Remote Work Archives - Cloud Based Dialer Solutions & VoIP Phone Systems | Arbeit https://arbeitsoftware.com/category/remote-work/ Arbeit's cloud-based dialers & VoIP phone solutions facilitate efficient & effective communication with consumers, clients & team members. Tue, 12 Jul 2022 18:20:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 https://arbeitsoftware.com/app/uploads/2022/07/cropped-cropped-Arbeit-Redesign-Icon-Purple-32x32.png Remote Work Archives - Cloud Based Dialer Solutions & VoIP Phone Systems | Arbeit https://arbeitsoftware.com/category/remote-work/ 32 32 The Perfect Work From Home Setup, According to Arbeit https://arbeitsoftware.com/perfect-work-from-home-setup/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/perfect-work-from-home-setup/#respond Fri, 16 Jul 2021 14:02:37 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=9471 What does the perfect work from home setup look like? We asked our team members to find out.

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Work From Home Tools We Can't Live Without

If you were only able to use one type of software to work from home, what would it be? We asked our team to uncover the work from home tools that are essential for building the perfect work from home setup. Here’s what they said:

The results are in. An instant messaging tool is essential for achieving the perfect work-from-home setup. Instant messaging is an easy way to keep in touch with your team without being on video or talking on the phone. It helps protect your time because you can quickly ask questions, chat, and give updates without completely stopping the work you’re doing.

Instant Messaging Tools Worth Checking Out

The Ideal Work From Home Environment

If you could change anything about your home office setup, what would you change? We asked our team to uncover the environmental qualities that would make their work from home setup even better. Here’s what they would change:

The results are in – more separation from living areas is the most important quality of the perfect work from home setup. Working from an area in your home that is separate from your other living spaces helps promote healthy boundaries between your work and personal life. 

Being able to physically shut the door to your workspace at the end of the day is just what you need to distance yourself from your ongoing tasks & to-do lists that are work-related. When your work from home setup is separate from the living areas of your home/apartment (ie. bedroom, kitchen, living room) you can recharge from the workday in those spaces.

Separate Your Work From Home Setup & Living Space

Use these items to separate your work from home setup & living space when you don’t have a dedicated room for your home office.

Work From Home Setup Inspiration

Check out the work-from-home setups from a few of our team members to inspire your own.

Greg Jones, Customer Research Analyst

What We Love About This Setup:

We love the energizing green wall color, painted gold leaves, organization and detailed notes that make up this nature-inspired work from home setup.

Lucas Tardioli, Sr. Back-End Developer

What We Love About This Setup:

We love the mousepad inspired by The Office, three screens for productivity, and the comfortable desk chair in this minimalist work from home setup.

Kaitlyn Filippi, Product Manager

What We Love About This Setup:

We love the Edison light bulb, plants, and space-saving desk in this Arizona work from home setup.

Make Space to Recharge at the End of the Workday

A lot of things have changed since 100% of our team started working remotely full-time. “Recharging after work” is one of those things that our team unanimously agreed had changed. 

Your “recharge” environment is just as important as your “work” environment. 

Here are some tips from our team for creating the perfect “recharge” environment while working from home.

Qualities of a Perfect “Recharge” Space

  • Space/equipment for exercising
  • Connection to the outside world
  • Fresh air
  • No computers!
  • Comfortable seating

Co-Working Spaces: The Perfect Remote Work Setup?

Why would you or wouldn’t you consider using a co-working space? We asked our team about their feelings towards co-working spaces to uncover whether they have the potential to be the perfect remote work setup. 

Here’s what they had to say:

The majority of our team agreed that the pros of coworking spaces outweigh the cons. This is something to consider when deciding to invest in your work-from-home setup. Give a coworking space a try! You might find that you enjoy it more than working from home.

Pros of Co-Working Spaces

➕ Opportunity to reconnect with coworkers in a shared space

➕ Office environment is refreshing after over a year of working from home

➕ Ability to work side-by-side with others and learn from them

Cons of Co-Working Spaces

➖ Expensive if only using a few times each month

➖ Lack of comfort & equipment

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How to Run Effective Virtual Meetings [7 Strategies] https://arbeitsoftware.com/effective-virtual-meetings/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/effective-virtual-meetings/#respond Thu, 01 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=8875 Virtual meeting fatigue is real. Mollie Lannen shares 7 strategies on how to fight it and run more effective virtual meetings.

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Virtual meeting fatigue is real.

Finding the right timing, frequency, structures & channels for your meetings is the only way to avoid staying or becoming a victim.

