Keeping Your Team Strong Amid COVID-19
As stay at home and social distancing orders remain in effect many employees continue to navigate the world of remote work.
However, while working from home is nothing new, working from home during a global pandemic is. For many employees, COVID-19 threw them into a new working environment overnight, forcing them to learn new technologies. While others are learning to navigate how to parent and home-school their children while still working their full-time jobs.
Chances are if you are leading a team of remote employees you have also felt the effects of this change. While you continue to try to keep your company in business during this trying time you must also learn how to keep your employees on track from a distance. To keep everything running smoothly you must learn how best to keep your employees productive while they also navigate all their individual challenges.
Keep Communication Open
Communication is vital for remote work to run smoothly. No longer are you and your employees in an office together where questions and comments can easily be exchanged.
Instead, you must be responsive to emails to make sure you are there for your employees when they need you. Consider utilizing a communication application such as Slack or Microsoft Teams as well to make communication between employees quick and easy.
But everything cannot be done by written communication. Written communication can come off as impersonal and it is easy to miscommunicate when using it. That is why you also need to break-up the communication with video and phone conferences. There are many applications like Zoom and GoogleHangouts that can be used for video chatting.
However, the biggest thing to do is to find what works best for your company and what is easiest for you and your employees to learn. Also, do not over complicate things with too many apps. Stick to one or two main applications, by doing this your employees will not have to learn a ton of new technology and it’ll cut down on confusion as to which apps should be used for what. Whatever you choose to do just make sure you keep your communication channels open and stay as responsive as you can.
Acknowledge Employee Accomplishments
When in the office it is easy to offer up the acknowledgment of work well done, and achievements made by employees. However, now it is harder to offer up that acknowledgment, but it is still just as important.
According to a survey by the WorkHuman Research Institute at Globoforce, 79 percent of workers say they work harder when recognized, with 78 percent citing rises in their productivity. So, if you want to help ensure your employees stay productive at home make sure you recognize their hard work. Something as simple as an email or a message on Microsoft Teams will make employees feel recognized and let them know that their hard work is appreciated.
Also, make sure you share company accomplishments with your employees as well. With your team no longer together, employees can lose the sense of comradery they would get in an office. By highlighting the good work and accomplishments that the company is making it will help keep that sense of comradery up and keep your team productive.
Utilize ERP Solutions
It can be hard to keep your employees productive if they cannot easily collaborate and share work with you and other employees.
That is why utilizing a cloud-based ERP system can be extremely beneficial to your company. By doing this you can organize and centrally manage all departments and it allows employees to easily share and gain information related to projects. And most cloud-based ERP systems are easily accessible from wherever an employee may be working.
Plus, by having all of your information stored and organized in one central location this will make it easier for you to track and access any needed data. Giving you vital insights into your business and allowing you to see the areas where your company may be excelling as well as trouble areas that need to be addressed.
Wrap Up
Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and present new challenges. It is your job as the leader of your company to find the solutions that work best for your company and find ways to keep your employees productive. However, it is vital to remember that these are unprecedented times and that you, your company and employees are all going to face different challenges. But if you have and/or can create a strong work culture that encourages openness and cultivates respect not only will employees stay productive your company will remain strong and weather this storm.
We at Datix are also still working harder than ever to help customers implement and upkeep their ERP systems. We have over 20 years of experience in ERP and are a certified Epicor gold partner. Our consultants are extremely knowledgeable and come from within the industries we work with. And we will stay with you even after your go-live date to provide continued support and upgrades to ensure your software is constantly growing with your company.
Ready to see how cloud-based ERP can help boost employee productivity and grow your company? Contact Datix today to get started!
