A few months ago, a lot of us did not bother about ‘distant’ workplace etiquettes. Seeing our colleagues around us and immediately reacting to different hurdles showing up daily is what we were used to. COVID-19 has brought all kinds of changes to our lives, the majority of them being work-related. Dreaded by some, the ‘WFH’ style is in fashion these days. No matter how good and accustomed to work etiquette we are, remote working has more to it. There are unheard of situations and challenges. And as far as remote working is concerned, communication dominates the domain. Time clash, mode of communication, network challenges are just a few, to begin with. There are many more, which need our attention.
Basic Communication
We all must have had at least one office/work-related video call or voice call on different platforms offered these days. And all of us must have suffered some network problem on our end, or someone else’s in the call. The first and foremost point that goes here is to be polite when complaining about similar issues. Along with masks, network-issues are another ‘new normal.’ While organizing meetings, one should be mindful that one platform might not be comfortable for everyone. To overcome this, there should be tutorials of the platform in use circulated; this would help everyone move forward together. New communication tools should be adopted for efficiency and management.
Proactiveness
Being away and managing everything like it used to be is not a piece of cake. Be the lead or the team, and everyone needs to get out of their lethargy pants and try to know more about their daily schedule. Although the leads are required to push a little extra, think about sending motivational messages and update the team status. One should be aware of the teammates’ positions too.
Setting new goals, huddling up, and organizing questionnaires daily would help everyone be on the same page.
Micromanagement
Micromanagement, in itself, is not believed to be a very friendly practice. During remote working, it could be more baneful. During these difficult times, there are enough reasons to be worried about. On top of that, if the employee feels caged and excessively time-bound all the time, this could turn out to be frustrating for him/her and then eventually affect his performance. The lead should be vigilant and observant in a way that does not hamper his/her teammates’ basic work rights.
Although most of us have managed to cope with these arising issues, some of us are still struggling and figuring out ways to make our lives easier. xTimesheet, a product by XRM Labs, can efficiently and inexpensively solve these problems, whereas most solutions at hand are complicated or expensive to teach.
Being aware of these minute things could help develop interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.
Prioritizing video calls should be a must because seeing each other’s faces could help keep the office environment alive at home.
We should not let technology meddle with our work relations. And we should not let distance spoil what we have augmented for so long.