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Could Working From Home Be the New Norm?
Arcadia Weekly Mar 19, 2020
Chief Washington at a recent formal ceremony honoring fallen firefighters. Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
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With the current coronavirus outbreak causingmandatory self-isolation and social distancing practices to take place as thebest way to slow the spread, many businesses are asking their employees to workfrom home. But telecommuting practices are nothing new and have been growingthe last few years. If you manage a business that is looking to have employeeswork from home, here are some of the things to consider.
Have a telecommuting policy. This policy willensure your employees will know what to expect when working from home. Itshould include and not be limited to the following:
- Compensation and work hours.
- Equipment that the company willprovide such as computer hardware, software, phones, and emails.
- Details of how the workspaceshould be set up.
- Office supplies that are suppliedby the company or out of pocket and how to get reimbursed and who approvesthem.
- The liability of the workspaceshould also be considered in case there are any job relocated accidents at homeduring working hours. Please consult your workers’ compensation insurance tosee if you are covered. Make sure you have a professional look over thepolicies.
Communication is vital when working fromhome. Businesses should consider using a voice over IP or VoIP-based phonesystem to make and receive calls from home. Setting up periodic meetings with eachother can help keep the morale of the company up. Use Microsoft Teams, Skype,and Google Hangouts, just to name a few, to have video conferences with yourmanagers or team members.
Have your remote employees log in to yournetwork using a virtual private network or VPN. This will help ensure that allyour private traffic is encrypted to your office networks when going throughthe internet. I recommend against using GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, or any third party.If employees are using their personal computers to access the companyresources, make sure that they are equipped with antivirus and firewalls areworking correctly.
Set up multi-factor authentication whenaccessing any cloud service such as Office 365 or G Suite to access email orany cloud information. This step will help ensure that hackers are unable toget into your account, even if they steal your password.
Also, beware of hackers trying to takeadvantage of this time to break into your company’s network and take advantageof new opportunities that are brought to you by working from home. We can takecare of some of these risks with our security services.
Interested in having your employees work from home, but not sure how to get started? Let Tech Rockstars help you along the way you can reach us at (626) 533-1436.
