6 Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes When Starting Remote Work (and What to Avoid)

Guest Post by Molly Crockett

Remote working is nothing new, but since the dramatic impact of the coronavirus, remote working has eally started to take off. More and more companies are starting to implement it, and the rampant success it had so far means that it’s probably going to stay long after the virus has gone.

However, whetheryou’re a business offering remote working opportunities, or you’re an individual who’s remote working for the first time, it’s important to make sure you’re avoiding the common mistakes that people make, so you give yourself the best experience.

With this in mind, here are the six mistakes you’ll want to think about and avoid.

1. Not Being Remote Working Ready

The absolute first thing everyone needs to do when it comes to remote working is making sure the technology is in place to make it happen. Whether you’re working individually or as part of a team, you need to ensure everyone can access everything they need, and communication software is optimized and ready to go.

Not all of this is up to you. Whether using a company computer or their own laptop, employees who want to work from home have a responsibility to set up their own productivity and teleconferencing software, with knowledge of any work accounts’ passwords or license keys, as well knowing how to use hardware like an ergonomic keyboard, webcam and headset.

You’ll want to look into what kind of cloud servers are up and will allow for file transfers of any size, and you need to ensure that everyone who needs access to files has access to files. Get this all set up and working first before you do anything else.

2. Not Remote Working for the Right Reasons

There are some business that will need people to come into the building, and there are roles that can be solely completed at home in an employee’s own time. You don’t need people to go fully into remote working, and you don’t need people not to. You instead need to find the balance that works for you. People who need to maintain servers or even do payroll may need to come into work, for example.

“Part-time remote working is also very popular, meaning people can come into work when they need to and can work flexibly at home when they need too. It’s important for you to define your motives first so the best approach can be established. Don’t just offer remote working because it seems like a good idea for no apparent reason,” shares Nick Denning, a marketing blogger at Stateofwriting and Paperfellows.

3. Not Addressing/Voicing Concerns or Worries

There are going to be problems that come up during the remote working transition, and the same problems aren’t going to affect everybody the same. You need to make sure you’re addressing problems and worries that come up as soon as they come up. Otherwise, people are going to hide them away, and the consequences will be far more impactful.

As a manager or team leader, this means giving your employees the opportunities to talk and voice their opinions by directly asking them. As an employee, it means standing up and being confident enough to say you have a problem or concern that needs to be dealt with.

Ask employees about concerns during your regular video conferences. Maybe they are worried about where to upload work files, or keep secure. Regular communication, should allow you to address all concerns and boost productivity.

4. Not Making a Special Effort to Communicate

When remote working, communication is key, but this won’t come naturally to everyone, for either employees or managers. Everybody needs to make a special effort to communicate as much as possible and as productively as possible, at least until everyone is settled in and knows what they’re doing and what the routines are.

With this in mind, be sure that everyone has access to teleconferencing software like Teams, and can get into all required rooms or chats. If this is not possible, daily emails or text chat is still paramount.

5. Not Thinking About Security

“Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of remote working is security, and this needs to be implemented every step of the way from the very beginning. How would you like your accountant paying all your staff’s wages from a café using an unsecured public Wi-Fi network?” explains Mary Harper, a business writer at Boomessays and Australianhelp.

“Exactly. Lay down the ground rules to security and make sure everyone is using proper passwords, and their devices and internet connections are secure and protect yourself and your business.”

6. Don’t Forget Cultural Differences

While you may not be making your employees remote work, you may be hiring people from all over the world to remote work with you, which means you need to make sure the cultures from these different countries are respected throughout your business. Otherwise, you could be experiencing some serious issues.

Making sure you’re aware of your employee’s time zones, religions, cities, and societal culture is vital is you want remote working to succeed, just like it would if you were hiring people from all over the world and then putting them together in your offices. Be mindful of other people and respect them as you would in the physical world.

It should actually be appropriate to say “Good morning” to your remote employees via text chat, when it’s 8am or so for them. But ringing them up first thing in the morning is definitely out of the question.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are plenty of different aspects and things to think about when it comes to remote working, and by being mindful of these mistakes, you can avoid them and ensure your remote working ventures are as successful as possible.

About Re:amaze

Re:amaze is a modern helpdesk and customer messaging platform designed to help eCommerce businesses boost customer happiness and revenue. Re:amaze allows all customer-oriented teams to work together in a shared inbox through email, social, SMS, voice, and live chat. Re:amaze also comes packaged with automated messaging and chatbots so eCommerce brands can succeed at the front lines of conversational commerce.

About Molly Crockett

Molly Crockett is a successful business consultant and writer for Academized and Ukwritings, where she shares her unique development and growth with her audience. She also writes for Essayroo.