The coronavirus pandemic has long caused a huge change in the way people work and businesses run. When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, companies were quick to effectuate a skeletal workforce. And with protocols and mandatory social distancing rules in place, many were forced to resort to remote work.
It has been roughly eight months since the start of most lockdowns worldwide. This means that a lot of employees have already spent majority of the year working virtually. And research says this will continue even after the pandemic. In a survey conducted by Gartner in July 2020, it was revealed that 82% of company leaders plan to allow their employees to work remotely after COVID-19.
While remote work isn’t new, it is also not the norm before the pandemic hit, which is why it comes with its own cons. For one, a crucial factor in business success—team collaboration—was deeply affected because of the obvious reason that people can’t meet face-to-face to brainstorm their ideas.
But when geared with the correct knowledge and resources, teams can make this new work-from-home set-up work in their favor.
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few months, you’ve probably been invited to a Zoom or Google Meet meeting by your boss or teammates. Ideas can be developed more successfully when people gather together to discuss them and we can’t exactly do that now, which is why video conferencing has been a norm in remote work.
But being in online video calls for long periods of time can cause fatigue. Working-from-home stripped everyone off of the chit-chat we have every once in a while in a physical workplace. One way we can remedy that is by initiating more casual conversations between work-related discussions. Use messaging software to catch up with your workmates just like you would during lunch at the pantry or at the water cooler when you’re making coffee at the office.
There are tons of productivity software you can use to enable you to streamline your operations more seamlessly so you can stay productive. Some examples that you can look into are organization apps such as Wunderlist for to-do lists, Calendly for syncing your schedule with your team, Time Timer for measuring your work hours, and Evernote for cloud-based note-taking. The key is finding out which apps work best for you.
At the end of the day, if there is no proper and effective communication system, even if you have premium access to the top-notch video conferencing or productivity tools in the market, your team will not be productive. The new normal is tough to navigate — we know this much is true — and it wouldn’t help if we don’t understand each other. Foster a remote work environment where your teammates can freely air out their needs to ensure that everyone is working happily albeit far apart.
If you agree with this article and see that your current workplace doesn’t have the aforementioned, then you might consider joining a team that allows for team collaboration and individual growth even amid the pandemic. We can help you out!
Here at DCPH, we can find you a job wherever you are in the Philippines. Feel free to browse through our Careers page and you just might find the next door to your next career opening in front of you.
