While many companies have adopted remote working because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, others are struggling to adapt.

For the many contract workers, freelancers, and small business owners, working from a home office or remote location like shared office spaces or coffee shops was normal.

The large corporate still mainly run by the older baby boomers are not coping quite so well.

There is a distinct “if I cannot see them, I don’t know if they are working” mentality, which you can overcome with simple processes.  No, not the timesheet and “check-in” kind of processes, but rather the ones that promote a safe working environment.

In his book Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek stresses the importance of staff feeling valued and secure in their positions. It is so easy to threaten a staff member into working harder, but it is seldom effective. The team tends to add in extra time and effort when they feel part of the process.

Bringing everyone into the fold

A simple concept is to show everyone the state of the business. If the company is doing well, then everyone should be happy with the status quo. If not, it is a good idea to showcase where the business challenges lie and get buy-in from everyone on how to fix it.

Some companies got everyone to take a salary cut, so to save jobs. These teams were far more willing to put in the work to keep everyone working. The concept of saving the company and all the jobs is a fantastic incentive.

Managing people’s challenges

They deserve a medal for the parents out there who had to manage working from home, school work, and being cooped up in a confined space. There are jokes about kids interrupting zoom meetings and dogs barking incessantly throughout check-ins, but it made the people seem more human in many ways. Allowing people the space to manage their time according to the needs of the household is hugely beneficial, as they can settle the kids and pets without the fear of reprisal.

Managing boundaries

Having access to people’s homes did, however, cause another issue, which was over-familiarity and a breaking down of the workday boundaries. It is critical to allow people to switch off at some point. Just because one person is up and about, it does not mean everyone should be.

Allowing the freedom to get the job done

The companies that are thriving under these circumstances are the ones that have the job requirements and allow the staff to get the job done—no check-in at 8:30 and check-out at 5 pm. No early morning status meetings, taking up time that few have as a luxury.

Team check should be one-on-one if necessary. A phone call or status sheet update can work wonders. Using live online tools like Google Sheets is an underutilised tool that is easy to bring everyone up to speed on projects.

Setting realistic deadlines and allowing the team to do the work when they are most productive is the ideal situation you can have. It is about trust at the end of the day.

When you treat everyone like an adult, with clear KPIs, deadlines, and rewards, you will see an increase in productivity and overall happiness of the team.

Bizcash is a South African company that is invested in growing SME’s in SA to ensure a sustainable future for all.

Please speak to our team to find out more about how we can help your business with expansion plans with alternative funding options. Get in touch with us on 0861 93 93 93 or email us on info@bizcashscf.co.za or contact us here.

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