Improving How Employees Work From Home: A Tools and Tech Map

In the COVID-19 era, working from home (WFH) is the new normal. When employees across the globe were told to work from home in an effort to stem the coronavirus, what used to be a perk became an absolute necessity. However, the rapid transition to the entire workforce working from home is not the ideal way to implement and scale remote work at any company.

Their sudden departure from physical offices has forced SMBs to fundamentally change how they communicate, collaborate and manage employees and contractors, as outlined in SMB Group's survey, The Impact of COVID-19 on SMBs (April, 2020). As a result of new stay-at-home guidelines and mandates, 80% of SMBs with existing WFH programs are now expanding them as they try to keep their businesses going. Meanwhile, among SMBs that lacked telecommuting options prior to COVID-19, 24% have now established them, and 29% plan to do so.

Although there are bound to be fits and starts as companies adapt to their employees working from home, we believe that this shift will be a permanent one for many. The case for remote work has been made, and returning to the office after this crisis won't unmake it--for both employers and employees. Remote work is here to stay unless company results and data prove otherwise. Therefore, SMBs need to update and reimagine their technology solutions to enable employees to work productively and securely from home.

Reimagining WFH Technology Solutions

Technology solutions for WFH employees can broadly be classified into two categories:

• IT infrastructure solutions
• Productivity, collaboration and business application solutions

These two types of solutions serve a different purpose, but collectively they enable the remote worker to productively and securely work from home to support business goals during these difficult and trying times.

Cloud-based digital tools that enable employees to work remotely need to be augmented with best practices, workflows and training to speed up adoption and compliance.

Table 1 - IT Infrastructure Solution Requirements

Source: SMB Group, 2020

Table 2 - Productivity, Collaboration and Business Application Solutions

Source: SMB Group, 2020

Security adds an extra layer of complexity to the remote working environment; employees must be provided the right tools and be trained in the best and safest practices in order to work from home productively. While investing in strong safeguards, businesses should make it easy for employees to comply with security requirements.

The Benefits of Work From Home

A strategic and well-orchestrated WFH program delivers company benefits, including the following:

• Increased employee productivity and engagement
• Improved employee attraction and retention
• Reduced real estate costs (a traditional office-based workplace costs approximately $12,000 per employee, per year)
• Better environmental impact

The Bottom Line

Whether a pandemic-driven immersion into remote working leads to a more permanent paradigm shift depends largely on whether the experience is a positive one for customers, employees and the SMB employers. Key considerations include:

• Update and standardize on tools, workflows and support required to work productively from home for an extended period of time
• Rethink how employees can better support customers with the tools and applications
• Enable working from home while supporting the required company security and compliance requirements

Laurie McCabe is co-founder of SMB Group, a Boston-based research, analysis ,and consulting firm focused on technology adoption and trends in the small and medium business market.