16
Sep, 2022
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Hybrid Work Practices Can Stifle Inclusivity, If You Aren’t Careful

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With plenty of benefits to be had from both in-house and remote operations, many companies have been working to take advantage of a hybrid approach to business. While this approach has proven greatly beneficial to businesses in assorted ways, there are a few drawbacks that need to be addressed. One major one: a lack of inclusivity.

Let’s dig into how this happens, and why it matters.

While Hybrid Work Has Proved Helpful, It Has Also Created Rifts

Don’t get us wrong—there are plenty of ways that hybrid work can and has proven helpful to businesses. Not only can it allow more flexibility in productive work processes, but it should also be able to create more equity in the work environment removing the in-person element that many (unfortunately common) microaggressions rely on.

However, the situation is far from perfect, due to a nasty little phenomenon known as proximity bias. What is proximity bias, you ask? Simply put, it’s the tendency for an employer or manager to show preference or favoritism to those employees who are closer to them physically.

Let’s consider it in a hypothetical situation. Let’s say that a company, we’ll call it “Horror Services, Inc.,” adopted remote operations in order to protect its employees at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of late, some people have come back into the office to work, while some have continued to work remotely.

Now, when CEO Count von Dracula starts to consider whom to promote, give raises to, or otherwise professionally reward, who is he most likely to consider? Is he going to first think of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, or Jekyll/Hyde, who are all present in the office during the workday, or is his mind going to turn to the Invisible Man, doubly unseen as he works from his apartment? Since proximity bias exists, chances are that the Invisible Man will be passed over, even if his quality of work far outpaces the rest of his coworkers’.

There’s also the lack of trust in remote workers that many managers just can’t seem to shake. So, even though the Invisible Man’s results speak for themselves, old Dracula might still feel some doubts that he’s working as diligently as expected.

Now, even though our example has been filled with creepy-crawlies from classic horror, the realities of these rifts are much more sinister in reality.

Certain Groups are Hit Harder by Hybrid Work’s Proximity Bias

When it comes to who is working in-house (and who therefore benefits from proximity bias) and who is working remotely, there are some very telling tendencies that need to be acknowledged.

Generally speaking, recent research has shown that those returning to the office are more likely to be executives or knowledge workers who are white, male, and non-parents, while those who work remotely tend to be more diverse in terms of: 

  • Sex
  • Race
  • Gender
  • Disability

On top of these factors, those who choose to work remotely often do so in order to simplify the balance between their work responsibilities and the demands of child care.

This all leads to a highly imbalanced workplace dynamic…but with the right level of awareness and technology in place, these kinds of issues can be more effectively avoided. This is particularly true of collaborative technologies, ones that your more remote team members can use to maintain a presence in the office without sacrificing the benefits that motivate them to work remotely.

NuTech Services is here to help you acquire and maintain the information technologies that enable productive work to be done, including those to help make your hybrid workplace more successful and equitable through open communication and collaboration. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to learn more.

19
Aug, 2022
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Solid Practices to Improve Your Remote Team Management

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After this prolonged pandemic, remote work has established itself as a key component of many organizations’ operational policies and infrastructures. However, it has added new levels of complexity that make managing a workforce more important than ever. Let’s discuss some ways management can improve the work experience for remote employees.

Establishing Best Practices for Remote Workers

Here are several opportunities you have to make work better and more efficient for your remote workers:

Implement Communication Standards

Clear and open communications are required if you want your remote employees to stay in the loop. You need to establish clear expectations for how often they need to communicate and collaborate with others within your organization, and be sure to encourage them to interact with your staff whenever possible.

Delegate Tasks and Responsibilities

It doesn’t matter whether your team is in-house or remote; the only real difference is where they are working. Naturally, this means that you shouldn’t have different expectations with responsibilities for remote employees compared to in-house ones by virtue of where they are working alone. Be sure to delegate larger tasks that might be challenging to pull off in a remote setting into smaller, more manageable work while providing team members with appropriate processes for how to go about the work.

Provide Appropriate Tools

Thankfully, many businesses have already made adjustments to their infrastructures to accommodate remote work, including the tools needed, like cloud-based software, storage, and mobile devices. We always like to recommend that businesses implement a unified communications and collaboration platform to provide you with one unified tool to aid in communication.

Understand that Overworking and Isolation Are Rampant

There’s a common misconception that people working remotely aren’t getting as much done throughout the workday, but this assumption is flat-out wrong in most cases. Remote workers might be subject to pressure according to the expectation that they need to work harder, and this can lead to negative feelings and burnout. You need to acknowledge this and clear the air to keep your team happy.