Mollie Lannen is experienced in running effective virtual meetings from her multiple leadership roles at CW Print + Design & Eternity Web. She was able to share her seven strategies for doing so with us!

What Virtual Meeting Fatigue Looks Like [4:25]

Have you done or seen any of the following in your virtual meetings? If so, you or your team could be experiencing virtual meeting fatigue.

  • Looking down (to check phone, etc.)
  • Joining the meeting while driving
  • Showing a blank expression

What Virtual Meeting Fatigue Sounds Like [5:00]

Do any of the phrases below sound familiar?  These are also signs of virtual meeting fatigue.

  • “Ugh, another one?”
  • “I do not know how to keep my audience engaged over the screen.”
  • “How do I get my clients to pay to talk to me virtually when they are already online all day for work?”
  • “I’m so over this.”

7 Strategies for Running Effective Virtual Meetings

So, you’ve identified the symptoms above in yourself and/or team. The bad news: you’re most likely suffering from virtual meeting fatigue and are having less effective meetings because of it. The good news: virtual meeting fatigue can be cured. In fact, there are seven ways you can go about correcting it. Check them out. 👇

#1: Adopt an "In-Person" Mindset [5:55]

Mollie says that the biggest mistake you’re probably making with your virtual meetings is that you’re treating them differently than you would an in-person meeting.

To run an effective virtual meeting, you need to adopt the same mindset that you once had during in-person meetings!

To get yourself in that mindset, Mollie recommends saying your intentions for the meeting out loud.

“I’m going to go meet with ___,” or “I’m heading to this networking event.” Mollie suggests saying something similar to these out loud to help yourself adopt an “in-person” mindset for the virtual meeting.

Additionally, Mollie says your space shouldn’t feel like home to you (even if you are in fact working from home). Think of your space in the same way you’d think about your office or desk before holding an in-person meeting.

Think of turning your camera on as a way of inviting all of the meeting attendees into your space. Your space should look & feel comfortable, but also professional. Even though attendees aren’t physically there, they are there virtually.

Being an active listener is the last piece of adopting an in-person mindset. Even if you’re able to watch recordings of your meetings after they end, don’t treat that them that way. Actively listen during the meeting in the same way you would if it wasn’t being recorded.

#2: Prepare for Every Virtual Meeting [7:30]

Take adopting an in-person mindset a step further by preparing for your virtual meetings. “This is a lot more than just putting on a clean shirt and sitting down at your computer before 9 AM,” says Mollie.

“Study the agenda ahead of time and be prepared to contribute to the meeting,” Mollie says. This means printing out any documents or worksheets you might need.

“While it might not feel awkward in person to politely excuse yourself for a moment to use the restroom or refill your coffee, you probably wouldn’t want to do it in a way that would disrupt the meeting,” Mollie says. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do that in a non-disruptive way during a virtual meeting.

Turning your camera off to excuse yourself during a meeting is like abruptly leaving an in-person meeting while someone is speaking. It’s distracting and isn’t polite.

Of course emergencies do happen, but you can better prepare yourself before the meeting by keeping anything you might need (water, snacks, coffee, tea, tissues, pen, paper, etc.) within your reach.

Making sure your video conferencing settings and technology are in order beforehand is the last piece of preparing yourself for a virtual meeting. Mollie suggests opening your camera up at the start of every day to make sure everything is in order. Here are some things to check:

  • Lighting
  • Background (stage with items that you want to spark conversation)
  • Working camera
  • Working microphone
  • Software updates

“These 2 minutes at the beginning of every day saves me a ton of time later on knowing my technology is always going to work,” Mollie says.

#3: Recreate Your Commute [9:55]

For those of us working remotely, gone are the days of “commuting” to meetings, whether it be walking to a conference room or driving to a networking event.

Don’t underestimate the power of a commute! It gives you time to gather your thoughts, listen to music, get moving and get a breathe of fresh air before you walk into the meeting.

So how do we recreate this virtually?

Mollie suggests taking a 5 minute walk outside to get your body moving before the virtual meeting. She also suggests spacing out your meetings with at least 15-30 minutes in between, the same way you would if you were meeting in-person.

#4: Be Virtually Present [11:20]

Being virtually present by avoiding multitasking and limiting distractions can also help you run effective virtual meetings. This means clearing anything that isn’t needed for the meeting off your desk and closing out any windows on your computer that are non-meeting related. You can even take it a step further by printing out any meeting related documents you’ll be needing to reduce computer distractions. Turn off your phone, close and lock your door, and enable do not disturb mode on your computer if you have it!

