Keeping home workers in touch

It’s the simple things home workers need

A guest post today on how to keep home workers in touch with their colleagues and prevent them becoming isolated:

The working from home revolution has perhaps not progressed quite as quickly as many of us might have expected. Despite the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reporting a slight rise in the number of home workers, only 2.5 per cent of British employees work from home on a permanent basis.

However, despite the stuttering migration from office to home, there are still plenty of benefits arising from home working, providing of course that the technology is in place for workers to perform their roles effectively. So, when working from home, just how important is the right technology…

Communication
Without an effective means of communication it is all too easy for home workers to become disconnected from their employer. Recent research has shown that just three days without contact with colleagues and line managers can leave people feeling isolated and less motivated.

One method of bridging the physical gap between workers and their colleagues is to provide them with the tools to stay connected. Online conferencing and collaboration software is a simple yet effective method of conducting meetings and keeping in contact with colleagues.

Hardware
For the majority of organisations, the primary benefits of working from home are lowering costs and increasing productivity. However, for these benefits to come to fruition, it is essential workers are provided with the modern hardware they need to work quickly and efficiently.

The bare minimum most workers will need to keep them up to speed is a laptop, fast internet connection and a mobile phone, although workers operating in niche fields may require more specialist hardware.

Mobility
Travel is still a requirement for plenty of workers who are based at home. For workers on the move there are plenty of items which should feature highly on their mobile hit list.

Tablet computers are de rigueur at the moment, enabling workers to access the internet, keep up to date with emails and access much of the software they need to perform their jobs.    
  
The evolution of the mobile phone over the past decade has made it an essential tool for travelling workers. At less than half the size of a tablet computer and with much of the same functionality, mobile devices have quickly become indispensable.

Features such as Bluetooth, email, document viewers and GPS navigation ensure workers are never more than a few taps of a button away from the office.