The Realities of Implementing a Remote Workforce

OVERVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing many businesses to rethink how their employees work. Across the country, companies large and small have already stated that they will immediately implement a work-from-home policy for their employees.

While that attitude is laudable, the reality is that converting a workforce from a traditional 9-to-5 in-office model to a remote workforce is not as simple as it sounds, especially if it is being done on the fly without any advance planning.

For remote workers to be able to work effectively and be productive there are numerous checks and balances that need to be put in place in order to effectively safeguard the security of not only the business, the network and data, but the employees as well.

IMPLEMENTING A REMOTE WORKFORCE

In the current situation, employers are already encouraging their employees to stay and work from home. Employers may have heard of all the benefits that will accrue, both to the employee and the employer, so from their perspective it is a win-win scenario. Benefits such as improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, improved employee retention and better work-life balance all make it sound as if having a remote workforce is the key to business success.

Unfortunately, the reality of implementing a remote workforce may not align with those beliefs, at least not initially. While those benefits may ultimately result, the truth is that in the short term, and especially in the situation that businesses are facing today, there may be more decreases in productivity, more short-term increases in expenses, more layoffs, and more headcount and resource shortfalls than previously experienced. This is because working remotely is not for everyone.

Employees who have never worked remotely often view that as something they’d like to do, but once they begin, they find that the reality is often quite different. Remote workers must be self-managed, self-driven and self-directed. They must be able to make their own decisions without having a supervisor telling them what to do. They must be able to provide their own tech support. In short, they must be totally and completely self-sufficient. For the employees who are comfortable in that type of situation, working remotely is ideal. For those who are not, working remotely can be a nightmare.

Because of those differences, and to provide employers with an idea of just what is involved in effectively deploying and managing a remote workforce, here are just a few of the items that businesses must consider:

EMPLOYER CONCERNS

GENERAL

• The guidelines and expectations for remote employees must be defined and clearly communicated to all remote employees
• All necessary policies and procedures to support and manage a remote workforce must be in place
• This includes Accounting, Training, HR, Marketing, Payroll, Purchasing, IT, Tech support, Productivity Tracking, Sales, Taxes, etc.
• The employer must ensure all employees know how to use the appropriate tools to properly record and report their remote activity, in what format, and how often
• The employer must decide if all roles will done remotely, or will some still have to come into the office
• How do you manage a distributed workforce across multiple time zones and/or multiple geographies
• How will you deal with confidential data and information that remote employees may need to access
• Does business-critical data and information need to be scanned and digitized for remote access
• Will onsite facility access by available if required
• How will switchboard calls and functions be managed/rerouted

COMMUNICATIONS

• There must be a method to communicate updates and changes to remote workers in a timely manner
• What are the communications and reporting protocols that must be followed
• Between the business and the employees
• Between the employees and their managers
• Between management and customers
• Between employees and customers

COLLABORATION & MEETINGS

• Meetings
• How many and how often will be held
• What format will be used (conference call, video call, webinar)
• Who must attend, who is optional
• Collaboration tools
• Is there a corporate standard collaboration tool
• Does everyone have it and know how to use it

EMPLOYEE CONCERNS

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

• Do employees have the necessary equipment, hardware and software needed to work remotely
• Equipment may include
• Chair
• Desk
• Table
• Lights
• Power strips
• White boards
• Etc.
• Hardware may include
• Desktop or laptop computers
• Monitors
• Docking stations
• Desktop phones
• Cell phones
• Headsets
• Bluetooth earphones
• Printers
• Mouse
• Routers
• Switches
• Projectors
• Video cameras
• Web cam
• Etc.
• Software may include
• Whatever office productivity suite your business uses (such as Office365 or G Suite)
• Any proprietary business software your business requires
• Security software (firewall, antivirus, VPN)
• Login credentials
• Authentication software and tokens
• Soft phones (VOIP)
• Video call software
• Communications software
• Collaboration tools (such as Webex, Zoom or Slack)
• IM
• Design
• Layout
• CAD/CAM
• CRM
• CMS
• Marketing automation
• Etc. 

PURCHASING

• Who will order the equipment, hardware and software for the employees
• If the employee must do it, is there a standard setup to order
• Is there one SKU for the entire standard package, or does each component need to be ordered separately
• Is there one supplier to contact or are there multiple suppliers to choose from
• Will all equipment, hardware, software be delivered to the employee or will the employee need to pick it up
• Is there a corporate account employees can use to pay for it, or do they order it themselves and are reimbursed
• If they are reimbursed, are the processes and procedures in place to deal with that
• Who will install, set up and maintain all equipment, hardware and software for the employees
• Working from home means being able to be self-sufficient to a large degree, but many people have never done that and do not know how
• Who will train the employees how to use the tools and equipment
• If a person has never worked from home, they may not know how to set up, access and use a VPN, how to log in remotely, etc.
• What do employees do when their hardware doesn’t work, they can’t get the software configured, they can’t connect to the VPN, etc.

IT DEPARTMENT CONCERNS

HEADCOUNT

• Are there enough people to support the remote workforce

INFRASTRUCTURE

• Are there enough servers  to support the remote workforce
• Is the network robust enough to maintain the required uptime
• Does the network have enough bandwidth
• Is there a standard hardware and software package (i.e., a standard image) that all remote workers must have/use

SECURITY / AUTHENTICATION / ACCESS CONTROLS

• Is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) allowed for the remote workers
• Can remote employees work from their own computers, or only from company-provided equipment
• How will IT manage non-standard software or hardware that will invariably be connected to the business computer, which in turn may infect or cause problems for the business network
• Will static or dynamic IP addresses be used
• Do all remote computers have firewalls
• Do all remote computers have antivirus software
• Who is responsible for ensuring the antivirus software is kept up to date
• Do all remote computers have VPNs
• Will the VPN automatically connect when the computer is turned on
• How will remote employees be authenticated
• Do all remote workers already have login credentials established
• Will they need to use a password or token
• Are access controls in place for data types, intranets, networks, customer information, partner information, sales information, etc. that may need to be remotely accessed
• How will password configuration and management be done
• How will software updates be managed
• Do all remote employees have email accounts established
• Do all remote employees have cell phones, desk phones or soft phones

SUMMARY

As you can see, there is much more to establishing and managing a remote workforce than simply stating that your employees are going to begin working remotely and then telling them to stay home. Having a remote workforce impacts literally all departments and functions across the business, so having the necessary infrastructure in place is critical. In order to effectively manage and support the remote workforce, businesses must do the necessary due diligence, establish the necessary plans, and define and implement the required processes and procedures.

Without being aware of these considerations, deploying and managing a remote workforce will be much more difficult.

© 2020, Richard Hatheway, Catalyst Strategic Marketing

All Rights Reserved