The last piece of being virtually present during your virtual meetings involves selecting the right view for each type of meeting. Here’s which view you should use for each type:

  • If you’re watching someone present or having a one to one meeting, use speaker view
  • If you’re having a group conversation, use gallery view
  • If the presenter is sharing their screen, use side by side speaker view

And lastly, if you find yourself getting distracted by yourself (it happens to the best of us) right click on your video to hide the self view.

#5: Use Tools to Engage Your Audience [13:30]

You don’t have to be giving a presentation to use an engaging slide deck! You can actually use these to keep the meeting focused on the task at hand and to keep the agenda moving. You can also supplement this with a visual timer and teleprompter.

Depending on the size of your meeting, utilizing any “breakout room” features you might have access to can be a good way to engage your audience. Use breakout rooms with 3-5 people in each whenever you have 12+ people attending the meeting.

The chat box is another underutilized feature of most video conferencing tools that can help you engage your audience. You can use it to spark conversation, ask questions, and brainstorm without disrupting the speaker.

If you’re looking for an efficient way to implement an ice breaker or take a vote, try using a poll. A poll functionality allows respondents to select a response from a set of answers to a given question, making it easy for the audience to engage and easy for you to quickly gather their feelings and opinions.

Mollie suggests using Poll Everywhere for this. It integrates with your slide deck which enables you to engage your audience in different ways.

#6: Utilize Print [15:40]

Having printed materials available to yourself and attendees will elevate your virtual meeting in the same way that it would when you were meeting in-person for conferences, tradeshows, and networking events.

 

Before the Virtual Meeting

 

“If you’re having a workshop or webinar where people are signed up in advance, try to get their mailing address and you can actually send them physical materials ahead of time,” Mollie says. Branded merchandise, gift boxes, and workshop props are just some examples of things you can mail attendees ahead of time.

“There are also people that only really learn by physically writing things down; they need to jot and make notes. They don’t learn by just watching and listening,” Mollie says. Printed materials are perfect for these types of learners.

 

During the Virtual Meeting

 

If you’re unable to send attendees physical materials beforehand, you can try sending materials via an electronic document and encourage them to print those materials before the meeting. You can also ask them to find items (party hat, coffee mug, etc.) around their house to be use as props during the virtual meeting.

 

After the Virtual Meeting

 

Try mailing out thank you cards, your business card, more details about the meeting, and/or branded swag. Your attendees will appreciate the extra effort!

#7: Assign "Homework" to Encourage Meaningful Action [17:25]

Keep everyone at the meeting accountable for completing “homework” or “action steps” to report back on during your next meeting. Additionally, send an email to attendees following up on what was discussed during the meeting. If you met with any new contacts, be sure to connect with them and their companies on LinkedIn or your favorite social media channel soon after.

3 Things You Can Do Today for More Effective Virtual Meetings [18:25]

  1. Establish a pre-meeting ritual using the above strategies.
  2. Set a visual timer on your screen for a mid-meeting check in with yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reset, close any distracting tabs you may have opened, or change your view.
  3. Create a follow-up checklist.

About The Speaker

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Achieving Work-Life Balance During COVID-19 & Beyond https://arbeitsoftware.com/work-life-balance-covid-19/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/work-life-balance-covid-19/#respond Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=8899 COVID-19 is negatively impacting our work-life balance. Mary Shores shows us how we can achieve a healthy balance during the pandemic & beyond.

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COVID-19 has caused many of us to experience a wide range of negative emotions that can affect our work-life balance. In our discussion with Mary Shores we learn about the emotional impacts of the pandemic, how these feelings influence our thoughts and attitudes about work-life balance, and what the path to achieving work-life integration and balance looks like.

Emotional Impacts of COVID-19

We often think of the economic repercussions of and detriments to physical health caused by COVID-19, but it’s also important to take time to identify the negative emotions we may be experiencing as a result of the pandemic. And those of us who have been fortunate enough to keep our jobs during this pandemic are not immune to those negative impacts.

In addition to dealing with the anxiety of the pandemic, many have had to abruptly make a rapid transition to remote work. On top of that, many employees must take on the responsibility of caring for their children throughout the work day due to COVID-19 related shutdowns, regulations, and guidelines. This is a new experience for many of us!

Common Negative Emotions

The first step to achieving work-life balance during the pandemic is to identify your emotions!

  • Shock
  • Fear
  • Uncertainty
  • Anger

Many of these emotions are exacerbated by isolation. So to achieve work-life balance during COVID-19, we must also address the issue of isolation.

