As a business owner, you’ll be keen to attract and retain the best talent, and offering employees the chance to work from home is a good way to go about it – not only will your people appreciate the flexibility, it could actually increase productivity.
But before you offer staff the chance to work remotely, you need to make sure it’s right for your business and ease your way into it – here’s how…
If you want to successfully work from home, you need to make sure you have the all the same equipment, apps, and logins you have in the office – there are few things more frustrating than spending half the day trying get things up and running, and constantly phoning IT to make sure you have the right logins.
So once you’ve got the work laptop sorted and the VPN, here are some essential work from home apps to make your work from home life even easier…
The UK prime minister is looking to secure a last-gasp deal that will gain cross-party support, as well as the backing of the EU and the Irish Taoiseach. It’s no secret that the potential economic disaster of a no-deal Brexit could see some big companies leave the UK – Nissan is the latest company to once again voice its concerns – but it seems there could be a huge knock-on effect for the UK’s freelance workforce.
If you find your productivity levels drop as temperatures rise, don’t beat yourself up trying to find out why – it might not even be your fault! Here’s why…
We all want our employees to be as productive as possible, and finding the right work/life balance can be key to keeping employees happy – and happy employees are generally more productive.
The trouble is, finding the right work/life balance can be tricky – while having the option of working from home will be enough for some, remote working doesn’t agree with everyone, even though advances in mobile technology mean that working from anywhere is easier than ever before.
So, how can you improve the work/life balance of your employees?
We all get frustrated in work from time-to-time, especially when the boss is piling the extra work on, seemingly oblivious to the fact that you’re already working every waking hour and coming perilously close to burn out.
It’s at this point that your ‘fight or flight’ instinct might kick in, and while some will choose ‘flight’ and look for a way out, others will choose ‘fight’ and look for a showdown with the powers that be. Some will even look at their boss and wish they’d drop dead – if this sound like you, it’s perfectly normal, and you’re far from alone.
Are you feeling constantly stressed out? To the point where you feel completely overwhelmed, exhausted and helpless? If so, you could be suffering from burnout. And you’re not alone – the problem is so prevalent in modern life that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now recognised the condition in the latest version of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health problems, a handbook for recognized medical conditions.
How engaged are your employees? If your staff are kept motivated and challenged, either as part of the work itself or the culture your business is built upon, and feel valued, then there’s a good chance there will be high levels of employee engagement.
Similarly, if your product or service is something everyone believes in and can get behind, then it’s likely that engagement levels will be high and staff will work hard and pull in the same direction.
But what if employee engagement is low and staff appear to lack motivation? Here’s how to improve employee engagement.
Offering work from home benefits is a great way to both attract and retain the best talent.
If this is something your business offers, or is thinking of offering, you need to have clear work-from-home guidelines in place to protect both your business and its employees.
Here’s how to draft a work from home policy.
Cutting out the daily commute is a great way to reduce your monthly costs, lower your carbon footprint improve your work/life balance and even your overall health, as you’re not exposed to traffic fumes – it’s amazing the positive impact avoiding the morning traffic can have.
But new research has found that everyday household items, including toasters, could actually be exposing you to more pollution than being out on the busy morning roads.