Support Your Team However You Can

Your team will need support to stay positive, even under the best circumstances possible. This also applies to your remote staff. Make sure they have access to both support that enables them to do their jobs properly, like IT support, but also emotional and mental health support. Remember, employees who feel well will be more productive, so it’s in your best interest to ensure your team feels supported in all they do.

Receive and Act on Feedback

To make sure you are approaching remote working conditions in an effective way, be sure to collect feedback from your remote workers to see what you are doing well and what can be improved upon. Asking them for their opinions is one of the best ways you can improve your operations. If you are scared they won’t answer honestly, you can use anonymous polling or one-on-one check-ins to get an idea of how you are doing.

Let Us Help You Get the Most Out of Your Remote Operations

To help your remote workers be as effective as possible, we offer technology services and solutions that can help your business flourish under this “new normal.” It doesn’t matter if your employees are in-house or remote—we’ve got solutions for you.

To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

1
Jun, 2022
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When Working Remotely, Cybersecurity Has to Be a Priority

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Cybersecurity is something that must be reinforced both in the office and out of the office for your remote employees, and it’s unfortunately quite difficult to maintain. Let’s take a look at the unique circumstances surrounding the remote worker and how you should reinforce security best practices for them, even if they are not physically present in the workplace.

Best Practice: Provide Them with the Tools to Stay Secure

It’s important that you give your employees the tools they need to stay secure while outside the protection of your in-house network. We recommend that all remote workers utilize a fully up-to-date antivirus software at all times, as well as a virtual private network (VPN) connection. A VPN in particular is an excellent tool for just about any business, as it can keep onlookers from snooping through the traffic moving to and from your employees’ devices. 

Best Practice: Emphasize Password Security Even More

There are several password best practices that should be followed, including a couple that we keep near and dear to our hearts at all times: never write down your password, always use a different password for a new account, create a passphrase that is difficult to crack, and so on. Remote employees should be held to the same standards as your in-house workers, and perhaps they should practice even more stringent guidelines. You want to craft a culture of cybersecurity that reinforces appropriate password best practices so that these standards stay at the top of your priority list at all times.

Best Practice: Reinforce Physical Protections

There is more to cybersecurity than just the digital component of it; you must also consider the physical security side. Be sure to keep unexamined peripheral devices away from your work hardware, and be sure that any and all hardware used for work is kept secure at all times. We recommend that you reserve it for work exclusively rather than using it for your personal use, too. Doing so helps to keep it secure, and it helps to keep you sane, too.

These tips are only the beginning of an appropriate remote cybersecurity policy. We recommend that you contact NuTech Services for even more great tips and tricks on cybersecurity. To learn more, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

9
Mar, 2022
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What Could a More Remote Future Potentially Look Like?

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Widespread remote work is a relatively new method of operations for most businesses, but even with the limited amount of time it has been in play, the benefits it contributes have been made abundantly clear. Working on the assumption that remote work won’t be abandoned as quickly as it was adopted and instead may see some growth, let’s hypothesize what impacts it could bring to society as a whole.

To be fully transparent, we will be including both the positive and potentially negative impacts that these societal shifts could bring.

Housing Costs and Availability May Balance Out

We’ve all heard (and potentially felt firsthand) the costs that have become associated with the areas where there are, statistically, the greatest number of jobs available. While big cities have a lot of employment opportunities clustered in (relative to the size of the country) very small areas, the housing costs for these cities have created a housing shortage in many metropolitan areas. Overall, the country is short almost 4 million homes (as of early 2021), with most of this shortage seen where the available jobs are the most valuable.

With remote work, however—particularly if full remote work is ultimately embraced—these jobs could be filled without people needing to cluster in areas where housing costs are so high. Someone working remotely could enjoy the benefits of a job in a valuable market while enjoying the housing costs of a far less expensive area. While experts anticipate this might bring housing prices up in these less expensive suburbs and small towns, it would also greatly decrease the costs associated with big city life… after all, building owners and landlords need someone living there and paying the rent.

Again, if this is to work, there needs to be a balance struck between the increased cost of the more affordable housing and the decreased cost of urban housing. One example of this in action has been the Tulsa Remote program, where Tulsa, Oklahoma offered numerous perks to remote workers who came to live in the city—including a $10,000 grant—for a year. By investing in their local amenities and community-building endeavors, Tulsa has seen success in attracting new, high-earning residents.

How much success? According to the Economic Innovation Group, Tulsa has seen a return on their investment of $13.77 for each dollar spent to incentivize remote workers to relocate there.

The Climate Could Benefit

One might think that, as people migrate from urbanized areas with their public transportation and other, relatively climate-friendly habits, there would be a net deficit to the environment. After all, less public transit and walkable amenities would equal more vehicles on the road and more emissions.

