Working from home is not a new concept today. Different types of organizations use such flex working mode or hours for the sake of being agile & updated. When there is some natural disaster around the country or city or region that creates an obstacle to reach office & some important project is on the run, it is advisable to continue the work staying home being linked with the colleagues. As long as the situation is under control & it is not taking a toll on the well being of employees, work can be continued. To make this work from home experience an effective one, certain tips are presented here:

Renewing job description:

When it is that situation when people have to alter their workplace & working pattern with their comfort zone, things actually take a huge turn. The fast worker might turn out to be in a fix running out of ideas whereas the silent worker can share a good number of ideas. So in this situation, it might be helpful to prepare a new job description that will tap the newly found habits & talents of the employees. The introverted employee may come with new suggestions to work with higher productivity, as a result, he or she can be made the team leader direct & the work teams in the new situation. This will also increase his or her motivation.

Using specific app for communication:

In this spread of applications & platforms for chatting & communicating, it is really important to use one particular method for example – app or medium for running office talks & meetings. There are several platforms today & not all people use the same platform for same purpose, so there should be one common method of contact for all colleagues which will be used only for official purpose. It will simplify the working procedure.

Reporting daily to departmental head:

As each day working from home is supposed to bring new experience either convenient or hindering, it is imperative to communicate the experience on that group chat (consisting of colleagues) daily. It is the duty of the departmental head to look through the messages & reply at the end of each day. If messages or problems are not communicated early or in real time, the difficulty level rises which hampers the flow of work. As it is a new set up for many, the initial difficulty may put the motivation down.

Avoiding irrelevant discussion on work group:

The work group that should be composed of employees of department must be active sharing the daily experience of work & must avoid talking irrelevant issues because that diverts the attention from work. As the messages are displayed on screen of the phone or laptop depending on the size of the screen, consuming more space with less important text or irrelevant messages makes it tiring to scroll back or up to look for important information.

Brainstorming & experimenting:

When the work pattern is different & people are free to work staying at their home, there is scope of experimenting with new ideas & methods. The point is, employees can be given permission to bring in ideas, experiment with something new after brainstorming. As the basic medium of work is internet, it brings plethora of opportunity to work on different things in different manners. After a reasonable research, it may be found that the work which was the top most priority with no previous experience can be easily performed via outsourcing or freelancing. So employees should be encouraged to think again, research & come with new ideas about work.

These are some guidelines that can help a company or department to start working staying at home with effectiveness & efficiency. The thing is, when there is a change, people should not worry about losing the comfort zone much rather it is interesting to see the unforeseen & immense possibility that the change acceptance may bring.

Author: Abu Md. Abdullah
Assistant Professor
Faculty of Business Administration
Eastern University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Email: abdullah@easternuni.edu.bd