Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, many workers have adopted remote working and new tools to ease their daily lives. This post tells some remote working tips and what technologies can enhance and improve your working tasks.
According to CaixaBank records, 32.6% of all employees in Spain could potentially carry out their work remotely; however, Spain remains behind many European countries, such as the Netherlands or Luxembourg, in terms of remote working.
Is telework a successful alternative for all sectors?
Obviously not. Last year’s lockdown showed that some jobs could be performed from home, such as school teachers and workers in leisure and hospitality, who were least able to work from home.
Despite this, there are still obstacles to implementing teleworking in cases where it is possible:
– Lack of adequate technology to telework.
– Resistance to change.
– Unfamiliarity with teleworking tools.
– Lack of resources.
– Culture of “presentismo” – the perceived need to be present in the office even when you don´t have anything pressing to do.
Tips to know how to work remotely and organise yourself efficiently
We tend to idealise remote working, although it also has its drawbacks, it can be a perfect way of working if we organise ourselves. . Here are some excellent tips:
Choose a quiet place.
– Establish your work schedule.
– Take breaks to rest.
– Make a weekly plan to meet your goals.
– Avoid distractions (mobile, television, social networks etc.).
– Use the “eat the frog first” method. Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you, meaning that you’ll end up procrastinating it the whole day.
What technologies can be used for remote working?
Remote working has a series of demands or needs that can be solved with various tools:
– Need for remote communication. Communication by email has been essential for a long time with clients, colleagues or suppliers, among others. However, sometimes it is not enough and it is necessary to organize meetings. To avoid travel and face-to-face meetings, you can use tools such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. For quick communications, you can also use WhatsApp or Telegram.
– Need to access information at a distance. Sharing information, whether working in person or remotely, is essential for teamwork. There are tools like Google Drive or Dropbox to support this. If a file is too large and you cannot send it by email, you can share it on WeTransfer. Another very handy tool when you have to access different platforms with a different username and password each time is LastPass.
– Need to coordinate projects. Related to the first, the need arises to coordinate the tasks between the people who make up each team to know what each person does, what deadline there is and how to manage each part of the work. In this sense, we find applications that can help us such as Asana, Trello, Basecam, Slack or Dashcube.
– Need to sign documents. Until recently, signing any document required the physical presence of one or more people. Many documents are signed every day (letters, estimates, offers, contracts, etc) and the electronic signature is the best remote solution. The advanced electronic signature has the same validity as the physical signature and, besides, no travel is necessary, and time is saved. Companies are already aware of this and, Click & Sign recorded on December 2020 an increase in the use of electronic signatures over 600% compared to December of the previous year.
– Keep motivation One of the main problems with teleworking is that the boundaries between professional and personal life are blurred. Many hours can be spent at work, and leisure time can be reduced. Also, personal relationships with co-workers can be affected. In this sense, technology will be an ally because, for example, applications to control projects will serve to see how they are progressing so that each employee is organized as he considers as long as he meets the objectives set. Another good option is to use the meeting tools to organize a meal with co-workers. Not everything is going to be reports, clients, etc. It is necessary to promote a good work environment.
In short, working from home can be a great advantage if you know how to manage yourself well and take advantage of your time. You can get better results and increase your productivity if you team up with technology.