However, that’s under the assumption that the urban ex-pats would leave their habits in the cities. If zoning laws were to shift to allow for more urbanized suburbs, we could see an increase in these walkable amenities—more family restaurants in neighborhoods, for instance, or increased public transportation options where there are currently relatively few.

We also can’t forget one impact we’ve already seen great benefits from, thanks to remote work—business travel, particularly cross-country air travel, can be effectively wiped out. With so few people flying for business, rather than pleasure, there are scenarios where the decreased emissions due to flights can actually balance out and outweigh those that a driven commute to work develops.

Let’s Be Clear—We’re a Long Way from Ubiquitous Remote Work

We’ve touched on some of the obstacles already—like the shift in housing costs, for instance, and the fact that current zoning laws limit the walkability that would make suburbs more desirable—but there are many other reasons that some places just aren’t friendly to remote work. Access to broadband is generally considered a prerequisite to remote work, but large swathes of the country still lack this kind of access.

There are many other obstacles that will need to be addressed before this kind of remote work is normalized fully. In the meantime, we can help set you up with the tools that allow you to take advantage of remote work for whatever reason you wish. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to get started.

4
Feb, 2022
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It’s Important Not to Overdo Things When Working from Home

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Contrary to what many might assume, remote work is commonly associated with overwork—employees working longer hours and having difficulties disconnecting from professional life during their personal time. This can have some serious consequences if not offset in some way, so let’s discuss how this can be accomplished.

Overwork is a Serious Issue, Especially for Remote Workers

Recent years have seen a lot of work and workplace-related issues come to the forefront that, quite frankly, this blog isn’t the place to discuss… things like racial imbalances and wage inequality have gotten more attention than ever. However, overwork is a challenge that we can tackle here.

There are many ways that your business could be influenced by the impacts of overwork. Your employees can quickly become burned out, as overworked employees experience anxiety and fatigue, along with physical symptoms like pain, headaches, and vision problems. Remote work can also become detrimental to the communications your employees share with one another… and we can’t forget all the added stress and pressure that the pandemic has brought.

All things considered, it’s no wonder that overworking could ultimately be a detriment to an employee’s overall performance and productivity. So, what can be done to prevent this kind of overworking?

Reducing Overwork in Remote Work

While it isn’t realistic that you can hold each of your employees’ hands throughout their workday (and doing so might result in more than a few HR inquiries), there are things you can do to help reduce how much your employees are held back by the tendency to overwork themselves—starting with your policies in and out of the office.

Encourage Schedules

In the home and in the office alike, adhering to a schedule is an effective way to keep the amount of time an employee commits to work processes in balance with their off-hours. This should include not only the time spent working in terms of keeping to their scheduled work hours, but also as a way to help them establish a routine in their personal life that helps them better prepare for their time working.

Track Their Time with Specialized Tools

While time tracking can help keep your team accountable to you, they also help keep them accountable to themselves. Giving them a referenceable way to gauge where they are in their day and their assigned tasks can be of great help. If you need assistance in establishing which of the available time-tracking tools would be best for your needs, we’re always here to provide this help to you.

Empower Your Team to Chime In

If your team members are becoming overwhelmed by their work responsibilities and simply cannot finish all they are assigned in the time available to them, you need to be sure that they know they can come to you to inform you of this. They also need to be comfortable doing so, so operational issues can be resolved as they are revealed.

If you are in need of the tools that can help encourage your team’s success, NuTech Services can help. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 today.

24
Nov, 2021
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What are the Pros and Cons of a “Workation?”

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Remote work has become more legitimate than ever before to the point that people can now work effectively anywhere and not just their homes. This brings up an interesting question, however, as this trend means that one could effectively work while they’re on a vacation. 

Let’s examine this trend of the “workation.” 

What is a Workation?

While a working vacation is by no means a new concept, the surge in remote work’s popularity has resulted in a similar surge in the concept of simply working remotely from a vacation destination. For instance, someone who works remotely could do so while at a beachside resort rather than in their home. As its name suggests, it’s a hybrid of the concepts of working and vacationing: a person can still accomplish their work-related tasks while also gaining many of the benefits that a vacation brings.

To be frank, a workation is a break from your typical workspace, not from work itself. It’s also not a replacement for actual time off, but it can be pretty nice to change the scenery every so often.

The benefits of a workation are pretty straightforward:

  • By allowing the employee to engage in recreational activities when they aren’t working, they are able to be more relaxed when they are. Even the change in environment can have a positive impact on overall productivity.
  • Offering the capability to partake in a workation can be a significant draw for new employees.
  • A workation can also expand on the perspective that an employee has, not only refreshing them and their productivity but giving them new ideas to implement.

