Working from Home: How to Do It Safely and Productively

Working from home has been the new normal for the best part of the year for hundreds of thousands of people, which has meant that businesses are investing in software solutions on a larger scale than ever before. Digital solutions have now become part of the everyday lives of many employees, helping them carry out their duties in a productive manner. A big part of this has been the implementation of digital workspaces, made possible through the use of VDI service providers, including ebb3.

Of course, working remotely isn’t all smooth sailing as productivity can easily suffer. This new way of working can also unintentionally expose businesses to cyber-attack and data breaches if employees do not take the necessary steps to ensure that they are working safely.

So how can these safety issues be remedied, and employee productivity improved while working from home?

Encryption

When it comes to security, one essential thing for all employees to do is to make sure that all electronic communication is encrypted. Realistically, people use a mix of personal and company-provided devices throughout the day, whether they admit to it or not. This means that no matter how secure the company devices are, there is still a chance that communications could be insecure. To minimise the risk of this, it should be standard practice to encrypt all emails sent from company accounts, rather than relying on device-specific security measures. This way, no matter what device employees are using, sensitive company data is protected. 

Flexibility

Rigidly sticking to a 9-to-5 schedule swiftly went out the window for most businesses when remote working became the new standard. It would be foolish and unproductive to expect employees to adhere to this strict schedule when working from home as many will have childcare commitments to juggle alongside their professional responsibilities.

Instead, companies should afford their staff the flexibility they need to work in a way that will be most productive for each individual. This way, everyone can still fit their work around the demands of their personal life without overall productivity suffering as a result. 

Public WIFI Use

It would be unreasonable to assume that while working remotely, employees would only do some from their own home. With so many cafes offering free Wi-Fi to guests, its more than likely that individuals will take advantage of this at least a couple of times a month to provide themselves with an occasional change of surrounding while they work.

There’s nothing wrong with this change of location; however, it does bring with it some added security risks. Cybercriminals often take advantage of unsecured networks – such as those found in cafes – to access devices, leaving your company’s data exposed. To mitigate this risk, employees should be educated on basic cybersecurity protocols and requested to use a VPN as standard when working out of the office and using an unsecured network connection.

Structure

Part and parcel of flexible working is the need for some basic structure. With the right combination of the two, employees remain productive, and team leaders can avoid the dreaded scenario of micromanaging that often makes any situation worse rather than improving it.

What we mean by structure, in this case, is the creation of a monthly or weekly timetable for employees and teams to virtually catch up and check in with everyone’s progress on specific tasks or ongoing projects. This creates a level of accountability for everyone in the business and offers a chance for team leaders to track productivity, but is still flexible enough to allow employees to work in their own way as they only fixed points are the meeting times themselves, rather than their entire working schedule being set in stone.