How To Prepare For Work Outside The Office Environment? This Is A Question That Many Business Managers And Their Employees Ask Today. 

There are different answers, but without a doubt, a company’s successful experiences are the best answer to this question.

Buffer is a leading company in the field of Internet businesses that helps its customers to grow their businesses online with the products it provides.

Buffer has eighty-five employees working for the company in 15 different countries worldwide. Remote working has become a norm in this company for years. They have been hiring their colleagues remotely since 2011, and in 2015 they gave up their office. Over the years, Buffer employees have learned much about productivity, tools, collaboration, communication, and disconnection for working remotely.

In the following, you will read a complete list of resources and experiences that this company has achieved for remote work by the public relations manager of Buffer, Hailey Griffis.

Communication and cooperation 

Communication and collaboration is a complex issue, especially for people who work remotely. Buffer’s recent three-year reports on the challenges of remote work stated that this issue was among the three main problems of employees who worked remotely for this company.

In the following, we will learn the company’s most effective methods to communicate and cooperate among its employees and gain good experiences in this field. In the next, we will ask Hayley Griffis to speak.

Asynchronous communication

Whenever possible, we try to communicate with each other asynchronously. More precisely, we do not all do the same thing simultaneously. We’ve successfully tested asynchronous meetings and held live conferences with many of our teammates on Zoom. Still, we always use the asynchronous communication option whenever the situation calls for it.

Create a collective regulatory agreement.

Like many remote teams, we primarily get together on Slack. We have concluded that it is beneficial for everyone to communicate on the same page. For this reason, we set up a 10-point agreement for the terms of using Slack and specified how we should use this environment to share and hold business meetings.

Pure thoughts 

At Buffer, we receive constructive ideas and suggestions from members and share them with other group members in hour-long meetings at least twice a week. Holding these types of virtual think tanks provides us with many original ideas.

Tools and products 

Employees of any business cannot work with each other without using remote communication tools and products. Buffer company also operates 12 tools for remote working of its group, which are as follows:

1. Zoom for video chat: This platform offers the possibility of audio and video chat and video conferences, but there is no news of exorbitant fees for international phone connections.

2. Notion, a comprehensive guide to teamwork: Notion is one of the most professional project management software. Although this software can do projects, it is designed for large projects. Everything is handled orderly by writing all the group members’ tasks in a single place.

3. Discussion and decision-making threads: This product allows you to continue discussions remotely and on any platform. Cables enable group members to discuss topics easily, share resources, and make decisions regardless of location.

4. Zenefits Human Resources Dashboard: Software systems are an excellent option for collecting information about employee skills (in the hiring process) and for workforce development and replacement programs. HR systems like Zenefits are designed to document new employee onboarding and record hiring process data.

5. Okta and Password Security and password management: Okta is a comprehensive access management platform for the workforce that protects critical resources. Password is also used to store and manage passwords.

6. Timetastic Track time off: Keeping track of who is absent and how well each team member has completed their tasks is essential, primarily if members work remotely and you cannot be in person. Monitor their progress.

7. Culture Amp review and review job conversations: You can use this tool to conduct surveys and participation of members and regular reviews of employee performance in monthly or quarterly periods.

8. Slack, messenger: Slack is a remote messaging work tool. This software allows communication between teammates. Teams can use Slack channels for instant messaging and collaboration when remote or telecommuting.

9. Freshbooks checking expenses and expenses: This software is used for accounting and issuing invoices online, and it helps to track and prevent costs and fees, income, and things like that.

10. Dropbox Real-time Collaboration: Sharing large files via email doesn’t work well; Dropbox provides a secure virtual place to store and archive files and documents so team members can access this content.

11. Trello tasks, transparency, and other things: Trello is one of the excellent and practical tools for project management. With its simple functionality, this software can be used in all organizations and for remote work. The essential services of this software are free and very useful.

12. Calendly meeting planning: This tool is used to meet several people simultaneously.

Work at home despite the presence of children. 

It is a fact that not everyone can afford to do work at home, even with the presence of young children. However, by observing some principles and changing the work style, it is possible to deal with professional and personal duties equally.

Parents who work at Buffer offer the following tips for doing things successfully:

1.  Set a schedule for yourself. Try to arrange the time for professional tasks so the children need you the least. Talk to your partner and clarify when you can or cannot help. Dividing tasks between spouses can bring order to their plans.
2.  Hire a part-time nurse. Take the pressure off your shoulders by hiring a part-time babysitter during peak hours (for example, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.). Try to visit the children whenever you can during these hours and be with them.
3.  If possible, place your desk near your children’s play area. By doing this, you take care of your duties and take care of them simultaneously.
4.  Consider some time for conversation, play, and learning between working hours. Don’t forget to put your phone away when you spend time with your family.

Finally, don’t forget that it’s true that your work is done at home, but your family needs you too. With detailed time planning, you will enjoy both your work and being with your family.

Correct use of the calendar 

Calendars are one of the fixed devices on people’s desks. The calendar can be used as an essential tool to check member availability. For workgroups whose members live in different cities or countries, you can’t go to each one and see if they are available. At Buffer, we use calendars to schedule work together, and we can check who is known to do a specific task on a particular day.

Mental health 

While telecommuting can have many benefits, and Buffer members appreciate it, that doesn’t mean it’s flawless. Remote work can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from work. Giving up devices is a challenge that most people face.

Research by the American magazine shows that most people check their phones 80 times a day. For people who work remotely, this problem becomes more acute if they cannot differentiate between work and home.

How should we stay away from the computer and mobile devices during breaks when one of the rooms in the house has been turned into an office? First of all, manage notifications.

One of the main things that make you go to your phone or tablet is getting notifications, so turn them off on your phone. Then hide your work email accounts on your phone to make them hard to access.

If you intend to get away from your devices, you must get them away physically. Please put it on flight mode at night while charging. Try to use a separate device for personal work, and never work in bed. Your brain must know that your bed is your place to rest and your laptop is your workplace.