Having said that, there are a few drawbacks to the concept. For instance, there can often be delays in communication when people are working remotely—especially when they are on a vacation. Plus, the workation itself can create more challenges in terms of lining up schedules and effectively collaborating.

While the choice of whether or not to enact workations into your policies is your decision, we wanted to give you a few tips to help make these workations (or any remote work, for that matter) as effective as possible.

How to Ensure That Your Workation is Secure

Regardless of where this workation is taking place, your business’ security needs to be held in the utmost importance. That’s why we recommend a few basics you should implement for your benefit:

  • Use a VPN – You want to ensure that your business’ communications remain secure, regardless of where your team members are working from. A virtual private network can help you accomplish as much.
  • Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication – Multi-Factor Authentication (or MFA) is a great way to double-down on the protections that are afforded to you by your typical username-password authentication.
  • Educate Your Team – Your team members will be your biggest vulnerability against cyberthreats, unless you train them to be an asset. Making sure they know how to spot threats, and how they should react when they do, will be crucial to preventing issues from arising… particularly while working remotely.

So, what’s your take on the workation? As a business owner, have you ever tried switching up the scenery while still getting work done? We can help you do so. To learn more, give us a call at 810.230.9455 today.

22
Oct, 2021
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Employers and Employees are Split on Returning to the Office

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Let me ask you a question: if you haven’t already gone back to the office full-time, are you looking forward to the opportunity? Research has shown that your answer probably depends quite strongly on whether you are the boss or the employee. Let’s explore this phenomenon.

Executives Want Back to the Office About Three Times as Much as Their Employees Do

This statement—based on research conducted by surveying 10,000 knowledge workers across Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—is just the tip of the iceberg. Looking into the numbers, 76 percent of employees indicated that they didn’t want to return to full-time office hours. The executives included in the survey held the opposite opinion, as 68 percent want in-office work to once again become the norm. 59 percent of bosses indicated that they plan to pull employees in for at least the majority of the workweek.

For context, another survey reported that 62 percent of US employees will be returning to the office at least some of the time… 34 percent being displeased with this fact. What’s more, a not insignificant 17 percent of workers are at least likely to seek out alternative employment should they be forced to come back into the office.

What Employees Really Want

According to the first set of research we’ve cited, workers want to see some increased flexibility in where (and when) they work… at rates of 76 percent and 93 percent, respectively.

This is for a variety of reasons. In addition to understandable health considerations, there are other life concerns that working from home can help alleviate. Child care costs are more or less eliminated, in terms of supervision, and the hassle and expenses associated with the daily commute are gone as well. There are a lot of ways that working from home helps the worker save money.

Plus, there are the obvious personal benefits to consider as well. Less time spent either at the office or commuting to and from work means that there is more time left to be spent with family or on personal endeavors. Not many people are expected to happily give these things up.

What Can an Employer Do?

One option: give all employees raises for returning to the office, as this will help offset the costs that working from home helped alleviate. Of course, not every company is in the position to do that, so there are alternative options that an employer can adopt.

For instance, instead of making the black-and-white choice of in-house or remote operations, modern businesses can adopt a hybrid strategy. By enabling employees to work from home so many days out of each week, you can confirm your employees are engaged while also allowing them to choose the work pattern that works best for them. This is the approach that many major companies are taking, and it is one that the right technology can make very accessible. We can help you put the needed infrastructure and solutions in place to take this more hybridized approach as well. Give us a call at 810.230.9455 today to learn more about what goes into such a strategy.

7
Jun, 2021
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How Should Your Small Business Implement Cloud Solutions?

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Whether you take advantage of it or not, the cloud is a major part of most businesses’ IT infrastructures—especially with the ongoing pandemic, which has kept many workers out of their offices and off of the in-house network. If your business is one of the few that has managed to stay afloat without the cloud, let’s change that. With a high-quality cloud solution, you can future-proof your business in ways you may not have considered.

Explaining Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is so common that the majority of people use it on a day-by-day basis, perhaps without even realizing it. One of the biggest examples of consumer cloud computing is most email accounts, like Gmail or Yahoo, which use the cloud to store emails. In general, this is what cloud computing looks like—storing data in an online environment, improving flexibility and accessibility. It’s the ideal solution for businesses that want to keep operations running even outside of the office.

Most organizations utilize the cloud to some degree, usually a public or private cloud.

Public vs Private Clouds

Cloud-based services fall into one of these two categories, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look!

