Lockdown and remote working presented a unique challenge for businesses. We had to adapt to an entirely new way of working very quickly and it caused a great deal of difficulty for many teams. Once we’d figured it out and had the right technology supporting us, remote working created a new opportunity.
Many businesses are now seeing the benefits of implementing some form of flexible working. Whether that’s as simple as creating a disaster recovery plan, a hub approach to office work or facilitating an entire remote working policy across your business. All of these approaches can add a new dimension to your business. Offering remote working opportunities allows you to acquire the services of great people all across the country.
One of the main issues with working remotely, and the added flexibility that modern business technology provides is that we often lose our sense of work/life balance. When our working devices are always around us, it’s always tempting to check those emails or make sure everything is running smoothly, even outside of working hours.
We believe that adopting the right technology, as well as some healthy working practices can make all the difference here. Here is our guide to maintaining a great work/life balance.
Dodge the commute
The trip to and from work can take hours. The journey is only increased for those in sales or support roles who are often up and down the country supporting their clients. Being stuck in lockdown had the effect of making us consider whether all of these journeys were really necessary. Thankfully there is now technology available that allows you to maintain that face-to-face connection with customers wherever you are.
If your business makes use of a unified communications service, then you gain access to video conferencing at the push of a button. From here there are a range of possibilities. Support staff in the field can quickly diagnose issues and run through them with staff still in the office without them having to travel. Similarly, many businesses are now carrying out their entire sales process from the office or even from home, with video conferences replacing the usual wining, dining and demonstrations.
Of course, there needs to be some testing to see if video conferencing works well for your specific business, but it has been implemented with great success across a variety of sectors.
Take the load off your busiest teams
Especially with the rise of remote working, it can be difficult to know when members of your team are overwhelmed with work. This can often occur with customer service teams, many of whom are facing an extraordinary number of calls right now. Being kept in the know can help you adapt to relieve your staff.
The best way to access the information you need is through a call analytics service. This software tracks every call made by every team in your business, including those that were missed. It then sends you reports on a basis that suits you, that sum up the call activity from a selected time period. From here you can make improvements.
If you notice that teams are inundated with calls at a certain time of day, then you can allocate more resources to support them. Similarly, if you notice a high amount of out-of-hours calls, you can direct these to an automated message or self-service portal, giving your team some valuable ‘me time’.
Adopt a more flexible approach to office work
Does every member of your team need to be in the office every day? We know some roles are essential, and there’s a great sense of collaboration and team spirit that comes from office work. With all this said, taking a flexible approach benefits productivity and supports a variety of staff.
Heading to the office daily often isn’t ideal for many staff, especially those with younger children or those that live further away. Allowing these people to work from home when they need to means you can access a pool of fantastic talent that you might not otherwise have been able to. Facilitating this style of work is easier than you might think.
As long as the computing and communication services you use are cloud based, your staff can access them from any device. This not only means that homeworking is simple, but as long as you have a couple of spare desks in your office, any remote staff can drop by whenever needed and immediately start working at their best. This prioritises work/life balance while still allowing for great business collaboration.
We hope that these three tips are relevant for your business and can help your team to unlock a more comfortable way to work. For more advice on any of the solutions mentioned here, visit our website or get in touch on 03333 212 707
