HOW THE BIG SMOKE CONSULTANCY WILL HELP YOUR REMOTE TEAM WORK EFFICIENTLY

In a bid to flatten COVID-19 curve, all businesses have enforced a work-from-home policy. Although many companies have been implementing this kind of strategy for some time now, management worries that employees may experience lack of efficiency if far from supervisors’ watchful eyes for too long. 

Although the fast changing of circumstances didn’t leave us with much time to prepare and train our teams effectively on how to work remotely, there are specific steps that managers can take to improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees - and The Big Smoke Consultancy is here to help your team get through this uncertain period stronger!

Above all is important to understand difficulties your newly remote team may encounter, and only then we can tackle them efficiently and enhance employees’ productivity.

As there is no longer that face-to-face contact you may worry that employees won’t work as hard as they would in an office environment but, on the other hand, employees may feel that remote managers are out of touch with their needs, making it difficult for them to perform at their best. Another issue that might come into surface when we can no longer bounce back a question to our desk neighbour, is the added time and effort required to find information from colleagues. 

In order to deal effectively with the above issues is vital to implement an open communication strategy through daily check-ins and install easily accessible platforms where one can storage important information and documents. Jamie, The Big Smoke MD, has worked remotely with teams of various sizes for the best part of a decade and in that time has tested almost every tool imaginable for improving communication and efficiency in remote teams. He’s a big proponent of recreating the collaborative environment of physical office-space whilst combatting notification overload - which is why he’d be your best call!

If working from home a couple of days a week has been shown to enhance the employees well-being and productivity, if stretched over a longer period of time, isolation can negatively impact any employees’ mental health. They lack that informal social interaction they would otherwise get in an office environment and this can lead them to a sense of loneliness and feel less belonging to their company. In this scenario is imperative to set up strategies to keep your newly remote team engaged and motivated through fun team building activities - boost their morales and and enhance their their productivity. 

Fran, founder of The Big Smoke, is an advocate for the fact that if teams have fun together with a shared social experience, they will work better together - and can help you set up weekly activities for your team. She is the queen of organised fun, and has a strong history of it. Bringing energy, teamwork, and a feeling of belonging to thousands of employees, she believes charisma, organisation, and energy are the key components to any successful event.

As we no longer clock in and out of an office and our experience of the outside world is limited to once a day, employees’ can experience feelings of being overwhelmed and stuck - often disregarding their physical wellbeing to finish work although it’s well passed their working hours. As gyms, parks and studios are now closed and we can’t pull instructors out of our pockets to shout and motivate us for an hour of intense fitness, everyone has to find motivation within themselves to keep active.

Healthy mind in healthy body - the Latin recognised the value that lies in mental and physical health and how they go hand in hand. Giulia, our Content Queen, is a firm believer in the importance of moving your body positively every day as it boosts mood and enhances creativity and productivity. She is a qualified boxing instructor who’s been practicing kickboxing at a competitive level for 3 years. As she can’t always punch and kick pads, she experiments implements new fun practices in her daily routine to keep her focused and balanced - ready to tackle the rest of the day!

Get in touch, and let us help your team through this trick time! For more info on our consultancy offering click here!