new normal | Telecommute Job Online

Here we are, in the new world of the telecommuting future thanks to the impetus of the pandemic. Operations following lifted pandemic restrictions will include telework, flexible work hours, working from home, home office, coworking spaces, and turning to jobs online, all a part of the new normal, a metamorphosis in the workforce of the post-pandemic world.

Fortunately, all the necessary technology is readily available for employers to adapt to telecommuting and remote working as we ready to return to the new normal and beyond.

If your business or organization is not already remote-work-savvy now is the time to ready for the new digitally enhanced workplace following in the footsteps of other businesses and organizations that vow to never return to archaic pre-pandemic methods of operating their businesses.

Everything You Need is Here

Some of the first places to look for digitally upgrading your teleworking environment would include software to communicate with and monitor staff, applications for scheduling projects and task management, training programs, and security solutions.

The Top 10 Attributes of Post-pandemic Operations

1. Structure

Organizational structure is important to layout as early as possible for establishing hierarchy and accountability among the digital workforces. The better your structure is formatted, the more secure your remote workers will be adapting to the work from home model. Though, not all your personnel will be working from home. Some staff may still be coming into work, even if only for a day or two per week, then teleworking the remainder of the time. You will have to figure out what works best for your organizational structure.

2. Empower Staff

By empowering your staff to take responsibility for their own tasks, you add the necessary and most impactful component of flexibility to your team. This also relieves you from the responsibility of monitoring each and every employee. Take your attention off of the minute details and focus on the while, allowing each employee to manage themselves.

3. Communicate

Keeping the line of communications open is very important, and especially allowing and encouraging staff to reach out if they are feeling overwhelmed by any piece of the task at hand. Team chat tools can allow team members to stay in contact and report ideas to problem-solve on the fly.

4. Performance Evaluation

Performance evaluation in the new normal is conducted on a large-scale, then at several levels below by reviewing strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure the overall performance of the organization, each team, and for problem-solving, each employee. All efforts can be traced to ensure the success of the organization.

5. Motivation

You might choose to use virtual boards to keep employees motivated (though these only work if everyone is on board, using, and regularly updating them).

6. Culture

The biggest organization-wide tele-employee advantage with the most impact on your overall performance is to establish a positive work culture. Working remotely should be a celebration of all the best attributes of an organization and its employees culminating in a joyous performance.

7. Empathetic Correction

Of course, there will be slumps in individual and team performance which will need to be addressed along the way but do so in a compassionate and empathetic manner. No one should ever feel like they are being punished or threatened by, “It’s my way or the highway,” which is considered barbaric in the current workforce marketplace.

8. Trust and Support

Employees perform better when they are able to accept their own responsibility within the most flexible parameters, and when they feel supported and trusted.

9. Non-work-related Socials

Digital non-work-related social events can help to take the edge off of staff which is feeling the pressure of being on lockdown resulting from a pandemic and executive restrictions. So, feel free to be creative and support Zoom meetings that are just for fun. Maybe a staff talent contest, show off your work-crib competition, fashion review, pet show, cooking show, or host an online karaoke show. Anything to take the edge off potential cabin fever or blues from isolation.

10. Affinity

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” so apply the “non-work-related” label as often as possible when reaching out to and communicating with your employees. The creates affinity among your organization and will put you miles ahead in employee retention.

How many of us regret not buying stock in Zoom’s video platform prior to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, when we could have raked in a hefty 600% profit, eh?

Introverts are loving the new work from home paradigm while extroverts are having more challenges with adapting to the new telecommuting arrangement and negotiating the confines and restrictions from being celled-in at home.

Introversive employees are so enthusiastic about the new arrangements that they are gleefully awaiting the news of the continuation of the telework arrangement. It is nearly unanimous among this worker segment that the preference would be to continue to work from home.

The more gregarious the employee, the more they’re having to work from home is not much unlike a prison sentence and they are enthusiastically looking forward to the day they can return to work in a more normal fashion.

In areas of medicine, insurance, negotiations, and masterminding Zooming-in may not be as productive as the old-fashioned face-to-face interactions of the pre-pandemic world we once knew. Any interpersonal contact if far more effective in-person. Zooming is not as effective when communicating. While it is better than voice only, it still cannot replace the face-to-face energetic connection.

When the workforce has been shattered and restricted to pandemic lockdown, Zoom has been able to help maintain connectivity among coworkers in a virtual group meeting setting. Management is reporting that the group online sessions are nearly as effective as brainstorming in the conference room, though it does lack the energy of live interaction.

Far from Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Multiple Personality Disorder, or demon possession, there is a juggling of personality types that are restricted to the home environment which can be challenging. It’s not too difficult to be Clark Kent when you’re sitting at the desk at the Daily Planet, or maintaining your Superman persona when actively fighting crime, but when you are juggling both personalities at home with little time to shift from one to the other, it can be a problem.

The natural effect of this personality management appears to be to allow the emergence of a third entity who is a hybrid composite of the work persona and the home person, which may become problematic as time goes on.

Then what happens when the pandemic restrictions are lifted?

How will we survive?

The expectation Is that things will go back to normal, but that is likely not the case. It is believed that a new normal will emerge but there will be little time to readjust to this new life paradigm. Families will have to quickly adapt in a world that is somewhat recognizable, with new adaptations that will have to be accommodated.

What will education and transportation look like in the new future?

How will the post-pandemic families deal with issues such as childcare, what will be considered “routine,” and how will parents and children navigate the new terrain?

Will the former telecommuting workforce be able to adequately revert to commuting to and from work and sitting at a desk in an office after working from home?