Remote working isn’t going away any time soon. Businesses have had to adapt, and quickly, in order to get their remote policies, set up. The speed with which a lot of these policies were put in place during the pandemic has meant that many of them aren’t as efficient as they could be.

Our Leicester City Community Partner One Connectivity want to help with this. They’ve worked alongside a huge range of businesses in different sectors on their remote working plans. They help to provide the right tools, and the right training to make the most of them.

This guide provided by One Connectivity has been written to help businesses, especially with a focus in their home of the East Midlands to not just survive, but thrive when working away from the office.

Step 1 – Where Is The Right Environment?

Remote working doesn’t necessarily mean at home. Everyone works differently and being able to accommodate everyone’s preferences is one of the great strengths of flexible organisations.

One Connectivity operate a hybrid policy knowing their staff require flexible arrangements that they are happy to oblige to.

The East Midlands is fortunate enough to have plenty of co-working spaces, which is a great way to balance the collaborative environment of the office with the flexible remote working.

There are plenty of options such as inner-city hubs in Leicester or Derby, one of the many sites surrounding East Midlands Airport, or a getaway near One Connectivity’s base in Castle Donnington.

Step 2 – What Do Your Staff Need?

To work at their most productive, staff need every tool that they’d typically have access to in the office, in their remote workplace. The requirements are always different for every role in each industry, but these are generally the few essentials:

  • Communication – Staff need to be able to communicate with their colleague reliably and professionally outside of the office.
  • Productivity – Different roles will need productivity boosting tech at home such as CRM data or noise-cancelling headphones to block out distractions.
  • Connectivity – Staff need to have a reliable connection supporting them as every service in your remote working arsenal is powered by the internet.

Step 3 – How Do You Check In On Your Staff?

One of the biggest challenges businesses faced during the first lockdown in 2020 was how difficult it can be to know what remote workers are up to. Being able to host regular check ins with staff isn’t just about productivity but supporting their mental health and wellbeing.

One Connectivity recommend check in via video conference on a regular basis. To do this you need a communication service that doesn’t just work in every location but for every device across multiple channels. It is where services such as Microsoft Teams come into it’s own, but if you have ever struggled with the platform, One Connectivity’s very own iPECS ONE service could be the perfect alternative

Step 4 – How Do You Keep Up with Customer Service?

There’s no point implementing flexible practices if it has a negative effect on your service. It is important for the business that standards are always upheld and customers aren’t impacted.

Ipecs Analytics is the service One Connectivity recommend to host regular catch-ups to keep staff up-to date on the latest customer requirements. The platform is installed on staff phones and allows you to take a real-time look at your customer communications. You’ll be able to see the number of calls that have come into the business, the time it takes to answer them and flags any callers that are left waiting.

Partnering with One Connectivity

Remote and hybrid working patterns are here to stay following the pandemic, and they benefit employers and employees alike, with the technology being more advanced than ever to support these needs.

Leicester City Community Partner One Connectivity can help create your own remote working plan. Get in touch to tell them your business’s needs and they’ll provide you with the technology to help roll it out throughout your team.

Contact them at https://oneconnectivity.co.uk/ or 0115 8968860