Many collection agencies and credit departments moved their staff to work from home in March, and they are likely still there. Some businesses are struggling with this concept, but the reality of COVID-19 made remote working a necessity.
The question now becomes what does this look like after the COVID-19 pandemic with all its concerns and restrictions. Will you allow your employees to continue to work from home? Do they want to work in this way? Our experience is that many of our team members have thrived in their work from home environment. Some struggle.
The important thing - now and in the future - is to support your employees as they work remotely. And often this comes down to trust. What does that look like?
Some creditors or clients are asking if we will have video cameras monitoring our staff -- not a chance. We don't have that kind of Big Brother oversight on our staff in the office, why would we require it for remote work? We have hired capable, experienced people to do their job, and we need to respect them and give them a chance to do their work, and the results will speak for themselves.
We have found using an internal messaging app has been invaluable for a team that is mostly occupied on the phone for quick questions, either individually or in chat rooms, but nothing replaces the ability to talk to a co-worker in person on complex topics or subjects that require a lot of back and forth or nuance.
Also, we have never been a fan of meetings for the sake of meetings -- should you have a face to face Zoom or Google Meet meeting? Yes, when necessary, but certainly not every day. The term 'Zoom Fatigue' is gaining traction, and it's a real thing.
The question has come up about taxes and support for staff working from home -- we adapted our Employee Education fund to allow for staff to submit expenses to make their home work area comfortable and not just assume they will provide everything they need to do their job remotely.
Every company is different -- there's no blanket Work From Home policy that's going to work for everyone. And we've all had to adapt in a very short period of time, but when life returns to some semblance of 'normal' we have to decide how we are going to continue.
Part of this will be balancing the need of having some staff physically in the office to do their work, new staff who need in person training to make their initial months with the company effective and without frustration. Experienced staff need to have some in-person interactions with co-workers to share their skill and viewpoints, and connect with their fellow team members on a personal level you can't get through an IM or Zoom meeting.
Our after-Covid plan is still being drafted but we are looking at it like this -- once a staff has passed certain milestones for training and compliance, and is meeting day to day expectations, they can work from the office 4 business days a month, and the remaining 15-18 days can be remote, if they don't have physical in-office tasks. From there it will be a sliding scale to new staff who need in-person training and assistance, who will be able to work from home 1-2 days a month to manage illness, snow days, etc. How that scale will play out, we're still working on it, but our final plan will have to be simple and fair across the board.
Want to talk about this more? Feel free to reach out.
All the best,
Jessica
Kingston Data & Credit
Cambridge, Ontario
1-888-908-3151, Ext. 3003
support@kingstondc.com
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