Isolation & Work-Life Balance

Isolation is an agitator that causes other issues we’re experiencing to seem more prominent, loud, and intense. This means that any internal or external issues you had been dealing with before the pandemic may be more difficult to deal with now.

Dealing With Isolation During COVID-19

If you’re feeling isolated, just know that you’re not alone and that these feelings will not last forever. Here are two actions you can take in the meantime to more effectively deal with feelings of isolation:

  1. Establish routines to start and end your day. Replicate your pre-pandemic routines to the fullest extent. For example, do something that signifies the beginning & end of the work day such as going out to grab coffee in the morning or watching your favorite show in the evening.
  2. Communicate with your team frequently and intentionally. Participate in virtual team bonding and schedule frequent check-ins and meetings via voice or video conferencing, with a specific agenda in mind for each.

How COVID-19 is Changing Attitudes About Work

According to Mary, forty-seven percent of employees are currently considering a career change. Many also feel that their employer’s COVID-19 response was either unfair or unsafe. In the future, we may see new attitudes about work emerge such as the following:

  • Needing more meaningful work
  • Prioritizing flexibility with personal and family needs
  • Seeking employment at humanitarian-focused companies
  • Avoiding companies that engage in unethical practices

The Pyramid Method of Understanding Work-Life Balance

Mary’s pyramid helps us understand the factors that influence a healthy work-life balance and work-life integration. When our basic needs of being heard, understood and feeling safe/secure are met, our body releases “happy hormones” (like Dopamine and Serotonin) in the positive feelings zone of the pyramid.

This allows us to enter the connection zone of the pyramid. In this stage Mary says, “things just start to work out for you and it feels good, so naturally you find yourself feeling happier.”

You trust your co-workers and feel confident taking on the day, anticipating that you’ll experience positive things. Having this outlook allows us to then see our world and connections as our allies. In this stage of the pyramid we feel confident that our allies will help us survive and thrive.

When we direct our attention to being viewed as an ally by others, we then move to the strategy portion of the pyramid. This involves devising an action plan in order to be recognized as an ally by other individuals. Once we are able to view others as allies and they concurrently consider us to be their ally, we move into the top portion of the pyramid where we begin to make more money and feel more satisfied.

To summarize, Mary’s Pyramid Method of understanding work-life balance and work-life integration shows us that in order to achieve success in our work & personal life, our personal needs should be met first and then we must build positive relationships with others.

Work-Life Integration

One way to achieve true work-life balance is to focus on work-life integration. Mary believes that you achieve true balance when all of the things you do support your prominent life goals. You achieve true balance when your work and job align with what you envision as the individual you are truly meant to be.

If you haven’t taken the time to envision your goal self, ask yourself what it would look like to have all of your dreams come true. Then, ensure that each action you take brings you a step closer in the direction of that vision.

Your work should bring you a step closer to achieving your vision. If not, you’re moving away from achieving your life goals. “You will feel balanced automatically when your life and work are aligned,” Mary says.

Strategies for Achieving Work-Life Balance

The Cleansing vs. Clogging Method

Is what you’re doing today cleansing or clogging your path to achieving your vision?

Before you act, consider whether you’d identify what you’re about to do as either cleansing or clogging. Engaging only in cleansing actions will bring you closer to achieving your goals.

About The Speaker

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5 Remote Team Communication Strategies https://arbeitsoftware.com/improve-communication-collaboration-remote-team/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/improve-communication-collaboration-remote-team/#respond Tue, 26 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=8969 Recruiting director & remote team leader Ben White shares five strategies leaders can use to achieve effective communication with their remote teams.

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You and your team are probably already set up to work from home, but are you set up for success? Recruiting director and remote team leader Ben White shares five strategies leaders can use to achieve effective communication with their remote teams.

 

5 Strategies to Improve Remote Team Communication

#1: Understand How Your Remote Team is Feeling

To truly understand how things are going for your remote employees you have to consider more than just work performance. You need to be able to dig deeper and understand how the people on your team are feeling, because feelings have the power to impact work performance.

Diminished social interaction is one of the biggest limitations of working remotely. This can cause many employees to become disengaged and experience feelings of loneliness, all things that negatively impact their work performance.

The best way to find out whether your employees are experiencing negative feelings such as these is to actually talk to them. And the best way to talk to them is in a one-on-one setting rather than a group meeting.

In addition to frequent check-ins with his team, Ben schedules a one-on-one meeting once a week with each of his remote employees. Because they’re unable to meet in person, they facilitate communication via video or voice conferencing.