Private Cloud

It’s actually pretty common for businesses to manage and maintain their own cloud infrastructure. This means that they have server units on-premises that they are responsible for keeping active, thus providing their workers with the ability to connect to their data through any approved devices, be they a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. A private cloud offers more flexibility in terms of the way that it’s designed, as well as a greater security ceiling. However, this comes at the cost of… well, costs; you need to manage, maintain, and secure server units, and they also consume a considerable amount of electricity.

Public Cloud

As you might imagine, not all businesses have the ability to care for server units in-house. This is where the public cloud comes into play. Essentially, the public cloud is like “renting” online computing resources; you pay for space from a cloud provider and do with it as you see fit. The space is partitioned off per user or account, meaning that only you have access to your data, even if it is technically located on the same server as other users’ data. The convenience of this concept makes cloud computing much more accessible, but it does come with its fair share of concerns. The space is managed by your cloud provider, so you won’t have as much control over it as if you were managing it yourself. Furthermore, you won’t be able to have as much control over security as you might like. The public cloud is generally pretty secure, but businesses shouldn’t have to compromise on security.

The small business is put into a bit of a dilemma. Do you invest in a private cloud infrastructure and all of the challenges that come with it, or do you pinch your pennies and go with the public cloud? If neither option sounds ideal, we have one more option for you: the hybrid cloud.

Hybrid Cloud

For businesses that don’t have the capabilities to implement a private cloud solution, but don’t want to accept the shortcomings of the public cloud, a hybrid cloud solution might be the right call.

The idea is simple; a managed service provider hosts your data so that you don’t have to. You then work with the provider to design your infrastructure around your specific needs. The managed service provider manages and protects your infrastructure to whatever extent you are comfortable with, freeing up tons of time for you to focus on being productive. All of this combines to get the customization you need without compromising elsewhere.

Does your business need a hand setting up a cloud solution? NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

21
May, 2021
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Improving Your Business Communication for the New Remote Normal

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The fact that many of their workers never see each other has led to some interesting shifts in the way that businesses approach communications. They used to just walk across the room and have a conversation, but as people try to make sense of the hybrid work environment, communications will continue to be a key. Let’s take a look at how your internal and external communications strategies will change to meet the needs of your roving workforce. 

The Hybridized Has Created Certain Challenges

Your team has been using multiple modes of communication for a while. They utilize email, they send each other text messages and instant messages, they collaborate on files together, they’ve likely even spoken to each other on the phone. The one thing they haven’t been able to do since the pandemic struck in early 2020, is talk face-to-face. 

You’re probably thinking that they’ve interacted face-to-face on video conference calls, but consider for a minute that a large percentage of communication is non-verbal, and we don’t mean Facebook Messenger texts, we mean from body language. That aspect has been eliminated completely, and some organizations have struggled without it. 

So while communications may not be the same for every business, we can bet that if your team hasn’t seen each other in-person in months, there is probably something being missed. Here are a few solid practices that you can start to normalize communications in the new normal. 

Internal Communication Practices

  • Lead by Example: When attempting to spur on better communications inside your business, you need to take the reins and lead by example. Not only do you need to communicate your expectations to your team, you need to be right there with them to ensure they are meeting those demands. 
  • Personalization: Ditching the jargon-filled business productivity rants is a solid practice regardless of the situation you find your business in. Internal communications should be about collaboration and cooperation and clearing the air so there is less confusion and fewer impediments to progress. 
  • Switch It Up: With so much in flux, it is important that you use all of your communications in a way that benefits the process it supports. For example, if you have a project team that can’t meet because it’s crewmembers aren’t in the office at the same time, make sure that there is a video conference meeting in lieu of a conference room meeting. Using all the tools at your disposal to normalize communications in your business can be a major benefit. 

External Communication Practices

  • Keep Your Contacts Updated: Your business is making moves and it’s not a bad idea to share it with the people you depend on. Your clients appreciate being kept in the know, your vendors can use good ideas at their own business, and prospects will do more business with a company that keeps things transparent. 
  • Empathize With Current Issues: We’ve all been dealing with major problems for more than a year, and if your business has been fortunate enough to come through it in good shape, make sure to let people know that you are ready to help in whatever way you can.
  • Speak Directly Whenever Possible: As long as it doesn’t hurt your business, being direct can really help move things forward. Sometimes people need to be handled carefully, but for the most part people respond to plain speaking and straight-forward messaging. 

At NuTech Services, we can help your business sort through the many issues you will face by going hybrid. Give us a call to learn more at 810.230.9455.

17
May, 2021
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Working from Home is a Mixed Bag for Parents

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For all its benefits, remote work can introduce plenty of complications. These complications can easily make employees question a lot of things about their careers, including whether or not they should continue working for the same company they have been. This has been particularly the case amongst workers with children also in the home.

