Working from home (WFH) has taken on a new meaning, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. WFH is one of the perks that a lot of employees have historically sought after. For some employees, it has made no difference in their opinions, for others, they now think differently about working from home.
For some, there is a need to pushback since they have no other choice than to work from home, this inherently make it’s a lot less appealing. For some, they view it as a dream come true and they relish in it while others would prefer to still go onsite a few days a week. Regardless of which group one falls, the reality is, there is a significant percentage of employees working from home currently.
From a company’s perspective, the expectation is for employees to still deliver the same results they did while onsite. While company executives realize that the day to day processes is often impacted, they expect the results to be unmarred.
Employees for their part have also come to realize this as the current norm, so there is the incessant need to deliver results. For a lot of newly transitioned WFH employees, they probably envisioned a world where they are home alone working, children at school, pets behaving. This has not been the reality for most, with children being home schooled, pets wanting airtime on Video calls, all these making for a borderline stressful experience.
Managers can play vital roles to ensure that their employees succeed in working from home. The success of any employee is directly tied to their manager, so it is vitally important that managers are invested in it.
In the case of employees who were required to work from home due to the pandemic, one of the ways, by which managers can help such employees succeed is through home office setup. While some employees have a designated home office, most do not. So, if possible, for employees to be offered some assistance to set up a home office, this will help alleviate the stress of the employee purchasing the needed equipment on their own. This may not apply to those who were offered a WFH position, because home office availability is implied in that case.
Another way a manager can help an employee to be more successful is by hosting weekly or biweekly team check-ins via video calls. This helps to check in and bring the team together. This also reminds the employees that they are valued, which can be very reassuring. These calls are more effective when they are largely built on welfare checks. While the manager may provide high level company updates as necessary, the bulk of the time should be kept light.
Providing employee feedback is very crucial to employees WFH. When you make the transition from walking down the hall to ask for feedback to Instant messages and calls, it could be a hard transition for some. So, when managers provide periodic feedback on performance and productivity it paints a better picture for the employees, and they in turn are made aware of areas where improvement is needed.
Achieving success while working from home is a collaborative effort made by the employees and the managers. It is also important to note that while it is advisable for the managers to be invested in their employees’ success, employees also have a huge role to play. Employees are expected to perform at the top of their abilities and ensure that they constantly deliver results. It wouldn’t hurt either for employees to check on managers from time to time, after all, they are all in this together.
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