In recent weeks, our Service Desk team has been busy supporting clients to ensure that they can be as productive as possible back in the office. Here are our six tips to make the transition from working to home to a hybrid working environment as seamless and as smooth as possible.
Plug it in
Have you come back into the office after months of toil at the kitchen table, only to find your machine has suddenly and inexplicably packed it in? Prior to pressing the panic button, ie. calling the Service Desk, have a look under your desk first. Chances are, the cleaners have decided to save the business a few bucks by switching off the power, or knocked a vital cable out of the wall while vacuuming.
Start it up
Perhaps your computer is working but much slower than usual? This can happen when devices have been switched off for long periods, as making it is impossible for anti-virus updates and operating system patching to take place. Once you power your machine back up, the process will commence. Our advice? Reboot and normal service will resume soon. While you are waiting, it presents a great opportunity to catch up with a colleague you haven’t seen since lockdown.
Shut it down
Are you planning to allow your team to split their time between the office and home, going forward? Hybrid working has many positive factors but employees’ machines may struggle to transition seamlessly between the two environments. Hanging sessions and corrupted connections are a strong possibility, unless employees make a practice of logging out of all applications and shutting down their machine before each move.
Clean it up
Read lots about the Great Resignation, Great Reshuffle or Great Relocation? Chances are, it’s already kicked off at your organisation, with employees across the board considering their positions, packing up their possessions and making a move to new pastures. Working with your IT department or service provider to ‘offboard’ their user log-ins and accounts as promptly as possible will maintain the security of your environment. You can then onboard their replacements promptly and reduce confusion for their colleagues and for customers.
Keep it flexible
Have you come to appreciate the benefits of ICT infrastructure that enables your team to segue smoothly between office and home-based working? Indeed, leading enterprises are supplying new remote and office-based employees with a fully configured cloud-enabled device where they can add their new password and access all authorised applications enabling them to work anytime, anywhere. Continuing to use tools and technologies that enable a fluid working model means you won’t be caught on the hop (again?) should circumstances change unexpectedly in the future.
Boost your Employee Satisfaction
With interstate and international borders set to open up, many Australians will, at long last, have the opportunity to be reunited with far flung family members. Offering team members the option to continue working remotely from a location of their choice elsewhere in the country or world, for a month or two, is a great way to acknowledge their recent contribution and secure their ongoing support into 2022 and beyond.
These six tips should help your IT team fuel the flexibility, variety of work and sense of freedom that employees want form their world of work. After all, contented staff makes for a productive workplace.
If your IT solutions aren’t delivering value, get in touch with us today.