Many businesses in Vancouver are now making their way back to the office after being on a remote work setup for almost two years because of the coronavirus pandemic. If your company is looking to do the same but would like to retain for your workers the advantages that working from home offers, you can consider adopting a hybrid work setup instead. In this arrangement, your staff is allowed to alternate between working from home or in the office.
Needless to say, transitioning to a hybrid work setup isn’t as easy as telling your employees to work wherever they want. For one, on-site and off-site workers have access to different technologies and may work disparate schedules. A successful hybrid work arrangement entails ensuring that every employee has access to the support and resources they need to complete their tasks, wherever they may choose to work. To achieve this goal, you need to implement the right solutions.
The tools you need for hybrid work will ultimately depend on factors like budget and the nature of your business, but the following are especially indispensable:
Collaboration solutions
Collaboration tools are software or online services that allow users to keep track of progress on tasks and projects. These solutions also enable users to effectively work together on common projects, regardless of the users’ location and distance from one another. Collaboration solutions include cloud storage services like Dropbox and project management apps such as Trello.
A successful hybrid work arrangement entails ensuring that every employee has access to the support and resources they need to complete their tasks, wherever they may choose to work.
Communication tools
Communication tools allow employees to exchange messages with their colleagues in real time. They enable team members to discuss ideas with each other, share news, or simply catch up. Communication solutions can help foster and maintain connections among team members, making them crucial for teamwork and efficient collaboration. Most of such tools support various methods of communication — Slack and RingCentral, for instance, support instant messaging and voice and video calls.
On the topic of communication solutions, you need to invest in video conferencing apps or software such as Google Meet, Teams, and Zoom. These allow you to conduct large group video calls, which are great for everything from teamwide standups to virtual parties, to webinars.
Reservation and office capacity management solutions
Office hoteling and hot desking are two ways to cope with having fewer people coming to the office because of your hybrid work setup. In these workspace management approaches, employees do not have dedicated desks. Rather, any vacant desk can be used by any employee working in the office on an ad hoc basis.
In office hoteling, employees are required to inform the office and reserve a desk before they come to work. A reservation system will let you keep track of which workers are using which desks at any given time, preventing confusion and conflict over workspaces. If you choose hot desking, then you likely don’t need this tool as reservations are not required.
Whichever you opt to offer, however, you will need to invest in an office capacity management solution. This tool counts the number of people in the office at any given time, preventing crowding and helping ensure that there’s enough space for your staff to be socially distanced from each other.
Cybersecurity solutions
It’s likely that your office network connection is protected by multiple layers of defensive solutions, but the same cannot be said for your employees’ home internet. Therefore, adopting a hybrid work setup entails investing in cybersecurity. On top of requiring standard firewall and anti-malware software, you should consider obtaining a virtual private network (VPN) for your staff as well. A VPN creates a secure connection between each employees’ network and your company’s, mitigating the risk of hackers intercepting sensitive business information.
Having the right tools can help you overcome the challenges that come with adopting and transitioning to a hybrid work setup. At Quicktech, we can help identify which tools meet your business’s requirements and set them up for you to ensure the best outcomes for your company.
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