With the complications of the current pandemic aside, remote work really has become a headline across the globe recently. A study conducted by Flexjob last year found that remote work has grown by over 90 percent in the last 10 years and over 44 percent in the last 5 years. This herculean growth has been the result of the commitment by most organizations to remain connected on the go and allow employees flexible workloads and the opportunity to work from home.
Despite the general advancements in the percentage of organizations promoting remote work, there certainly is a lot of confusion over the role played by HR here. How can the HR department work together to support remote workers? We take a detailed look at the answer to this question in this article.
Foster Engagement
Remote work can be possibly challenging and complicated for most employees, because there is little to no communication between them and the rest of the office. This goes contrary to how humans work, because of which productivity can suffer.
The HR department should realize how this poses a roadblock to productivity and should try to foster ways of engagement within the workplace, even with most of the organization going remote. Positive activities can be promoted and team engagement should be prioritized.
Fairly Reimburse Employees
While employees are saving some by working at home, they also have to spend more on utility expenses, energy expenses and other work related costs like printing and the internet. Now, organizations shouldn’t turn a blind eye to this and should have HR teams look at what can be done to minimize these costs and to reimburse employees fairly for the efforts they have to put in and the extra costs they have to bear.
Create Suitable Benchmarks
In a situation such as the one we are going through currently because of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have to set expectations and benchmarks accordingly. There is a general air of depression and anxiety, which is why employees cannot be expected to perform the same way from home as they were expected to perform when they were working at the office. Organizations should identify these hindrances and should set suitable benchmarks.
Let Employees Speak Up
The most important thing to do for employees when they are working from home is to let them speak up. Allow employees to speak up about their issues and be receptive towards what they have to say. Don’t silence their voice and have a proper mechanism in place to hear them out.
We at JS Benefits Group have worked with numerous clients to discuss the ways HR departments can support all remote workers. You can get in touch with JS Benefits Group immediately to discuss and devise a policy.
