18
May, 2022
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The Keys to Remote Worker Productivity

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Remote work has only grown more popular with time, to the point where it is now common for employers to offer it in some capacity. While the pandemic may have expedited this shift, it is clear that remote work has become a new normal in some industries. Today, we thought we would address one of the hot-button issues about remote work: keeping your staff engaged and productive.

Engagement is More Than Production

First, you need to understand that remote employees often do better work much faster while they are in the comfort of their own homes. It’s simply a fact that people take less time to do the same tasks they would do in the office while working remotely, and since they don’t need to consider other variables that they normally would when leaving the house, they can get right to work.

It’s also important, however, to acknowledge that there might be more distractions in the home environment compared to the workplace. While it might seem they are a little less productive, we recommend sticking to the key performance indicators as a clear metric for how productive they truly are.

To shed some more light on this sticky situation, here are three factors that you can use to ensure that your employees are engaged with their work, and therefore, productive throughout the workday.

You Still Need Culture

Your company culture is much more than the incentives you offer; it’s also how you treat your employees. A remote team might feel like they are pushed aside or lurking along the sidelines rather than being a part of the team, so you need to do what you can to engage them and work toward that sense of belonging. Shared goals and interests can connect people and encourage them to work better together.

One way you can engage your remote team is to use your collaboration tool for a little bit of fun, like adding a “just for fun” channel where the team can communicate, share stories, memes, jokes, and so on. You could also set up an optional meetup for your team to just hang out in a virtual space to talk about whatever happens to be on their minds. Basically, the idea is to normalize the idea of working from home so that they don’t feel so disconnected from what’s going on in the office.

Get the Right Tools

All that said, none of this is possible without the right kind of collaboration software. There are plenty of solutions on the market that utilize different technologies to promote an inclusive work environment. From collaboration software to video conferencing, or even just a simple instant messaging platform, you might be surprised to see just how much of a difference it can make.

Provide Emotional Feedback and Support

Believe it or not, working from home can add quite a lot of stress and pressure to workers. Some simply handle it better than others. Keeping your communications organized and efficient can be a major way to take some of the stress out of their day-to-day responsibilities. You want your employees to know that they are people, not just a square in a Zoom meeting or a number on the other end of a VoIP channel. Maintaining regular communication and offering timely, constructive feedback is incredibly helpful to ensure that your employees stay engaged, productive, and happy.

It’s not always easy to manage a group of remote employees, but with the right tools and practices, you can take a lot of the challenge out of it. To learn more about how you can do so, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

20
Apr, 2022
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Remote Collaboration is More than a 9-to-5 Gig

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Businesses are different than ever before and that means that their employees have to do things differently. What do we mean by this? Well, as companies have been toying with the notion of removing the restraints of traditional work and allowing a larger percentage of their staff to work remotely, it changes the strategies somewhat. Today, we’ll identify a couple of ways remote teams need to lean on their technology and two steps you can take to get significant contributions from collaborative platforms. 

The Role Technology Plays in Remote Collaboration

Nowadays, every business uses some sort of information technology to complete the basic tasks that running a business demands. Whether that be just for payroll or to manage inventory, or if you utilize IT to run your entire business, understanding the value it has to your endeavor and how to get what you need out of it is pretty important. For many businesses, this means rolling out a comprehensive collaboration suite and integrating tools that allow for additional collaboration. 

Unfortunately, the days are long past where each person on your team is satisfied doing the same thing over and over and over again. In fact, most modern workers will be glad to allow computers to do a lot of the more mundane and repetitive work. This is exceedingly evident when you have a remote workforce. Remote workers tend to want to get right down to business, which is why reeling them in to ensure they are doing the things you need them to is important. Most businesses that follow this model need to rethink how they are deploying their technology dollars and ask if they are doing the right things for their business.

