusting our lifestyle to accommodate work with woes of Covid-19. The professional scenario is no different. If only, with the quarantine rules, work culture has seen a drastic change. Work from home is the new norm, and no matter how inconvenient it was touted to be initially, turns out, remote working is actually feasible and can be done. In fact, as per a recent Forbes study employee productivity while working from home has seen a whopping increase of 47%!

That’s one big jump. At the end of the day, the core aim is to give a boost to employee productivity, and if work from home is bringing that, why shouldn’t that be a norm?

Here are a few things that organizations should keep in mind while their employees work from home, at the same time boosting employee productivity as a whole.

Employee productivity while working from home | Hack 1:

It’s a give-and-take relationship

Working from home requires adequate understanding on the organization’s part. Understand that it is an ultimate amalgamation of personal and professional lives, where clashes are eventual and inevitable. Employers need to be aware of the fact and need to be flexible where it is required. On the other hand, employees too need to understand that work from home, even though it does not provide a professional atmosphere, is a setup where they need to deliver. Undue leverage should not be taken. At the end of it, it is a give-and-take relationship where both parties need to work together to achieve organizational goals.

Employee productivity while working from home | Hack 2:

Peek into specific roles and responsibilities

Employee productivity while working from home is also dependent upon specific roles and responsibilities of the employee in question. Another facet to keep in mind is the personality of the said employee. Every employee’s productivity is a direct response to his or her work environment, personality, and job responsibility. For instance, employees of the finance department may take more time adjusting to a work-from-home setup, than the ones in the creative department. There is not only a personality difference here but also one in job methods and tools.

Therefore, these factors need to be taken into consideration before curating a new set of expectations and role while working from home. The main job is to maximize productivity.

Employee productivity while working from home | Hack 3:

Result-oriented rather than task-oriented

Ditch micromanaging. It’s time to become more result-oriented rather than task-oriented. Focus on employee productivity while working from home in the form of the deliverable rather than how it is delivered. Too many follow-ups and micromanagement may lead to a loss of confidence in the employee. Build up that trust element and ensure that the result is delivered by encouraging the employee and discussing the method of deliverance. It’s time to let go off task management unless there are serious issues with the method of working which is leading to a compromise in employee productivity.

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Ease the communication channels

With more and more communication applications in the market, create your own for easy and seamless communication. Communication is the key to increasing employee productivity while working from home. Make sure set guidelines are created for the same as early as possible.

Also, know that communication in no way means micromanagement. Too many follow-ups and questions decrease employee productivity instead of increasing it. Hustle when the need is but give a reasonable time period to the person, depending upon individual skills and speed. Also, create an environment which makes it easy emotionally and professionally for a team member to approach their managers to ask for help. The more transparent the policies and communication channels, the better are the relationships within the team, across hierarchies, and the better the employee productivity as a whole.

Employee productivity while working from home | Hack 5:

Use the requisite tools

It’s the 21st century. We have tools for anything and everything. While some can be deemed absurd, most of the tools and technology have made lives easier and streamlined processes. Enhanced employee productivity while working from home too can be a result of the same if you know how and where to look.

The biggest woe of any organization in this work from home scenario is keeping track of time, and attendance. Another issue is that of bringing employees together on one common platform for effective collaboration. Employing and executing via an effective tool will solve this two-fold problem. There needs to be an intuitive and inclusive solution, such as the Work-from-home Suite from Global Channel Resources (GCR) which comes with employee productivity as well as employee collaboration tools. While the former helps to track the live status of each employee and also gauge their productive and non-productive hours, the latter digitizes various processes such as project, sales, service desk processes and more.

GCR Work-from-home Suite comprises of the following tools:

• The Employee Productivity tool — An all in one dashboard that helps to enhance productivity with state-of-the-art management and tracking tools.
• Sales Connect — An App-based tool that unifies lead management, customer and contact information and records employee attendance.
• Service Desk — An App-based tool that digitizes customer issue initiation request and manages escalations.
• Project Plan — An App-based real-time management tool that assists in planning projects and monitoring employee progress.

The pandemic is here and has changed lives, The question is, how prepared are we to fully take on the work-from-home scenario. Change in practices and acceptance of complete suits and management tools is the answer. Make use of good tools that can streamline your organizational aspects and increase employee productivity while working from home.

How are you dealing with the work from home situation? Is a make it or break it deal with you? Do connect with us and let us know.

Posted By

The Global Channel Resources (GCR) Team