In other words, the pandemic has hastened a trend long in the making. Some of it has to do with the rise of the freelance worker. Nearly 50% of millennials are freelancers, and employers are limited in how and when they require contract employees to be on-site. But the wind has been blowing this way for some time, and the pandemic has now forced companies with both freelance and stable on-site workforces to reevaluate their stance on remote work. Many of those companies have had to scramble to solve urgent security, data, and collaboration issues related to remote work without much preparation, leaving them vulnerable to security risks and introducing unnecessary inefficiencies into their workflows. Early evidence, meanwhile, suggests that productivity actually rose during 2020 thanks to remote work—and that employees may be working more hours than they would have otherwise. Many employers are now mandating remote work or encouraging their traditional employees to work from home, and for good reason. While the battle rages on between proponents of out-of-office time on one hand and the serendipity of workplace encounters on the other, it turns out there are some compelling benefits to remote work arrangements that shouldn’t be overlooked.

What are the biggest benefits of a remote workforce?

For employers, those benefits come in the form of a larger potential labor pool. When an employee pool isn’t geographically restricted, the likelihood of finding the right employee rises. Out of area employees can also be cheaper in many cases, saving employers money. There’s also evidence that remote workers are more productive, including during the pandemic. According to a recent Global Workplace Analytics survey, a full 53% of remote workers reported they were likely to work overtime. That’s compared to just 28% of in-office workers. According to a recent Prodoscore Research Council (PRC) survey, remote workers have been putting in longer hours than they were when working on-site. Remote workers spared a hellish commute also report feeling less stressed. In one study, Swedish researchers found that couples that have at least one partner commuting longer than 45 minutes per day experience rates of divorce 40% higher than those with shorter commutes. The aforementioned coronavirus also highlights a critical advantage of remote work: It could help keep workers online and healthy in situations where going into the office puts team members at risk. With increasing climate uncertainty and related consequences such as wildfires and drought, a distributed workforce can keep companies online in the event of a crisis. Maybe the best argument for remote work is that many of the longstanding barriers to having distributed workforces have been toppled by technology. Here are some of the best tools to help your remote team collaborate productively, creatively, and seamlessly.

What are the essential tools remote workers can use to connect and collaborate?

Remote Desktop

Want to jam on a slide deck from home but all your visual assets are on your office computer? You’ll need a good remote desktop app. Same goes for workers who are a hundred percent remote but have a home desktop they want to access while traveling. Also: Work from home is the job perk we really want, study says CNET

Telepresence

Telepresence hasn’t exactly swept the remote work landscape, as many continue to expect it will. But using robots and table-top devices to embody employees while they’re not in the office is at least no longer far fetched. Cisco, for example, has saved tens of millions of dollars using telepresence to beam in members of its distributed workforce. In fact, there are a number of telepresence machines vying to be your next remote worker meeting avatar. Below are two great options.

Real-Time Communication Apps

Also: The best online collaboration tools: How remote teams stay productive Slack integrates with both Google Docs and DropBox. It has a robust API, enabling IT pros to tailor Slack apps for specific team needs.

Slack Alternatives

Forming an accidental nursery rhyme of funny-sounding words, the myriad Slack alternatives include Ryver, Glip, Twist, Fleep, and Flock.

Video chat

What are the best tools remote workers can use for project management and time management?

Project Management

Time management

Also: How remote work can make your small company global Basecamp’s core functions include task management, messaging, collaboration, file sharing, scheduling, reporting, and a universal search function that makes everything easily and quickly retrievable. Basecamp is $99 per month. The big drawback is the price. A basic version of the service runs $24 per month, but you only get 5GB file storage. The standard version with more functionality is $30 per month and offers more automations and integrations. In its simplest form, Asana allows different teams to track projects and assign tasks and sub-tasks. The strength (and for some applications, weakness) is in the flexibility. Managers can set up Asana pretty much however they want, using it as a task assignment tool, for example, a project map, or an ongoing log of company activities. The flexibility comes with a learning curve, and it also means someone needs to take point on setting the system up the right way from the beginning.

How can remote workers minimize security vulnerabilities?

Newsflash: Password or no, that coffee shop WiFi probably isn’t too secure. One of the problems with distributed workforces is that remote workers make prime targets for those wishing to exploit vulnerabilities. That’s a huge concern if your employees are dealing with sensitive data, proprietary information, and client contracts. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Password hygiene

This one is obvious but can’t be repeated enough. Strong, frequently updated passwords protect businesses. Check out my colleague’s excellent roundup of the best password managers of 2020.

Best practices for keeping devices safe

It’s good to have a set policy in place for how remote workers manage their physical devices. A basic rule of thumb is for employees to keep laptops and devices in sight at all times (meaning no leaving them in hotel rooms or checked luggage).

Security protection

If the company owns the device, the company should be ensuring that the device is properly protected with up-to-date antivirus, device encryption, and firewalls. Cybersecurity policies should designate which devices (organization-owned vs. employee-owned) can be used for which kinds of business activity. Also: Best identity theft protection and monitoring services

Email encryption

Email is a gateway for potential threats, and email encryption is a must for distributed workforces. So is a strict email policy outlining what constitutes suspicious messages and how employees should handle them. Mimecast is the most popular choice for Microsoft Exchange email management and protection.

Public Wi-Fi and computers

A firm policy here could avert disaster, and abstinence, at least in this arena, is the best policy. Organizations should prohibit remote workers from using public Wi-Fi and shared computers for work-related activities. Also: No telecommuting allowed: Why is Google investing billions of dollars in office buildings?

Monitoring

IT pros need to play an even bigger role in security when dealing with a remote workforce. Network monitoring needs to be a 24/7 affair and IT professionals should feel empowered to institute whatever security protocols they deem necessary to keep the network safe.

What are some tips for managing a remote workforce?

Focus on goals

One of the main reasons employees may desire a remote work situation is to escape the office pressure of always seeming busy. Remote work, by its nature, lends itself to goal-oriented, not activity-oriented management. As a manager, focus less on how much time employees are spending on tasks and more on their deliverables.

Communication needs to be open and expectations need to be clear

With distance, it’s harder to synchronize expectations. It’s also easier to let dissatisfactions fester – and that’s true for both managers and employees. Therefore, it’s important teams are communicating often. It’s also clear everyone knows what’s expected of them and by what standards their work is being judged. Setting deadlines and scheduling standing check-ins is a great way to keep everyone on the same page and working toward the same goals. Also: Flexible working: How to help your company make the shift

Figure out how to foster community

It’s difficult, but not impossible, to instill a company culture in a virtual environment. Team members should be encouraged to interact online in ways that engender community and camaraderie. Little observances, like birthdays or sales goals met, can be opportunities for celebratory digital interactions. The right communication and collaboration tools will also lend themselves to spontaneous interaction. Finally, scheduling regular on-site get-togethers is another way to instill company culture. The takeaways from a retreat or office visit can serve as the foundation for a strong team culture even when workers are physically separated.

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