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12 Mar

A Crash Course In Launching A Remote Workforce

by jdell
in Sales Operations
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A Crash Course In Launching A Remote Workforce

What Every Organization Needs To Know About Setting Up Remote Workers Amid COVID-19.

It happened so quickly – the outbreak of the COVID-19, or Coronavirus Disease Pandemic has infiltrated the global economy, sending shockwaves of panic and disruption. With supply chain disruption and widespread stockouts of basic consumer and business items, businesses are scrambling to measure the short, mid and long-term effects on business.

Over and above these strategic impacts, all organizations must also plan for their role in combating this the spread of COVID-19 in the workforce. The unique nature of this disease is twofold; an infected person may appear symptom-free and still “shed” the virus to others. Additionally, the peak viral load of COVID-19 can be reached within 5 days, and symptoms are estimated to appear within 11.5 days (“Study highlights ease of spread of COVID-19 viruses,” 2020).

What this means is that an effective disease prevention policy involves limiting exposure before infection, and once infected, remaining in quarantine for a minimum of 14 days. Despite the drastic nature of a preemptive quarantine that could extend to multiple weeks if infected, many businesses have moved quickly to close their offices and have employees work from home. Those that have not yet instituted such a policy may be forced to as school closures and mobility restrictions may prevent their employees from reaching the office sooner rather than later.

For those who may have never considered establishing a remote, or “virtualized” workforce, here is a crash course on how to do it quickly and retain the productivity needed to remain successful. We’ll cover the following topics – feel free to skip ahead:  

Note: While we do cover some technical requirements of virtualized infrastructure, we do so in general terms to inform managers and executives. You should consult your IT department or provider for the technical solutions that best fit your organization.

Use Technology To Work From Home

If you have cloud systems like Salesforce CRM, NetSuite, Sage X3, e.t.c, these can be leveraged remotely with minimal effort. Your IT team may need to configure IP whitelisting for remote access, but often this can be done at the user level.

If your systems can only be accessed “on premise” or through your corporate network, there are numerous ways to connect remotely to desktop computers or servers. Paid services like LogMeIn or GotoMyPC allow users to log in securely to their work desktop and work from there. All access and permissions remain unchanged, and it is essentially like the user is working from their desk. Many enterprise-grade firewalls also provide accessibility to workstations, as do 3rd party Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers. These require more substantial IT configuration and training on both the network and employee side, but may not incur additional costs. Since both options connect to standard desktops, the desktops need  to be turned on in order to be accessed. This can be frustrating when a computer goes to sleep or loses connection. Unfortunately the only way to rectify is to have someone onsite to start or wake up the computer, which may not always be possible.

Long term, virtual workstations are an attractive option because they are essentially a virtual computer that is installed on a server. Since they are server based, they are always “on” and can be easily controlled remotely by IT rules or intervention. No manual reboots required. There are many terrific providers of these solutions, such as Citrix and Amazon.

Another readily available option is Microsoft Office 365. Many organizations have moved to Office 365 to streamline Office licenses and remove Exchange hosting burdens. Many employees use Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word software on their work computers daily. But with Office 365 licenses, all of these programs are also available on the cloud. Often the user’s email login can be used to access the cloud versions of these programs and to share and collaborate on files using Microsoft OneDrive, which is included with most Office 365 licenses. Your IT provider may need to open access remotely, but otherwise the IT intervention is minimal.   

An oft-overlooked area of remote work is timekeeping. With hourly employees, you still need to adhere to labor laws and payroll requirements. Many payroll systems like ADP or Paychex have developed virtual “time clock” products that can be accessed from the internet. Configuration or purchase may be required. Other stand-alone products such as  TSheets or Harvest allow tracking of time, breaks and mileage through an easy to use app. Most of these solutions are cost-effective and do not require long-term contracts. They also provide advanced features like facial recognition and scheduling.  

Last but not least, consider subscribing to a web meeting provider like Zoom Meetings if you don’t already have one. Virtual meetings are a must in remote work, and the video feeds and screensharing are critical for collaboration.

Security Considerations For Remote Work

Organizations must also be very diligent to control security when implementing a remote workforce.  Strict regulations around customer and patient data do not roll back in times of crisis, however in the scramble of remote workforce management, sensitive data is often emailed freely or saved to personal devices. Add in the uncontrollable and potentially unsecure WiFi connections of employees, and businesses find themselves at risk of violating HIPPA, CCPA, GDPR or other regulations.

One of the benefits of the paid services like LogMeIn is that they offer Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), which requires something a user knows and something they have in order to login. Usually the “know” portion is a username/password combination. When entered correctly, the system sends a temporary code to the user’s cell phone or an installed app (the “have” portion). This increases security in that simply knowing a password is not enough to gain access to sensitive systems. Most major cloud services support MFA, including Microsoft Office 365.

