As the Covid-19 issue develops, many businesses have decided to continue their efforts remotely. If you are still on the fence about whether to enforce home-working in your office, think about your options!

Many businesses worry that home-working would damage the efficiency of their employees. Of course, whether you decide to close your office or not is up to you, but there is some advice to take into account. The government advice is that an employee should stay home if they have a continuous cough or a high temperature. However, many businesses have decided it would be best to close their offices as a pre-cautionary measure. What can help you to decide whether you should do the same?

Software

Understandably, you need to make sure that everyone is equipped to do their work effectively before you decide to start working remotely. This can be stressful to make sure that you remember to give everyone access to all the programs they need; especially in a larger business. However, there are multiple programs that will be needed regardless of which industry you work within if you are home-working. For example, most businesses need access to emails and a phone so their clients can contact them. Also, it’s likely you will need access to a shared task management software so that your team can co-ordinate and prioritise.

Here are some examples of software we recommend:

• Microsoft To-Do – a useful task management software for your team focusing around one person tasks.
• Basecamp – another task management software but more focused around connecting with clients.
• Clickup – a project management software built for larger projects and teams.

Before deciding to start home-working, make sure your entire team knows what’s happening for the business to survive!

Workflow

Another thing to bear in mind when deciding to start home-working is the impact on workflow. Something to bear in mind is that despite being at home, you are still running a business. If the business is not going to run well remotely, it’s not a good idea to voluntarily sacrifice efficiency. However, balance is key; at the end of the day, health is the most important thing. It’s always worth bearing in mind that employees are the most vital part of any business, without them it couldn’t succeed. So, make sure your employees are safe and well in any decision you make.

For more information on how to stay safe despite the Covid-19 outbreak, check out the World Health Organisation’s information page.

For information on how we are dealing with safety at Dexterous Designs, please visit out Office Availability page.

Stay safe everyone!