What a Business Needs to Do to Get Collaborative Results from Remote Workers

There are plenty of things a business can do to help their remote workers align with their goals. Let’s go through a few of them:

  • Provide equipment – Today computers are expensive and with no two people agreeing on the effectiveness of any individual collaboration tool, it can be problematic for a business to get remote workers on the same page. If you provide the equipment that a remote worker needs to do his/her job, it can standardize some things pretty quickly. Not only can you install the software you are using, you can also have an easier time managing these systems; even if they are being used far from the central office. 
  • Improve communication – Another great tip for the business that is dependent on remote workers is to build your communications platform with the remote worker in mind. Sure you are going to use email and the integrated tools that the system presents, but you can also enhance remote worker collaboration by using communications tools designed specifically for remote collaboration. Collaboration apps do a good job of doing so, but the most valuable is a Voice over Internet Protocol telephone system. VoIP can help you save money and give your remote teams the tools they need to communicate effectively. 
  • Be involved – This may have to be by proxy if you run a larger company, but it is important that remote teams understand that their managers and business leaders are committed to the program they have laid out and will do what needs to be done to reach a satisfactory outcome. 

If your business relies on remote workers, oversaturating their day-to-day tasks with more minutiae isn’t going to work. Having a successful remote team dictates that you find a balance between laissez-faire leadership and micromanagement. 

A Two-Step Process You Can Use to Improve Remote Team Collaboration

When we write about collaboration, we typically do so by telling you about the tools and services that are available. These tools really do make a massive difference and save a whole lot of time and effort for project managers, decision makers, and other administrators. On the other end of this strategy are remote workers; most of which work from the confines of their home. Let’s not pretend that it’s simple to get the best work out of someone who is constantly dealing with personal distractions. This is why it is essential to get your team—the people who are responsible for the success or failure of your projects or service delivery—involved in said project or service delivery strategy early. 

You can do this pretty easily if you follow this two-step process:

Collaborative Vision for Product or Service Delivery

In order to get a remote team invested the way an in-house team would be, you need to communicate and allow feedback. Part of the collaborative process is getting ideas from people who actually work on a job. One of the best ways to do this is to ask your staff the following three questions:

  1. How would you describe what we are trying to accomplish?
  2. What are some of the problems you see with the project as it currently stands? 
  3. How would your approach differ from the one laid out? 

By engaging the worker before the project commences, you not only give them the confidence that their opinion matters, you will get them thinking critically about the project that is being undertaken. Sure, ultimately your staff is going to have to do it the way that is best for your company, but getting the perspective of the people responsible for a successful conclusion to your project could not be more valuable. 

You may want to split your team into groups and ask them to collaborate on individual adjustments they would like to make. This saves time over going through the whole process individually and will get better answers to the questions above. If you bring them back and identify the common issues presented by each group, you will have a pretty good idea of what concerns your team has. This is collaboration at its best. 

Focus on the Problems

Once you have a list of group answers, you can pretty easily identify what problems your production or service delivery staff are considering. Then you can start collaborating on how to fix the would-be problems. For remote teams, you can do all of this with technology. Collaboration apps have been developed that integrate necessary software with a message board and instant messaging applications, making it a great tool for end-to-end collaboration, even if your teams are working from across the country. Integrations for these collaboration apps can include video messaging, collaborative production applications, and more. 

Obviously, without technology, managing remote collaboration can get frustrating quickly. This is where NuTech Services comes in. We can set your business up with collaboration tools that are secure, reliable, and dynamic. If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about the technology behind impressive collaboration, give us a call today at 810.230.9455. 

10
Jan, 2022
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Knowledge Workers and How they Fit Into the Remote Workplace

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You might think that remote work for specific positions is taking off, and while this is true for some, it’s not necessarily the case for all. Knowledge workers, for example, are seeing fewer and fewer new job postings, as evidenced by a report from Braintrust. This report analyzed 150,000 new job postings and had some surprising results on the remote work front.

Defining Remote First Positions

By “remote first” we mean that remote first companies make it a priority to hire remote workers for most, if not all of their open or available positions. As such, they have a limited in-house workforce, choosing the flexibility that remote work allows for rather than limiting operations to a centralized office location. Some companies that consider themselves remote first include Intuit, Facebook, and Amazon.