Let’s consider a few of the many considerations that remote work has introduced, and how your employees with families might be feeling in response.

How Children Can Complicate COVID Considerations

Or, more accurately, the family dynamic as a whole.

While raising a child can be challenging in and of itself, trying to work remotely while also ensuring they remain safe, cared for, and educated adds an additional level of difficulty into the mix. Just consider how many relied on regular childcare services in order to balance their responsibilities in a responsible way before the pandemic began, even in addition to the fact that the lion’s share of their childrens’ days were spent in school. Once schools closed down and social distancing principles spread, it became nigh on impossible to both work and parent effectively without some give and take.

This has created an assortment of concerns for working parents in addition to the assorted challenges that remote work can have in terms of professional performance and business relationships. For instance, many different considerations have occupied the thoughts of parents who are now working remotely, including concerns about returning to the conventional workplace in general. Childcare responsibilities concern 49 percent, second only to the risk of being exposed to COVID-19 (53 percent), and above decreased work flexibility (48 percent), diminished work-life balance (46 percent), or office politics (31 percent).

Concerns and Impacts of Remote Work

Working parents also have a lot to worry about, professionally speaking:

  • 60 percent of parents have felt impacts of burnout, as compared to a general population rate of 56 percent.
  • 41 percent report worse-off mental health since the pandemic began, as compared to 38 percent of the population.
  • 19 percent of parents worry about their chances of promotion while working remotely, while only 14 percent of all respondents do.
  • 22 percent of parents report their skills suffering, while the general population rate is just 19 percent.
  • Working parents have also been struggling with boundaries and various complications while working from home.
    • 40 percent overwork, or work longer than they should
    • 36 percent deal with distractions unrelated to work
    • 28 percent have to deal with unreliable Wi-Fi connectivity
    • 26 percent deal with tech issues that need troubleshooting
    • 24 percent are worn down by video meetings
    • 18 percent have issues maintaining their relationships with coworkers
    • 16 percent have issues maintaining their relationships with their bosses

In turn, the realities of raising children while also trying to work remotely has had a varied impact on the employment status of many parents:

  • 43 percent of parents have seen no impacts
  • 21 percent cut back on their working hours
  • 16 percent quit work while planning to rejoin the workforce later
  • 4 percent had a partner reduce their hours
  • 2 percent quit work with no intention of returning
  • 2 percent had a partner quit as a result

However, Employees Don’t Want to Give Up Remote Operations

So long as their industry enables them to do so, many want the capability to work from home—to some extent, at least—to continue once the situation normalizes. The success that many have seen makes this a reasonable goal. After all, if businesses have maintained their operations remotely during this time, why couldn’t or wouldn’t they once a return to the office was feasible?

Many have reported that the elimination of the commute alone has had impacts on the rest of their itineraries that make life much easier to manage, with increased family time being another benefit of such flexibility.

Otherwise, lots of workers predict that remote work will help to support workplace gender equality, along with a litany of other benefits to the workforce and employers alike, including heightened productivity, an improved work-life balance, and fewer office politics.

One way or another, the question of remote work and the concept of a flexible work environment is one that most companies are going to have to answer at some point. NuTech Services can assist you in implementing the technology needed to support all of your operations, in-house and out. To find out what we can do for you, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

7
May, 2021
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While Useful, Remote Work Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be for the Climate

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While we would never suggest that remote work is a bad thing, it wouldn’t be right for us to pretend that it is a perfect solution. It just isn’t. For a few glaring examples, let’s turn to the complicated impact that remote work can have on the environment. While we’ll still acknowledge the benefits of remote solutions, this kind of reflection may just help you to determine how to shape your business’ future: namely, how much of that future will be based on remote operations.

Let’s begin by looking at some of the positives to remote work, in terms of the environment.

Environmental Benefits of Remote Work

Diminished Fuel Demands and Emissions

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and that such emissions increased by a not-inconsequential 3.7 percent from 1990 to 2019. Furthermore, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that 2019 also saw 142.71 billion gallons of gas burned.

If you’re reaching for a calculator, that’s an average of around 390.98 million gallons per day.

Consider, for a moment, how much of a difference it would make if we could remove a large portion of that expenditure by adopting widespread remote work. If just 3.9 million people worked from home for half the time, the reduction in greenhouse gases would be akin to taking 600,000 cars off the road for a full year. Back in 2015, Xerox implemented a telework strategy, cutting 41,000 metric tons of emissions and saving 4.6 million gallons of gasoline.

