How to Make it Work Virtually — Remote Working for the Future

Everything changed in our world after the pandemic, including the way we live, travel, recreate, and work. People who worked their entire careers from an office building were suddenly thrust into remote working arrangements in home offices, dining rooms, and dens — often with spouses and children also trying to use the same space for learning and working.  

And for those already working from home or telecommuting, there was still a transition as coworkers scrambled to adapt and companies struggled with technology and security. Now two years into our new normal, we’ve learned a few things about how to make it work remotely.

Read on to learn more about our top tips for working remotely and in disparate locations.

How to Make it Work Remotely

While the pandemic lockdowns left no choice but to work from our homes, many companies were already on that trajectory even before March 2020. Snapsheet was already operating under flexible work arrangements with team members spread globally. As a technology company, we had an advantage since we were already using best-in-class technology to stay connected to each other and our customers.

Andy Cohen, President and Chief Operating Officer at Snapsheet, spoke onstage about this topic at the Auto Insurance Report (AIR) conference on April 25 in Dana Point, California. ]

Check out our top tips for making work happen virtually:

Check in often with your people. Talk often with your employees, more than you did in the office and perhaps more than you think you need to. And try to communicate in the way your employee prefers, whether email, text, or a call. Having those frequent check-ins to talk about how remote work is going, what’s new, what’s concerning, or just last night’s hockey game keeps you connected while working in disparate locations.

As an employer, you can structure frequent team calls or group Skype sessions to keep the conversation open. You could use your usual forms of communication, say a company-wide newsletter, to help you reach employees in different ways. Consider setting up affinity groups if you haven’t already — this lets employees connect informally with each other while working remotely.

Invest in technology. If you didn’t have great technology before the pandemic, you probably do now. Investing in efficient, fast, intuitive technology to help your employees be successful wherever they are located is a best practice. Employees have choices about where they work, especially now more than ever when the talent gap is affecting many industries. Having the best technology to make life easier for employees is a selling point for companies who have to compete on more than just salary now.

Snapsheet has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. As the pioneer of virtual appraisals, we’ve built our business on effectively partnering across space with our employees and vendors. With our extensive cloud-native systems, we were ready for the migration to remote work.

Support work-life integration. Work-life balance is a great concept, but it doesn’t always happen in reality. Work-life integration is often a more attainable goal. When people had to stay home from work and school, we all had to find ways to make it work. Sometimes this meant balancing a toddler on your hip while taking a call or managing a barking dog on Zoom. Life got in the way, became messy, and integrated with work. And now that many people are working from home permanently for some part of their time, work and life are integrated even more closely.

Employers can help by supporting this integration. Create a culture where employees feel safe to step away during a meeting to let the dog out or to start their day later after getting their kids set up for online learning. Listen when employees need to adapt and adjust — and find ways to go with the flow. We learned during the pandemic that we can still get work done and business goes on, even when life outside our homes stopped.

What’s Next

To learn more about making work happen remotely or to hear more from Andy, connect with us at Snapsheet.

External Links:

1. https://riskinformation.com/auto-conference
2. https://www.uschamber.com/co/grow/thrive/work-life-integration-vs-work-life-balance