But how does this policy of remote first employment translate to knowledge workers? Not in the way that you might expect.

Defining Knowledge Workers

Knowledge workers are those that provide value in the workplace through their knowledge, i.e. knowledge they have obtained or developed over time. Some examples of knowledge workers include programmers, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, and scientists. In a sense, you can consider knowledge workers to be “problem solving” workers.

Why Does This Resistance Exist?

As reported by TechRepublic, the resistance to remote first work policies seems to be in areas that have traditionally not had strong policies surrounding remote work. This compounds in regions that have historically not had strong turnout for knowledge-based workers. These companies are stuck in a difficult position. They cannot find local talent, but they have also lagged behind in the shift to hybrid and remote work.

Additionally, there appears to be a disconnect between offices that are trying to stick to the old way of doing things and their employees. Consider the past few years and the number of offices that were forced to transition to remote work due to circumstances surrounding the pandemic. Employees got a taste of what it felt like to work remotely, and they do not want to give it up. They are ready to embrace a more flexible way of doing things, but can workplaces keep up with this?

While there might be some resistance to remote-first work for knowledge workers, we don’t think that your business should be one of them. Thanks to remote technology solutions that allow employees to work from anywhere with relative ease, you too can jump on the remote work bandwagon and reap the incredible benefits that come from employing remote workers… assuming that you have a solid strategy in place for adding them to your workforce. That’s where we come in.

One of the key challenges facing companies employing remote workers is the technology involved in maintaining access to important resources and establishing communication between the office and the workforce. NuTech Services can help your organization make this transition seamlessly. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

5
Jan, 2022
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Businesses Need to Focus on Security with Remote Workers

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There are plenty of companies that have implemented remote work policies to combat the isolation forced upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some businesses even had to resort to downsizing or shutting their doors completely because they could not adapt to these circumstances. Today, as we enter 2022, we thought we would take a look at the role security plays in an effective remote work policy.

The Pandemic Has Shown Businesses How Well Remote Work Can Work

Even though there has been somewhat of a resistance to remote work, the companies that chose to embrace it have fared pretty well. Even now, two years after the beginning of the pandemic, people are still seeing the value of remote work. It has afforded organizations the flexibility to adjust operations as needed to accommodate changes in infection rates. Some employees have completely changed their opinions on remote work as a result of the pandemic.  A PwC survey conducted in August revealed that nearly a fifth of these workers would like to be fully remote, even without COVID in the picture.

Despite the benefits, however, security is still a sticking point for many companies. There are many cybersecurity challenges that come with remote work, especially where working from home is concerned.

Unfortunately, Remote Work Can Provide Cybercriminals with Opportunity

One of the most difficult parts of remote work is maintaining a minimum acceptable level of cybersecurity. The unfortunate reality is that your employees who work from home will not have the same protections on their home networks as they do while at the office. This means you will have to invest a little effort into making sure these workers are as protected as possible.

Security Issues Can Come from All Angles

When it comes to cybersecurity, there are many challenges for remote work, chief among them the lack of control you have over your team members’ personal devices and their home network. They will not be as secure as they might be on your in-house network. Furthermore, they will not be as focused on security as a result of being isolated in their homes, increasing their risk of exposure to threats.

So, While Remote Work Can Be Valuable, You Need to Keep It From Making You Vulnerable

It’s clear that you need to do something to protect your remote employees while they are working out of the office, but what can be done? We have a list of practices and solutions for businesses that want to be more proactive about these remote work vulnerabilities. Here are some of them:

  • If an employee has no choice but to use a public Wi-Fi connection, make sure they are utilizing a reputable VPN (virtual private network) to secure data while it is being transmitted
  • To help prevent employees from transferring data from work devices to private ones, putting together a Bring Your Own Device policy to help establish some control over the device and allowing them remote access to your infrastructure or using the cloud helps to secure your data.
  • Password practices need to be upheld just as vigorously as they would be in the office. Not only do they need to be complex enough, they all need to be unique. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) should also be implemented to double-down on the security that accounts are protected by.
  • Physical security also needs to be remembered when working remotely. Devices should never be left unattended in a public place, and it is not a bad idea to secure them in the home as an added safety precaution.
  • All devices used for work, including the modem and router supplying wireless Internet, need to be kept up-to-date so that they remain secure.
  • All remote users should be reminded of the threat that scams and phishing attacks pose, with ongoing training and other awareness-enhancing activities being conducted on a regular basis.

