There are days when advising the team to leave home early and crank up their go-to podcast to get through the pains of a heavy traffic won’t work anymore. I know the feeling because I’ve been in the same situation. I have mastered eating while on the road and leaving home before the sun shows up because heavy traffic won’t just let me live a happy life.
If you search on the effects of traffic jams and Carmageddon in the quality of life of families and the workforce in general, you’ll see that there is study after study about how the economy suffers. Hating the system and resenting the daily traffic chaos won’t do you any good in the long run. And if moving to another city or country isn’t the option, you must bring something to the table. Spreading the frustrations because of the gridlock going to work and provide a solution for the team.
Here’s how you can help your team to work-from-home effectively on hellish traffic days.
Prepare the logistics ahead of time
The goal is to have a team who works well together no matter where they are. To do this, you have to prepare your team for a virtual office set up. Begin by aligning the schedule to avoid telecommuting on days that has pre-scheduled meetings. If not, you can always train the team on how to handle conference video calls from home.
Conduct trial runs in the office
It might sound and feel silly to rehearse a Skype video call with the team, but it will benefit the team in the long run. Maintain a systematic approach in presenting the agenda as you would on an offline meeting. Assign a moderator to help in managing the call. Collaborate with the team to find simple and effective ways to set meetings and discussions using remote conferencing tools.
Invest on the right tools for remote working
No matter the industry you are in what you need is to invest in the right tools to connect with your team. Hubspot shares 10 must-have apps for remote workers. These apps will come very useful for agencies and other businesses who prefer connecting with their team on-the-go. With my team, our daily tasks and monthly goals are kept on Google Drive. Everyone can access them for as long as there’s a stable internet connection. You can check the web app tools I use with my team.
Do you think you’re ready to introduce telecommuting to your team every once in a while?
Get them on-board and increase your team’s productivity and work satisfaction in no time.