On a related note, a remote workforce also allows a business to decrease their use of energy in terms of climate control and lighting—which often (but not always) means that less energy is being used to control a large space as compared to a smaller one. We’ll dig into this further a little later.

Cleaner Air

On a related note, there are various benefits associated with fewer emissions that remote work can help to promote, reducing the level of air pollution a common thread between them. A study taken in London in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that emissions reduced by 25 percent during the morning commute and by 34 percent in the evening.

This is not nothing. Decreasing the amount of air pollution also decreases the amount of acid rain that occurs, makes algae blooms (sudden increases in algae in water systems that kill off the local biome) less likely, and helps to support our own health.

Decreased Waste

Did you know that the average American uses, on average, 680 pounds of paper each year, and that the world produces 300 million tons of plastic in the same span of time? Working from home, however, helps reduce these levels by encouraging the use of paperless solutions, while simultaneously creating an environment that relies less on single-use plastic products and more on sustainable methods.

However, now that we’ve gone over the major environmental benefits, we’d be remiss if we didn’t address the problems that remote work introduces as well.

Environmental Issues in Remote Work

Energy Mismanagement

Okay, so remember how we discussed how a remote workforce allows a business to use less energy to keep its workspace climate under control? Here’s the problem with this: research conducted in the United Kingdom reveals that—at least in the winter—the energy used to heat the office was less than the total it took to heat each remote worker’s home. As a result, working from home could in this way be counter-productive, environmentally speaking. That said, most people keep their homes fairly livable even while they are at work.

Global Inconsistencies

There’s a lot to dig into here, so let’s start by laying out the groundwork: different regions around the world produce and use their energy in very different ways, creating different environmental scenarios to consider. For instance:

  • Some countries have more widely adopted alternative energy sources for their transportation needs, as well as public transit options.
  • Some regions rely on different HVAC settings throughout the year, so any benefits gained in one season of remote work could be canceled out by another.
  • The electricity needed to support remote work is generated in different ways around the world, with different environmental impacts due to the energy production.

In short, there is no easy answer to whether or not remote work is a better option, simply due to the variables involved in calculating its costs and comparing them to its benefits.

How to Improve Your Environmental Impact While Working Remotely

If you and your team have taken to remote work, there are a few things that can be done to help improve your combined environmental impact. One simple place to start is to have your home (or remote workplace) assessed to determine how to make it more energy-efficient. Such assessments can improve energy efficiency by up to 30 percent, which is considerable when compounded with some of the other energy-saving measures we’ve reviewed here.

Otherwise, there are additional ways to cut back on your energy expenditure and environmental impact while at home—cutting back on the electricity you use wherever possible, using the time you save on your commute to prepare more eco-friendly food options, and making sure you recycle as much as you can.

As for the office, share some ideas with us as to how you’ve made your space as environmentally friendly as possible!

21
Dec, 2020
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What Exactly Is a VPN?

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One of the major shifts we’ve seen in business in 2020 is the establishment of the remote workforce. Stay-at-home orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary for businesses to find solutions on how to securely transfer information from what could be unprotected networks. The virtual private network is a solution to this problem. Today, we will describe what a VPN is, what its primary use is, and how secure it really is for secure file transmission. 

Defining VPN

The virtual private network is a tool designed specifically to protect data as it is transferred over the Internet. The best way to describe it is as an encrypted tunnel that protects the interception of data that is being sent from one place to another. 

For the remote worker, it can be difficult to get access to the files you need from your company’s central computing infrastructure. This is a big problem when the resources you need to do your job are located on these servers. The VPN gives you a simple means to that end, as it provides the secure environment in which to send and receive data. 

How is a VPN Used?

Traditionally, the VPN is used to set up a secure and reliable network connection between an endpoint and a central server.

Let’s say you were working remotely, where you ordinarily wouldn’t have access to the company’s servers, as we established earlier. Without a VPN, this would severely hinder your capability to be productive—but making this connection under normal circumstances could potentially expose the data you’re working on to external threats.

How the VPN Boosts Data Privacy and Security

The encrypted nature of the VPN is what helps resolve this. Thanks to the encryption, the data that is sent via the VPN is shielded from anyone trying to peek at it while it is traveling. If a cybercriminal does manage to glance at it, it is scrambled and distorted—rendering it effectively useless.

Hence the name virtual private network.

While it isn’t a panacea for your cybersecurity needs, it does allow you to securely communicate from a device to your business’ network from an otherwise insecure network, or one you don’t control.

Want to learn more about VPNs, or other important elements to your business’ information technology? Turn to us for the answers! NuTech Services and our managed services can be reached by calling 810.230.9455.

