5 Tips to Make Back Office Remote Work Easier in The Coronavirus Crisis

5 Tips to Make Back Office Remote Work Easier in The Coronavirus Crisis

These days, remote work is more a necessity than a preference. Even if offices are closed or manned by a skeleton staff, the work still has to be done. With so many people working from home, businesses face different challenges but, even in the coronavirus crisis, Document Management doesn’t need to be affected.

The key concern, of course, is to overcome the global pandemic, and a major part of that battle is the COVID-19 travel and work restrictions that are still in place.

It is a global issue, with Twitter making it mandatory for its 5,000 employees worldwide to work from home and Google telling its employees the same.

But with so many roles – not least the critical role of Document Management – now forced to be undertaken away from the office and its trusted and well-worn procedures, does it have to mean productivity crashes?

The answer is no. With some simple steps, even a back-office team spread across different locations can still perform as effectively as ever.

Challenges for Document Management from Home

For back-office workers, there is a safety in knowing the established procedures that are followed by everyone when at work. Efficiency can be high. But unless the right steps are taken, employees can feel uncomfortable when that procedure is changed.

The problems can be simple:

• Employees no longer have hard-copy documents to hand, making simple duties more awkward.
• Motivation can be affected since the comforts of home can cause those unused to working remotely surrounded by distractions.
• Communication is affected because colleagues cannot meet to raise or discuss issues that might need to be attended to.

When it comes to day-to-day Document Management procedures, having access to a Document Management system certainly does help. But there are other steps needed to ensure things run as smoothly as they need to.

1. Have A Reliable Document Management Solution

When staff are working remotely, it’s essential to have an efficient Document Management solution you can trust. Without one, access to company documents is basically impossible, unless copies are available in employees’ homes. If there are, then that represents a problematic breach of data security.

An automated Document Management Solution will offer key advantages, not least:

Easy Access from Home

Immediate Retrieval

Simple Sharing Methods

Excellent Data Security

Fully Fraud-Protected Data

No Human Error Risks

GDPR Compliance

Clear Transparency

2. Schedule Daily Check-Ins

Your back-office personnel need to keep work hours as normal as possible. So, it would be a good idea for managers to check in with them on a daily basis – not every now and then. You could schedule a morning ‘meeting’ at 9:00 am and afternoon catch-up’ at 4:00 pm. That way everyone knows the starting plan and the progress made.

3. Keep Communicating Face-To-Face

The telephone is great but there is a greater value in communicating with colleagues face-to-face. It’s about keeping contact as normal as possible, so use modern video apps like WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

4. Grant Access to All Who Needs It

Make sure employees working remotely have access to the Document Management system so they can do their jobs effectively. This might mean increasing the number of people who are granted access, to ensure processes continue running smoothly.

5. Support Staff, Be Flexible

Listen to employees’ feedback on the new arrangements. Perhaps someone wasn’t granted access to the system. Perhaps clarification is needed on a matter. Perhaps clients seeking document retrieval are unsure. Maybe someone wants to share advice. It’s important because it’ll keep your back-office team feeling valued and positive.