Ben does not set an agenda ahead of time for the meeting. Instead, he lets the employees take the reigns, giving them permission and encouraging them to “discuss what they want to discuss.” 

During those one-on-ones, Ben says the discussion could end up being about nearly anything really. The discussion will be solely about anything the employee is concerned about or wants clarification on. Sometimes it’s about project concerns while other times it’s just the employee opening up about them having a hard time in general.

Because employees know they can bring anything they’re dealing with to the table during those one-on-one meetings, what Ben has done is created the “space for them to actually have that conversation.” And if the employee is still more closed off despite having the space to open up, Ben suggests that it might be a good time to directly ask them how they’re doing. If you’ve built a strong relationship with that remote employee, then it’s safe to suggest that this will serve as the additional push that encourages them to open up.

Some managers may try to avoid conversations like these with their employees. Why? Because they’re unsure of the “right” way to respond. The fact is though, the “right” way to respond is pretty simple and doesn’t involve sharing any complex advice. Just the response of listening and acknowledging that you hear and understand them can sometimes be enough.

You may be wondering, when do you start the conversation on performance and related issues then? Ben contacts the remote employee directly outside of their one-on-one meetings to discuss those types of concerns.

Ben reiterates that “when we get to that once a week time where we’re doing the one-on-one that’s really about them.”

Sometimes employees won’t open up verbally about issues they’re dealing with, but it will show in their work performance. In this case, focus on addressing the root problem rather than the symptoms of their situation such as missed deadlines or poor quality work. If your employee is dealing with tough situations in their personal life that are making their work more challenging, work together to lessen that burden.

For example, if you had an employee that was missing deadlines due to the added distraction of children at home, you could provide that individual with a flexible working arrangement. This would allow them to take care of their children as needed throughout the day and work the required amount of hours. This solution would be presented with the intention of helping the employee meet deadlines despite unfortunate circumstances.

#2: Be Consistent & Intentional With Your Remote Team Meetings

“You don’t want to be playing catch-up,” Ben says.

For Ben, consistency means having one-to-one meetings on a weekly basis with the same day and time each week dedicated to the specific employee to facilitate that open communication. It also means having an hour-long remote team meeting via video conferencing every Wednesday. The format of the meeting is something Ben also likes to keep consistent. Every remote team meeting follows the following format:

  1. Team ice breaker
  2. Discussion about what’s been going on during the week
  3. Company updates & reporting
  4. Topics relating to quarterly and long-term goals

When it comes to performance or admin-related concerns that Ben has though, those meetings are scheduled as needed. Ben will only schedule those meetings if there is actually something important he feels needs to be discussed with the employee. It’s a good way to balance being consistent while staying intentional when it comes to remote team meetings.

#3: Facilitate Optional Remote Team Bonding Activities

Do NOT throw team bonding activities to the wayside! If your team is newly remote, you’ll especially want to incorporate virtual alternatives for the in-person activities your team engaged in previously.

Team bonding activities can be easily overlooked during the chaos of quickly transitioning & preparing your team to work remotely. Concerns over hardware, policies, productivity and employee supervision can quickly overshadow efforts to improve communication and collaboration. And with that, team bonding activities are easily overlooked, but so important.

Ben says you’ll find that your team is “more effective and there’s better collaboration when you put time and intentional effort into team bonding.”

Icebreakers

Icebreakers are an excellent way for your team to get to know eachother. They promote good team chemistry, because so much of that is influenced by knowing what makes each person on the team “tick.”

Icebreakers are also the most simple team bonding activity to implement because they can easily be done remotely and can be incorporated into your already scheduled team meetings. They don’t take additional time out of your team’s day, they require few resources, and they can be enjoyable if you consider your remote employee’s interests and personalities.

Implementing icebreakers requires limited time and resources, but can have an immensely positive impact on the effectiveness of your remote team’s communication and collaboration.

Virtual Happy Hours

Rather than requiring his remote team attend virtual happy hours, Ben acknowledges that some people may honestly just not have the time or want to join. To communicate that attendance is fully optional, he allows people to enter and leave the virtual happy hour as they please. This means blocking off a time for the virtual happy hour via video conferencing to be scheduled during the week, and during that people can leave and enter anytime within that time frame.

And although they’re officially called virtual happy hours, they can pretty much be whatever the team wants them to be. Sometimes employees will engage in a casual chat or virtual game, while other employees may passively join as they do work in the background. This is a great alternative to those casual office drop-by’s and informal chats you’d experience while working in an office.

Try Not to Overdo it

There is such a thing as not enough team bonding, but on the other hand you can also overdo team bonding.

