The fact is, these days it’s more common than ever for people to work remotely. They make this decision because of the extraordinary conditions we presently find ourselves in, as well as other advantages such as a more productive workday, a cheaper cost of living, a better work-life balance, and some of the unique benefits working at home offers.

Home working can be a positive development for both the employee and employer, but it does come with some difficulties. Many companies are concerned with the mental and physical health and safety of their work-from-home employees, and how they can best support them to ensure they are working productively and feel connected to the team.

Here are some tips for employers looking to provide support for their remote workforce:

1. Create guidelines and policies that outline the expectations for their remote workers. This includes expectations for working hours, communication, and work-life balance. By setting clear guidelines, employers can help their remote employees feel more connected to the company and ensure they are productive and healthy. Whilst at home, it can be easy for employees to work past their standard work hours, taking away time from the personal life. Even though more work may be done in the short-term, this can have detrimental effects such as stress and burnout in the long-term. Setting clear objectives and delivering on these, rather than time worked, is a good approach to measure employee productivity when they work at home since it reduces feelings of guilt about time worked.
2. Employers should using video conferencing tools like Slack, Skype for Business, or Zoom to stay in touch with their remote employees. It is important for employers to test these tools out before implementing them to ensure that they are suitable for their company and employees. Video conferencing tools can be used to keep remote teams accountable, giving managers the chance to monitor employees’ progress and offer feedback directly. Managers should check in with their team members at least once every two days, at the very least. When communicating with remote employees you may need to be more flexible than usual and keep in mind that they may have commitments, such as picking children up from school, that may make them unable to meet at certain times.
3. You should also remember to create a safe and open environment for their employees by making it clear that they should feel comfortable voicing concerns and reaching out when they need help and support. Managers and leaders can ask their staff how they’re feeling or conduct unsolicited surveys to assess employee morale and concerns.This can help companies better understand how they can support their employees working from home.
4. It’s important to remember that remote workers are not insulated from the dangers of working in an office and their health and safety is still the employer’s responsibility. Remote workers must also be considered in the risk assessment and employers must give extra training on health and safety courses to employees who work from home. The office has a safety net of coworkers who may have more first-hand experience, while isolated individuals are alone and need to know what to do when an incident occurs.