Laure Fisher August 17, 2021 Many of us are coming up on our one-year anniversary of remote work, and to say the ‘remote work slump’ is real would be an understatement. But there are ways to bring productivity back into your workplace – regardless of the locations of your employees.
Whether you are encouraging your virtual sales reps to ramp up their efforts or heading up a busy call center, there are productivity tips and tools available in every area of your business – from recruiting, customer support and sales all the way to project management. Taking advantage of these tools can improve overall business performance and banish the dreaded remote work slump.
As business leaders, productivity tools are no place to cut corners. Productivity can increase engagement, customer service and satisfaction, employee morale, workplace culture and even revenue growth. So as we round our first remote work anniversary, here are a few productivity tips and tools to reinvigorate your workplace:
Understand the Difference Between Productivity and Overworking
To ensure productivity, it is crucial for business leaders to understand the stark differences between productivity and overworking. Overworked employees evolve into ‘burnt out’ employees: lacking motivation, drive and a connection to their goals and the workplace. According to a recent survey, employee burnout has impacted 75% of workers and 40% of those polled said it was a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic has undoubtedly caused stress and challenges in all of our lives – from business owners to employees. Many remote employees are trying to juggle working from home on top of childcare, family needs and many other tasks causing strain on their ability to perform at the highest level. As business leaders, we need to extend flexibility, understanding and support to our remote employees whose current list of responsibilities can make it hard to accomplish a steady eight hours of work per day.
Incorporate no-meeting days or flexible working hours to relieve the pressure on your remote employees and allow them the ability to complete tasks and work on a schedule that can be adapted into their additional responsibilities.
Take Advantage of Task Management Platforms
Without team members working from one centralized location, communication and task management can be challenging. In order to ensure responsibilities are clearly defined, and that they aren’t lost in the shuffle, try out work management platforms such as Monday.com or Asana.
These platforms can support increased productivity by allowing team members to easily view and organize their tasks, create deadlines, share updates, assign ownership and collaborate all in one single portal. By using work management solutions, employees are held accountable for their tasks and have clear transparency into what they are responsible for completing on any given day, allowing for task prioritization.
Leverage Omnichannel Communication Technology
For customer support representatives and call center agents, a major challenge is providing streamlined and satisfactory support. While juggling a rising number of support inquiries, studies also show that 59% of consumers will care even more about customer experience than they did pre-COVID-19. What does that mean? Call centers and customer support teams need increased productivity more than ever.
To increase productivity, streamline workflow and provide exceptional customer support, call centers need to look into omnichannel communication technology. This technology connects customer information, history and data and provides call center agents the information required to provide quicker support at a more personalized level. With omnichannel communication technology, your employees can focus on providing exceptional support and productivity while relying on technology and automation to handle the rest!
A business can’t succeed without productive employees. While team members typically gain motivation and focus from being in a workplace full of like-minded employees, that doesn’t mean our productivity has to suffer in a remote work environment. As business leaders, we need to take advantage of technology to ensure success and productivity amidst our evolving landscape. Increased productivity holds the key to increased revenue, employee satisfaction, customer support, among many more benefits. Don’t let the ‘remote work slump’ plague your workplace and your employees; give them the productivity tools to reinvigorate their motivation and watch your workplace flourish in the years to come.
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