With the recent shift to remote work, a lot of companies struggled to ensure their employees had access to the correct resources and tech tools to effectively perform their jobs. It was crucial to find a way that helps in sharing confidential company data with employees securely.
Although it was a sudden move to the work from home culture, it does have a lot of benefits. Employees are able to enjoy a better work-life balance which enhances their work productivity. It reduces business costs too along with enhancing employee retention rate.
But adapting to a home office needs a lot of planning and resource management that must be taken into account while managing a remote workforce. Employees and managers need various digital solutions that come with intuitive interfaces to facilitate their work.
For instance, an attendance tracking software has become a necessity for managers to be able to keep a track of employee work progress and their attendance across multiple locations. It also allows employees to schedule their day better with the help of statistics provided by the software.
For managers working with or handling a remote team for the first time, we have listed below the best practises that must be adopted to make remote work effective and secure:
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Switch to cloud:
Moving your important business applications to the cloud allows you to access state-of-the-art technology that is quickly available and highly safe. It also helps everyone to get the information they need from a centralized source.
For small businesses and startups this is a boon as switching to cloud saves a lot of time and money. Cloud based applications come with top-notch security features that get automatically upgraded and are compliant with industry mandated regulations.
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Opt for multi-factor authentication:
Working away from the office has opened businesses to new online threats and made confidential business data more vulnerable. To prevent this, it has become necessary to have something more powerful than just a password for accessing and exchanging sensitive data.
To add an extra layer of security, businesses must opt for multi factor authentication to eliminate the risk of business credentials getting into the wrong hands. It also reduces the chances of any external entity getting unauthorized access to critical business systems.
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Keep everyone in the loop:
Remote employees juggle multiple tasks at the same time and are prone to making errors if not provided clear guidelines regarding their work. Clear and concise communication is important for setting the right expectations. It also keeps everyone the same page regarding individual and team responsibilities.
As compared to an office setup,work from home does not provide the luxury of walking to an employee's desk and personally communicating a change in workflow. To provide structure to a distributed team in case of changing project guidelines, it is necessary to keep everyone in the loop with the help of well-coordinated virtual meetings.
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Provide necessary equipments:
Since the situation is not going to change for the coming months and employees will have to continue working from home, employers must help employees build a productive home office. You need to ensure they have everything to effectively carry out their daily responsibilities.
You can specify the list of equipment you can provide them upfront and offer an allowance for it. This list can include basics like a monitor/laptop, keyboard, headphones (for virtual meetings), comfortable chairs, adjustable desk, etc.
Conclusion:
Businesses must remember that this is an unfortunate and difficult situation for everyone, and they must be empathetic towards their employees as they may be under stress. By implementing the above mentioned security tips, you can maintain a secure network and safeguard your employees' remote access.