“There are employees on your team who will go ‘Happy hour? This is great! I’m energized by this,’ but you might have people that are like ‘the last thing i want to do is put a video on, let you into my house and participate in this.’ “

So how do you find a balance that accommodates both perspectives? Ben says the best way is to continue holding these team bonding activities, but clearly to communicate to your employees that attendance is completely optional. It’s as simple as encouraging them to join if they find it valuable, and encouraging them to do something else if it stresses them out. Let them know it’s okay for them to take time for themselves if that is what they find most valuable.

#4: Understand What Energizes & Fatigues Your Team

There really is no one size fits all management style that will work for every employee on your remote team.

This is why it’s so important to understand what each individual on your team specifically needs. How do you find that out? Well the first step is to genuinely care about your team. If you genuinely care about your team, you’ll be more motivated to understand what energizes and fatigues each employee. Ask yourself, do you primarily care about your team as people or about the results they produce? If you find that yourself caring solely about results, you may discover you’re not the right fit for a management or leadership position. And if that’s true, it isn’t the end of the world!

Ben says that if you truly care about your people, you’ll put in an intentional effort over time to get to know them.

#5: Find Balance Between Optimism & Reality

Your goal is to motivate your remote team, but you also have to be honest with them about the good and the bad.

“Sometimes if the situation is pretty grim, you need to be able to portray realism,” Ben says.

Stating the facts, but also discussing potential solutions and alternative outcomes is a great way to keep things balanced on your remote team.

Help your team recognize the facts of the situation, and then encourage them to focus on what they can change for a better outcome. Work with them to develop outlines of step by step solutions.

About The Speaker

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COVID-19 & Remote Work: How to Develop Soft Skills https://arbeitsoftware.com/remote-work-develop-soft-skills/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/remote-work-develop-soft-skills/#respond Fri, 08 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=9004 Seasoned remote worker Amy Perkins discusses remote work challenges, the soft skills needed to work from home & how to stay motivated during COVID-19.

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Amy Perkins, president at insideARM, had been working from home long before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but that doesn’t mean shes immune to the challenges of working remotely. 

While many have newly transitioned to remote work and are continuing to adjust, Amy has had to make her own transition for dealing with the new environment. Despite working remotely normally, Amy has had to adjust her leadership style to her newly remote team.

A company-wide transition to remote work during a crisis can expose flaws in communication. “It’s definitely made us re-evaluate our communication strategies amongst one another,” Amy shares. For Amy, adjusting to a newly remote team meant more frequent communication about mental well-being.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

“Are you doing okay?”

Asking these questions frequently allows Amy to understand the impacts of social distancing on her newly remote team members. Extroverted individuals may be feeling some serious social withdrawal, while introverted individuals may feel they lack support.

It’s important to understand how your team is being impacted by COVID-19 related changes.

The Biggest Challenges of Working Remotely [3:40]

The big three challenges are:

  • Focusing
  • Self-Motivation
  • Finding Joy

Amy says focus & self-motivation are without a doubt the biggest challenges of working remotely. This is because you can’t depend on driving your motivation from the office environment. No longer can you rely on others to “help fill some of those areas” while working from home.

For customer-facing employees that challenge is heightened. To remain available for the next customer, and resist the temptation to sit in “wrap time” when the manager isn’t nearby requires a whole other level of focus and self-motivation.

Next to focusing & self-motivation is the challenge of finding joy in work and your day to day life. While working remotely, it’s important to find ways to infuse joy into your life and work to avoid becoming “robotic.” Amy says one of the simplest ways to do this is by taking short breaks.

Soft Skills Needed to Work From Home Successfully [7:35]

Strong soft skills, in addition to technical skills, can be a strong indicator of employee performance when working remotely. So the first step, on the employer-side, is to identify those during the interview process before selecting a new hire.

Soft skills are difficult to teach. That’s why it’s better to select candidates that have them well-developed in the beginning. If you’ve hired someone that is lacking in certain soft skills, the first step is for them to acknowledge where they have a gap and want to improve.

Amy says the most important soft skills to look out for when hiring a remote employee or engaging in professional development are the following:

  • Work Ethic: Self-discipline, independence, etc.
  • Listening skills: Listen to fully hear what others are saying, not just for what to respond with.
  • Strong communication: Ability ensure you’re getting the same amount of exposure as you would in the office and communicate using different methods (video conferencing, phone calls, instant messaging, e-mail, etc.)
  • Time management
  • Adaptability: During COVID-19, this may be the single most important to soft skill to hire for or focus on developing due to the amount of change taking place.
  • Emotional intelligence: “Acknowledge that first we are people, and then we are people getting a job done,” Amy says.