28
Sep, 2020
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How Companies Will Need IT as They Return to Workplaces

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As the pandemic enters its third quarter, many places have the spread of the COVID-19 virus under control and are starting to open up offices and other workplaces. Ultimately, it is the business owners’ and managers’ decision whether or not to demand attendance in an office, as most jobs completed in one can be effectively completed from home. For businesses that are opening their office and inviting their employees back, technology is still going to play a significant role. Let’s take a look at what IT is going to be important for people returning to the office after all this time.

It’s true that there are a lot of businesses that rely on their workforce to show up every day. Many of these businesses were forced to shut down or operate at limited capacity during the pandemic but are just now getting up to speed. Outside of operations, there are a lot of administrative uses of technology, some of which involve protecting employee and customer information. Let’s get into some of the strategies that businesses can use to get the most out of their workforce at this time. 

Remote Operations

Ironically, until this whole COVID-19 mess is over with, the most prudent decisions are going to be made using technology that supports remote work, even if you’ve mandated employees to work at your place of business. Not only does it remove physical interaction of your staff to protect them from contracting potentially dangerous viruses, it protects clients as well.

This strategy includes the use of internet-based tools and substantial training initiatives. According to an IMB survey just over half of remote workers during the pandemic were actually trained to protect work-related resources, so making employee training a priority makes sense. 

Hybrid Operations

There’s a saying, “You have to crawl before you walk.” It means that you have to work up to something. If you already have a remote workforce and you are looking to get them to move back to the office or the workplace, you should start implementing a strategy that gets people in waves. The most important thing is to prioritize employee health during this time, as any COVID-19 outbreak could make it difficult for you to conduct business at all. 

In regards to the IT deployment, this strategy is probably the most resource intensive because you have to both be cognizant of your network security inside your business, while also keeping abreast of how your remote workers are using your computing resources. 

Onsite Operations

Getting back to “business-as-usual” will be nice, and if you can accomplish it now, that’s great. It’s just not a strategy many businesses can support at this juncture, especially if they feature open office spaces and shared bathroom facilities. IT management is simpler for IT administrators when everyone is in one location and on the same page. 

Regardless of what your plans are for your human resources, you need to ensure that everyone understands how to mitigate the numerous types of threats your business faces each day. To talk to one of our security professionals about your business’ situation, call us today at 810.230.9455.

25
Mar, 2020
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How to Maintain Productivity when Illnesses are Rampant

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It is never a good situation when a widespread illness strikes. Not only does it impact many individuals on a personal level, the impacts reach to the businesses that employ them as well. As we deal with the current outbreak, it helps to keep in mind that there are various means out there to allow for a business’ productivity to continue… even if its employees shouldn’t be near one another.

Let’s go over a few solutions that can assist your business’ continuity in these testing times.

The Fear of Infection

The primary concern that comes from this specific variety of disaster is generally one of widespread infection, which makes it an uncomfortable prospect for people to congregate anywhere. This is especially true of the workplace, where papers and files were traditionally distributed (and redistributed) as work was done.

Naturally, this is the perfect storm for any illness to spread: materials being passed around, with many people together in a relatively enclosed space. With COVID-19, this is especially problematic, as the CDC believes that it is spread through respiratory droplets and close proximity to others. As a result, it is better to avoid this situation… but how could your business possibly cope with its entire staff being absent, due to either illness or preventative “social distancing?”

Fortunately, the technology exists today that allows you to see the best of both worlds.

Securely and Safely Working Remotely

Many common technologies today can be used to enable your employees to do the same tasks they would do in the office from the relative comfort and security of their own home. Let’s go through some of these technologies and applications and review why they are valuable to a remote work policy.

  • Mobile devices – If your employees are going to work productively from home, they’re going to need access to the proper tools to do it. Supply your staff with laptops or thin clients that permit them to bring their tools out of the office if need be.
  • VPN (Virtual Private Networking) – Of course, once your technology has been taken out of the security of the office, the data that it accesses can be put at risk. Utilizing a virtual private network can help decrease that risk greatly by shielding the data that is in transit.
  • Cloud solutions – Of course, in order to effectively work remotely, your data and applications need to be accessible to your team as they need them. Hosting these resources in the cloud enables your team to access them from wherever an Internet connection can be established on many different types of devices.
  • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) – Communication is absolutely critical to business productivity, especially when it comes to remote resources. Without communication, you can’t expect to accomplish much at all. Certain solutions, like VoIP, allow you and your team, to maintain this communication–again, from wherever an Internet connection can be maintained.

While productivity is crucial to your business’ success, so is the well-being of your employees. Giving them the option to work remotely can help attend to both needs. For assistance with implementing the needed solutions, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.