Are you taking your company remote and distributing your workforce? The benefits of remote work are undeniable: it’s a great way to cut costs and improve productivity.
However, if you’re not approaching remote work the right way, you can end up in a minefield of your own making. This remote work checklist can help you determine if you’re ready to push the GO button on remote work, or if there are a few things you need to do first.
Communication around a big change like distributing the workforce is critical in order to bring it off successfully. It also requires preparation time. Saying on Friday “Oh, everyone works at home from now on - new company policy” might have been a necessity in the midst of a pandemic, but that won’t fly today.
Have you thought things through and created a concrete plan for transitioning to remote work?
Points:
1 - What’s the big deal? Just give everyone a laptop and have them work from home.
5 - We’re planning a slow and steady changeover to ensure employees are supported.
Find out if remote work is an option that will really work for your employees. Some may feel they need the option to go into work every morning and go home every afternoon to help them maintain work/life balance. Also, they might not have all of the equipment they need at home to do their job, from a dedicated workspace to adequate internet bandwidth.
Have you taken the pulse of your workforce and looked into the technical side of remote?
Points:
1 - Doesn’t everyone want to work from home? How complicated can it be?
5 - We’re seriously considering all angles, from cybersecurity to employee mental health.
Managers use to having hands-on access to employees can experience their own struggles with a shift to remote work. Part of your remote work checklist needs to include training for managerial staff so you don’t end up with disconnects between them and the employees they are trying to lead.
Have you created a roadmap for your managers to assist them during workforce distribution?
Points:
1 - A manager’s job is to manage. What difference does it make where everyone is?
5 - We’re putting effort and training into our managers to ensure their ultimate success.
[Mental Health and Remote Work: Are Your Remote Workers Mentally Healthy?]
Going remote is one thing; shifting your mindset to recruit for remote positions is another. You need tools in place to help your recruiters identify and attract strong candidates for remote roles. There are different skill sets needed and different processes for the hiring funnel.
Have you equipped your recruiters for virtual candidate sourcing, hiring, and onboarding?
Points:
1 - An employee is an employee, and a job is a job. There shouldn't be an issue with hiring.
5 - We’re investing in tools to streamline the remote hiring process and secure top talent.
Final box on the remote work checklist: remote work saves your company money. How will you spend it? You have plenty of options - growing the company, investing in R&D, and improving employee benefits packages.
Have you crunched the numbers on cost savings and figured out how to use those extra funds?
Points:
1 - Is going remote really going to save us that much? Hadn’t thought about it.
5 - We’re excited and already planning how to optimize our future company spending.
Crosschq 360 can help you across all aspects of your shift to remote work, from streamlining hiring processes to finding opt-in talent to keeping a finger on the pulse of your workforce.
So, how does your company score when it comes to the remote work checklist?
5-9 points - Push the pause button: You haven’t fully thought this through….
13-17 points - Move forward cautiously: You’re hammering out the details as you go.
21-25 points - Take the plunge: You’ve planned everything and are ready to move!
To learn more about how Crosschq can help you mark every box on the remote work checklist, request a free demo today.