Overall, remotely logging in to an organization-owned and controlled workspace is a much more secure option when working remotely.  

Managing Communication

One of the most challenging aspects of virtual workforces is effective communication, especially among teams. When you can’t go visit someone’s cubical for an update on a project or clarification, virtual communication becomes the great bottleneck of productivity. Here are some quick tips to keep information flowing:

Instant Messaging: Programs like Slack are great for sending funny GIFs around the office. They’re also great for quickly reaching others and getting answers. BOTH are important for virtual work. While some managers may see instant messaging as counter-productive because of the GIFs and personal chats, it is actually just that type of interaction that makes it so powerful. Employees like to interact and build relationships with others. In remote work this is one way that they do that. It is easy to understand that an employee is more inclined to respond quickly or go out of their way to help someone they have a relationship with. And what’s more, they’re not just helping a friend, they’re helping another employee with a task that is critical for your business. The lighter side of inter-office communication also keeps remote employees engaged in a single communication platform, much more than email does. If the employees are engaged, they will better communicate and delays will be minimized.

Daily “StandUps”: At Elevation Data Group, we are big proponents of short, daily meetings. The are dubbed “StandUps” because in physical meetings participants aren’t allowed to sit down. This ensures the meetings are hyper-focused and time isn’t wasted. This concept easily translates to virtual workforces where managers can organize early and midday meetings of 10-minutes or less, ideally at fixed times and consisting of small-ish teams. These meetings should focus on rapid updates and outstanding issues. Anything that requires more time should be addressed immediately following and only involving the pertinent people. These meetings are time well spent for employees, but solid gold for managers who need to ensure their directives are clearly understood and their team is unified in their approach.

Executive Correspondence: Particularly powerful for companies who are temporarily operating remotely during COVID-19, regular communication from executive leadership can provide a critical link to the big picture for employees. What is happening, for how long, what areas do we need to be mindful? All these questions and more can be proactively addressed to increase transparency and keep employees as engaged.

Managing Employee Productivity

Perhaps the most debated question around remote workforces is whether they are more productive or less productive than in-house employees. The answer to that is, of course, it depends. Here are some critical areas where productivity is won or lost in remote workforces:

Communication: As discussed in the Communication section of this article, regular and mutual communication is the greatest accountability for remote workers. If managers don’t nurture communicative channels, employees are more likely to abuse the anonymity of remote work.  

Set Tactical Objectives: Managers are great at setting goals and determining KPIs over months, quarters, and years. But for many remote employees, daily objectives are key for instilling a sense of urgency to the independent day. Be careful not to limit objectives to completed work, but consider tangible progress. One of the least heralded benefits of remote work is that, while it may expose distractions at home, it also clears distractions at work like interruptions and  overtly short-term goals. Take, for example, a sales rep who needs to make 50 outbound calls per day. In the remote environment, the sales rep can focus more on the customers by way of pre-call planning or analysis. The independence of remote work naturally lends itself to independent thinking. Further, when these progress objectives are discussed with managers daily, it provides an environment of knowledge transfer and mentorship, which increase productivity and employee morale.

Define Job Schedule & Consider Alternative Modular Approach: Defining a job schedule sounds obvious, but it cannot be overstated. Remote employees, like all employees, will do what is expected and that needs to be crystal clear. Start/End/Break times should be well defined and tracked. This may also be a great time to leverage the flexibility and independence of remote work.  Consider a modular task format, where specified days are focused on a particular job component, i.e. prospecting, forecasting. This structure is more feasible in an independent environment and is generally easier to monitor remotely.

Acknowledge Responsiveness: Remote employee responsiveness is a hard and fast indicator of productivity. Of course there will be times the employee is unavailable, but over time a trend will emerge where you can tell who is actively working/monitoring and who is watching Netflix. Acknowledge and reward those who are most responsive and create an environment of accountability. Even an update of “Saw your email, working on it now…” reassures everyone that the employee is actively engaged.

Digital Monitoring: For departments like customer service, where tangible metrics are needed to assess productivity, consider any and all real-time monitoring available. Many modern VOIP phone solutions offer out-of-the box dashboards for live phone monitoring. Additionally, CRM systems can report on records updated or appointments scheduled, e.t.c. These reports should be available live, but can also usually be scheduled for automatic updates email delivery.

Understanding Employees’ Personal Impacts And Responding Appropriately

It’s easy to put on the “work” hat and realize the impacts of COVID-19 on our businesses. But this outbreak will touch everyone in some way, forcing managers to consider an additional impact to business. Here are a few scenarios you may encounter:

The Scenario: Schools Close

On Friday March 6, the University of Washington closed campus to students and moved all curriculum online (“First U.S. Colleges Close Classrooms as Virus Spreads. More Could Follow”, 2020). Within a few days dozens of others followed, Disneyland was closed, the NBA season was suspended, and suddenly everything appeared to be possible. If hundreds of thousands of students could be displaced overnight, the possibility that millions of elementary and high school students will soon follow is very real.