Ways to Develop & Improve Your Soft Skills [11:15]

The development process for each of the soft skills mentioned above looks very different. Amy recommends focusing on developing work ethic to start. Here are the strategies she suggests:

  • Review quarterly goals
  • List out activities that need to be done between now and then in order to achieve those goals
  • Share the list with your boss and ask them to help hold you accountable
  • Engage in more frequent goal setting (i.e. setting goals for each day rather than each week)

For any soft skill though, the first step to improving is acknowledging your pitfalls and sharing them with your supervisor or a trusted colleague. Then, you can ask them to hold you accountable for improving.

Tips for Working Remotely & Staying Motivated During COVID-19 [15:00]

Show Yourself & Your Team Grace

That means not beating yourself up when you have an off day.

It’s okay to remind your employees that “we’re dealing with something unlike anyone has dealt with in a really long time,” when you see them being harsh on themselves, Amy says.

Let them (and yourself) know that it’s okay to:

  • Have a bad day
  • Fall apart once in a while
  • Be a little more emotional than normal

The best way to do this? Create a culture that lets people know “we recognize that sometimes we’re gonna be human, and that’s gonna pour into our work.”

Take Time to Recharge

Amy also recommends taking time to recharge while working remotely. Everybody has their “thing” that they enjoy, so make sure you remember to do that!

Focus on What You Can Control

Another tip for working remotely during COVID-19 specifically, is to refrain from focusing on the things you can’t  control both inside and outside of work. You may not be able to change your current situation, but you can make the best of it. You have control over how you react to the challenges you’re faced with.

Encourage yourself to focus only on the things you can control by taking time to write a list. On the list, include everything that you can control in your current environment. This helps you feel like you’re more in control of your situation.

Unwind After Work

Be sure to take time to unwind right after work as well. Rather than jumping right into completing the next thing on your to-do list, take some time to sit down and relax. Think of it as your (less stressful) commute home from work that you’d normally have when leaving the office.

Participate in Virtual Social Activities

Lastly, try not to neglect your social life! Think of the social events you used to enjoy before social distancing. Can any of those be done virtually? Amy shares some ideas:

  • Virtual happy hours
  • Virtual book clubs
  • Virtual workout classes

And although these virtual social activities may not give you the “recharge” you’re looking for, it’s worth it to try them out and feel a little bit better.

*If you’re working in the debt collection space, consider e-mailing Mike Gibb of AccountsRecovery.net for an invitation to join an industry slack channel! We also include the link to join a virtual happy hour that we host every week.*

About Our Guest

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What Employees Want You to Know about Their Remote Work Experience https://arbeitsoftware.com/what-your-employees-want-you-to-know-about-remote-work/ https://arbeitsoftware.com/what-your-employees-want-you-to-know-about-remote-work/#respond Tue, 07 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.arbeitsoftware.com/?p=8977 An independent survey shows the effects of remote work on employee productivity and satisfaction.

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An independent survey shows the effects of remote work on employee productivity and satisfaction.

A Nationwide Transition to Home Offices

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2018, only 29 percent of Americans could work from home, including one in 20 service workers and more than half of information workers.

Though there is no hard data for how many employees are working from home in April 2020, as opposed to say, February 2020, it’s safe to say the number of remote employees has jumped dramatically.

“The coronavirus is putting remote work to a gigantic test,” states an article by NPR. Throughout China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and now, the U.S., workers have been on lockdown due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Employees who have never considered turning their homes into an office, alongside employees who have always dreamed of the freedom to work from home, are now left with no choice but to make the adjustment to working from home.

Remote work was once considered a tool for recruiting and retaining top talent – a nice perk for when your car breaks down or you’re snowed in and can’t make it to work. Now, it is a mandate in some states and growing in popularity for most states.

(If you are looking for tips for transitioning out of the office, we’ve created guides for both the debt collection industry and more traditional small businesses.)

According to TIME magazine, Zoom, the video meeting software company, saw its share price nearly double over the past month and was the most downloaded app on Apple’s iOS in March. Microsoft Teams, which lets workers video chat, message, and share documents, has seen a 500 percent uptick in the number of meetings, calls, and conferences over Teams in China since January 31.

We wanted to find out what exactly changes when a workforce transitions from an office to their homes. In order to do so, we created a short survey that we distributed throughout our own networks, with responses remaining anonymous.