This might seem like a lot to handle, but that’s why you don’t have to do it alone! To learn more about how we can help your business keep itself secure, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

11
May, 2020
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How to Safely Use Wireless Internet to Work from Home

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While remote work has gained an understandable boost in popularity, many business owners and technology specialists may still be concerned about how secure the Wi-Fi connections that workers are using in the home are. To waylay those fears, you need to be sure that your employees are using their networks as securely as they can.

To help, we’ll be going over a few best practices that you and your team can implement to improve the security of your remote work when using a wireless connection.

Password Best Practices are a Must

Whether at home or in the office, everyone who works within your business needs to subscribe to good password standards. For instance:

  • Don’t rely on easy-to-guess passwords, passwords that rely on predictable patterns, or other passwords that might be found on “insecure password” summaries.
  • Use a passphrase, or a combination of unrelated, randomly chosen words, instead of a password. Not only are these more secure, they are often easy to remember.
  • Update your passwords regularly, including your network access password. Don’t give out the password to your network if you can help it.

Optimize and Update

While many are in the habit of postponing updates until the performance of their tools begins to suffer, remote access requires the use of secure and effective solutions. 

Here are a few tips:

  • Each employee needs to have a sufficiently secure suite of solutions to protect the devices they are using, as well as their network as a whole. This should include a firewall, antivirus, and a virtual private network (VPN) connection.
  • Each employee should also take additional steps to protect their solutions, such as adjusting and updating their networking hardware and changing the SSID it is known by.
  • Furthermore, all devices themselves should have the latest security updates and patches installed.

Making sure that your entire team is aware of these guidelines–and abides by them–is crucial to your security, regardless of whether they are operating in-house or remotely. For more assistance with your business’ technology and the security that protects it, reach out to NuTech Services by calling 810.230.9455.

8
May, 2020
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The State of the Internet in a Pandemic

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Millions of Americans are suddenly working from home. Students are now learning online. We’re all surviving the quarantine by binge watching our favorite shows on Netflix and Zooming with our friends and family. How does this bode for the Internet, and security in general? Let’s discuss some recent findings.

A Look at the Numbers

Before the pandemic hit, it was believed that roughly 5.2 percent of Americans worked out of their home. That’s about 8 million people, and that number is fairly recent, from 2017. By the end of 2019, we can estimate it was maybe between 5.5 percent to 6 percent.

We can simplify this and say one out of every 20 American workers worked from home before the pandemic.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only a mere 29% of Americans can actually work from home. That takes into consideration jobs that simply require a person to be at the workplace, like many in the food industry, delivery, construction and many more.

At the time of writing this, I have yet to find solid statistics for the number of Americans working from home right now, but there is a general consensus that it’s somewhere around one in five to one in three. 

That falls right in line with what the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows, and we’re talking about the whole of the United States – things are going to feel different in different states and different areas.

How is the Internet Holding Up?

Back on topic, up to a third of all workers are now doing their jobs from home, plus kids of all ages are taking classes and doing their homework online, on top of the normal traffic that we see everyday. I’m talking about Netflix and other streaming services, online video games, YouTube and social media; all of these services are seeing a huge swing in traffic as more people are stuck at home.