The Response: Flexibility

If schools close, employees will not only be juggling remote workload, but doing so while caring for children at home. Anyone who has school-aged children understands just how challenging this is over school breaks, let alone a global pandemic where babysitters, camps, and daycares are shuddered. Any work that can be flexible, should be made flexible. Many employees may need to contribute early in the morning or later at night when the little ones are sleeping. As labor laws allow, consider these fluid schedules and do your best to find times that align for all team members for regular communication. More creative options may be a reimbursement for Disney +, Netflix or board games to help keep the kids entertained, so long as you don’t encourage these as digital babysitters and require their institution to keep employees productive. These efforts say more about an organization’s care for employees and can mitigate some of the stress of the situation.

The Situation: Income Security and Economic Uncertainty

As the economy reels from this pandemic, businesses must plan for extended interruptions of revenue projections and cost impacts. Depending on a company’s financial situation, the uncertainty may be severe. This trickles down to employees as well, who are left to wonder if their job or income is at risk.

The Response: Transparency and Assistance Where Possible

In absence of transparency, rumors reign. This can be damaging for productivity and morale as fear rages and panic increases. The best way to combat this is by transparent messaging from executive leadership as to the steps the organization is taking to address the current business climate. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you should be open with the steps you are taking and with pertinent updates. If it is possible to guarantee hours or a minimum salary, the move will provide much needed security for employees and allow them to focus on work. If such guarantees are not possible, transparency is all the more important to illustrate what the organization is doing to stay viable.

The Situation: Travel Advisories Scare

While global travel has been officially restricted by President Trump, even domestic travel appears vulnerable to further oversight. But the fear has already decimated travel plans and caused major airlines and hotel groups to slash projections. Employees who travel frequently for work are increasingly hesitant to do so for fear of exposure to COVID-19.    

The Response: Cancel Travel

While the easy answer is to assess criticality of travel, the truth is that it favors company objectives over employee health. That message, while not purposefully harsh, can be perceived that way. Canceling all business travel protects employees and mitigates productivity risk if they were to become infected while traveling. If you have contracts with set deliverables or onsite work, consult with your legal counsel to determine if/how the contracts are affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Long-term Remote Work Strategies And Opportunities

There are many attractive benefits of a long-term virtualized workforce solution, and you may find that they give your organization a strategic advantage.

Deep Hiring Pool: When you’re not geographically static, you are free to draw talent from anywhere. This greatly enhances your candidate pool and increases your likelihood of matching the exact skills needed for open positions.

3rd Party Specialization: A component of virtualized work is getting more value for the money. This can be achieved with the right 3rd party provider. For example, at Elevation Data Group our technical team consists of analysts, BI designers, data engineers and full stack developers. On a given contract for our clients, one or all of these highly specialized employees will contribute, with the total cost much less than one internal headcount. For many functional capacities like IT, Marketing, or Operations, it provides a swiss army knife approach to tackle complex jobs more quickly, compared to a single employee who may be struggling to wear many “hats.” This option integrates very well to a virtualized workforce and can be great as a project team supplement or as a solution to ultra-fast workforce scaling.

Employee Attraction & Retention: There’s no denying that commuters don’t like commuting. Taking a stressful job and adding 1-2 hours on either end of the day just to get there and back contribute mightily to job satisfaction, especially among the emerging workforce who value intangible workplace benefits more than their predecessors. The great news is that jobs don’t have to be fully remote to provide this benefit. Allowing just one or two remote days per week can provide that much-needed respite and help your organization attract and retain top talent.

Regulatory Flexibility: As individual states continue to shape their business environment, it becomes more or less advantageous to position employees there. By virtualizing components of your workforce, you can strategically scale in geographic areas where it is most feasible and effective.

As with any endeavor, a virtual workforce needs to be carefully weighed and aligned with your organization’s strategies and values. It is unfortunate that the rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to act quickly, but hopefully at the very least there is some value in the experimentation of remote work. We hope you have found this guide helpful! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

About Elevation Data Group

Elevation Data Group is a provider of managed data services and management consulting. As a fully-virtualized workforce, we have invested much effort and exercise into making remote workforces efficient and responsive. We hope sharing our thoughts is useful to you! But everything in this article reflects our opinions only – we have not been compensated by any provider and do not endorse any referenced product. Every product has its merits and each should be independently assessed by your organization.

Sources

Study highlights ease of spread of COVID-19 viruses (2020, March 9), University of Minnesota Center For Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Retrieved from: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/study-highlights-ease-spread-covid-19-viruses

First U.S. Colleges Close Classrooms as Virus Spreads. More Could Follow (2020, March 6), New York Times. Retrieved March 12 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/us/coronavirus-college-campus-closings.html