Tekmos Remote Work Best Practices

Do people love remote work? For most, including at Tekmos, they do, and it’s mainly the flexibility. Travel and commute are reduced including the cost of both. There is a reduction of distractions. The ability to travel and live anywhere, including outside of major cities offers workers the ability to be closer to family. A big plus is often an increase in productivity.

At Tekmos we use Microsoft Teams to share, communicate by division and as a company. While we use our company email to share across our divisions, and telephone calls, Microsoft Teams allows us to see, hear, share, and speak to one another as a group or one on one using cameras, microphones and headsets. Tekmos' communication skills have improved greatly which has increased cohesiveness among team members.

US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 4.7 million people, which make about 3.4% of the US workforce, were already working remotely before the novel coronavirus took the world by storm. Regular work-at-home has grown 173% since 2005, 11% faster than the rest of the workforce (which grew 15%) and nearly 47x faster than the self-employed population (which grew by 4%) (Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2018 ACS data).

What is the most important issue for remote working? Communication tops the list, with 27% of people mentioning it as their #1 challenge. Remote work makes it harder to read body language, hear what people are saying, ask follow up questions in the hallway, or quickly ask a coworker for clarification at their desk. Lacking social interaction and isolation are close behind. Again, Microsoft Teams offers the ability to see, hear and interact with coworkers.

Best Practices to thrive as a remote worker

Practice good meeting etiquette. Using cameras at all desks gives opportunities to keep people engaged in the conversation as we all know we tend to “check out” and find other things to engage in. Working on other things during a meeting can be distracting to others and shows a lack of interest in the task at hand.

What makes you most productive? Some people work deep in the mornings and light work later in the day. Taking breaks are important to splitting up the day. It’s easy to reach burn out if you do not break up the day.

Prioritize documentation and clear communication. Some of us work in different time zones than other co-workers. The use of Microsoft Teams gives co workers chat, file share and video conferencing immediately…like walking into an office for a quick question or approval.

Create boundaries between work and life. Those who have already worked remote before Covid know how important it is to “unplug” from the day. A good plan is to have a work space that is designated for just that so you can walk away and close the door.

Keep yourself visible at work. Communicating daily with co-workers keeps remote workers visible to one another. Responding to questions or concerns from a co-worker promptly helps keep that cohesion for success on projects.

Connect often with teammates. In the new year Tekmos plans to have weekly lunch meetings with team members at a local restaurant. Currently we have Monday morning team meets to start out the week, manufacturing meetings on Wednesdays to discuss production, and plans to have at least a week wrap up.

Build in accountability. Create blocks on calendars for work and breaks. Make a task list and check off as you go. Share your schedule and updates so that co-workers know what you are doing.