Netflix’s usage, which is normally about 15% of all global Internet traffic, has hit all-time highs, and ISPs are seeing record-breaking amounts of Internet traffic all in all. Thankfully, many ISPs and mobile carriers have loosened or temporarily lifted data caps that would have otherwise caused massive expenses for users trying to work from home (Interestingly, these data caps were supposedly in place to ensure the service functions well. It turns out that in general, the service can still work as intended without them. Let’s hope service providers don’t revert back to the old ways after all this is over).

All that said, it’s not perfect for everyone. Rural users with limited access to broadband are still struggling, and in larger, more populated areas where the infrastructure might be a little older have been bumping into frustrating downtime. Still, all in all, a large part of our workforce is able to get things done effectively while maintaining quarantine, and that’s huge.

Cybersecurity is More Important Than Ever

Here’s the thing; being able to stay in business and keep your customers happy and your employees safe during this trying time is a big deal. That said, you can’t do all of that without also understanding the additional risks you might be opening up to. This isn’t meant to sound like doom and gloom – I want businesses to survive and strive. I want to hear success stories. I want business owners coming out of this with a new perspective on how they operate their business, trust their employees, and bolster their bottom line.

This could be a renaissance for the modern office, shifting the paradigm to normalize a remote workforce. Suddenly, you have fewer expenses, happier employees, and everyone can wear comfy pants more often. Or, maybe we’ll all decide we miss working together in the office so much and never look back. Either way, I digress…

Your business might not be able to see how this all turns out if you don’t secure all those new endpoints. Everyone who is working from home on a personal device just opened up a new weakness in your IT’s armor, especially if you aren’t providing the proper means of accessing company data and applications.

Ensuring that your users are able to work securely is going to be critical, because the last thing you need to deal with is additional downtime or data breaches.

NuTech Services can help review your needs and provide the right solutions to ensure your remote workforce can effectively do their jobs without risking your data. If you need help or advice, give us a call at 810.230.9455 to get started.

13
Dec, 2017
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Tip of the Week: Would Remote Workers Benefit Your Business?

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If you allow your workforce to work remotely, your business can flourish under the right conditions. You still need to think about the risks associated with it, though. If you’re not careful about your remote work strategy, it could blow up in your face. Here are some of the ways you can minimize the risk of remote workers.

The Benefits of Remote Work
Have you ever stopped to consider that a lot of your budget is spent paying for rent and other utilities, like heat, power, and air conditioning? These are some of the major costs associated with operations. You need to pay for these services in order to actually make a profit for your organization. However, if you downsize your office space and eliminate unnecessary expenses, you can take advantage of new opportunities. You also provide your employees with more flexibility so that they can work how they want. Thanks to this flexibility, you can provide your workers with benefits that they may not be able to find elsewhere. That’s not even mentioning that you can hire anyone from anywhere, eliminating geographical barriers for good for any new hires.

A good example to consider is how a remote working plan could help parents with young children. They need to work, but it’s also important for them to spend time with their new family. A flexible schedule is the ideal way for a parent to keep their work schedule while taking care of their kids, allowing them to be there when it’s needed. The freedom and flexibility associated with remote working can help you retain employees, as it costs more to hire new employees than keep current ones.

The Downsides
The freedom and flexibility that comes from remote working can also be a major issue. What if the worker decides to just throw away the workday on chores or television instead of doing their work? These types of distractions don’t exist in the office environment, but they might prove to be too irresistible to the remote worker. Plus, remote employees have been known to suffer from reduced communication and interaction skills with their coworkers, which can limit productivity and morale.

Correcting the Downsides
To keep remote workers from holding your business back, you should focus on hiring only remote workers that have strong communication skills and use them to foster a sense of connection during the on-the-job training stage. You should periodically check in with your remote workers to ensure that they are working properly and to remind them that they are an important part of your workplace. Make sure that they feel valued and develop camaraderie. However, there is a fine line that you don’t want to cross here, as a misstep could lead to micromanagement.

Having the technology to ensure your workers can collaborate is a crucial step toward making sure your business is ready for this development. Technology can reduce the gap between your in-house and remote workers to create a great workplace for your entire staff. To learn more about remote workers and managing them effectively, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.