In this blog, we want to share the data we recently uncovered from more than 60 professionals who shared what their working from home experience has been like.

"How's It Going Working from Home?" Survey Data and Conclusions

Question 1: What is Your Favorite Thing About Working from Home?

We organized the responses to this question into four categories: Fewer distractions, no commute, comfort, and freedom.

It was important to us to distinguish “comfort” from “freedom,” though they might seem similar. This was because, to us, the response “Pants Optional!” felt different from “Flexibility while also maintaining or increasing productivity.”

These responses were overall unsurprising. Prior to this pandemic, many everyday employees (myself included) had the preconception that working from home would take away the headache of traffic, unwelcome interruptions in the office, uncomfortable shoes, and the ability to step away from your “desk” to pick up a prescription or meet one’s child at the school bus in the afternoon.

But as we continued to see responses to the following questions come in, we were surprised at how the pros of remote work didn’t seem to outweigh the cons.

Question 2: What is Your Least Favorite Thing about Working from Home?

These responses were organized into three categories: Too many distractions, a lack of resources (such as a reliable computer, desk space or Wi-Fi) and lack of communication.

This answer gives us insight into what the biggest adjustment is for employees who are newly remote. What is a perk for some (no distractions) is a challenge for others (more distractions.)

Nearly half of respondents shared the most common frustration was a lack of communication –  sitting above a lack of resources and distractions.

Question 3: What Do You Miss About Working in the Office?

We wanted to find out what was most obviously missing for newly remote employees. By a long shot, we found that employees sorely missed the ease of communication that comes with being in an office.

With multiple responses like this: “The ability to ask a quick question on the floor, catch up casually with co-workers and get an office tea/snack, etc.”  and “Quick impromptu meetings in the hall or at desks,” we quickly realized that the ease of walking over to a coworkers desk is difficult to simulate, even with tools like Slack.

Question 4: What has been the hardest part about transitioning from working in an office to working from home?

We received a lot of responses that sounded like this:

Never really being able to “shut down” because I literally live at work.
Feels like my days are twice as long and harder to stay on task.
Focusing and adapting my brain to work from home. Before I only worked from home in limited capacities and kept everything pretty separate in my mind.”

The mental adjustment of working from home accounted for 47 percent of responses. Coming in a close second were responses having to do with the actual work environment – people reporting that the physical space of an office aided in their productivity and satisfaction.

Close behind that were employees who said their day to day work life was not so different. Some respondents said they had experience previous experience working from home which aided in their adjustment.

Question 5: What is one initiative your employer has implemented since you've transitioned out of the office that you appreciate? (i.e. happy hours, group chats, communication software) Why do you like it?

We were surprised to see the split for this being relatively even. Looking at whether or not something was implemented vs. nothing at all, was a 65-35 split. For companies that had implemented something, the most common was Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

One respondent said the following: “Meetings are encouraged to be video conferences as opposed to conference calls (audio only). I like the video conferences better because you now can put a face to a voice.”

Presumably, we all know what our co-workers faces look like. But as we continued to observe responses, we found that video calls change the tone and efficiency of a conversation.

In a research study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, it was found that “people tend to overestimate the power of their persuasiveness via text-based communication, and underestimate the power of their persuasiveness via face-to-face communication.”

In another study, it was found that “Internet communication cannot predict quality of life while face-to-face communication with friends and family members can.”

Time and time again, we found research that showed in person communication exceeded the quality of digital communication. 

Because so many employees no longer have the option to engage in face to face communication, video chat is the next best thing. Here are a few ways using video can improve communication and satisfaction:

1. Improving Participants’ Level of Engagement

On the whole, it’s easier to talk to someone when you can see their face. When all you can hear is audio, you have no idea if that person is engaged in the conversation. They could be scrolling on their phone or watching Netflix on mute. Being able to see their face keeps both parties engaged in the conversation.

2. Conveying Non-Verbal Cues

Facial expressions, eye contact, arm crossing, stature and dress are still transmitted between users and still communicate underlying emotions and reactions to communication. This makes miscommunication less likely.

3. More Personalized Relationships

Video and web conferencing allows a more personal connection to be made with the other participants. It allows you to attach a name with a face, and brings out other sides of the contributors personality. It’s easier to build a more solid relationship when a deeper, more personal connection can be made and fostered.

When the option to connect face to face is taken away, don’t underestimate the power of connecting with your employees via video on a regular basis. This initiative can have a profound affect on your employees’ engagement, their likelihood to misunderstand or misinterpret work related matters, and their overall connection to your company’s bottom line.

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