Head of the Accounting Department Service Group, BDO Unicon Outsourcing
The coronavirus infection outbreak is forcing the Russian business to quickly adapt to social changes. Despite the absence of official instructions, some companies have already allowed the employees to telecommute in order to reduce the risk of infection exposure in the offices. The management who has never faced the need to quickly transfer the most part of the staff to home offices, has to search for new methods of efficient management.
How to coordinate the work of a telecommuting team so that business processes are not affected? Veronika Arakelova, Expert, BDO Unicon Outsourcing, answers.
1. Test the Working Tools before Starting to Telecommute.
First of all, make sure that the employees’ home hardware and Internet operate in good order, as well as any equipment provided by the company: starting from phone to remote server connection.
2. Choose IT Tools for Quick Communication between all the Team Members.
For example, to get quick access to the documents and to exchange information with the customers we use the MyBPO portal where all the required information concerning current services is stored at one place; to approve source documents and to exchange with external counterparties we use electronic document flow. We communicate with our colleagues using the Teams platform. It is convenient for meetings and develops the feeling of working together, not telecommuting.
3. Keep in Touch with the Team.
Working in the office, people often discuss some informal issues, while remote work may make a person feel closed off from society. Discuss something except from the business to make the employee feel like a part of the team. For example, our team has a Whatsapp chat where we support each other and share photos of our home work stations. At the end of the day, we discuss how fruitful our day has been and share some ideas of tools we may add. That lets the team to keep in touch.
4. Develop an Optimal Process Management Strategy.
Not enough time has passed to say which of the methods for assessing the work of a telecommuting employee is the most efficient. But we transferred our offline experience to the remote work: we develop plans for a quarter, a month, a week; we discuss our tasks for the day at the morning meeting. It gives a clear idea of what each employee is working on, if he/she needs assistance or a ‘silent day’. For example, if the team member is going to make some reports, we do not involve him/her in our discussions.
The customers are not assigned to exact employee in my department. We allocate responsibilities for a week or a month ahead, but we work for our customers together: any employee can replace another. So, if someone made a mistake, another employee would definitely notice and correct it. Such cross-functional method helps not to reduce efficiency and to control quality even in telecommuting.
5. Divide your Day into Blocks.
There are, for sure, some issues that require immediate decision, but most of the tasks can be planned to develop an optimal schedule. For example, discuss the tasks during the morning meetings, and spend the afternoon doing something that requires more attention and focus. It may be useful to agree on some default days for scheduled conferences with customers and colleagues in order not to change your work plans.
6. Consider the Risks of Telecommuting.
Mind that many employees have not got accustomed to telecommuting yet. Explain to the team why it is required to stay at the work station during the whole working day. People think that while there are no urgent tasks they can be focus on their own business, which causes disruptions in the business process if an employee is not available for a long time.
7. Remember, Today’s Enforced Situation is a Training for Possible Transfer in the Future.
We do not know how the world would change after the quarantine; but an increase in number of remote employees has been a trend in recent years. Many Russian companies are not ready to transfer the employees to remote work, but the quarantine is a training that will help to continue using the temporary telecommuting in practice.
I’m sure that major part of my team will switch to a schedule providing some hours of telecommuting. It’s convenient: you can focus on performing application tasks at home and meet to search for creative solutions demanding brainstorming or face-to-face interaction.
