Five Important Questions to Ask About How Your Employees Work at Home

Letting employees work from home can work for your business. With the right support, employees can be more productive, and they’re likely to be happier too.

The trouble is, working from home can also be a challenge. It can be a challenge for your business to operate safely and securely, but employees who aren’t used to working from home yet may also find themselves struggling.

Whether you are getting ready to allow employees a remote working option or they have already been working from home, there are a couple of questions that you should ask yourself to make it better for everyone.

What IP Address is Everyone Using?

Do you know the IP address of all of your employees? Not only do you need to know the answer to this question, you have to know what to do with the information when you find it.

IP addresses are what allow us to access the internet, which means they can also be the reason why a hacker gains access to your system. That’s why it’s so important to keep track of everyone’s IP addresses and manage them within an IPAM for network users.

IPAM, or IP Address Management, provides you with a repository where you can manage networks, subnets, and both private and public IP addresses. That way you can keep accurate records of devices being used and available addresses that can be assigned to new devices or new employees.

Are Their Passwords Secure?

People still don’t take passwords seriously. Even if you can convince your workforce to choose complex passwords, that doesn’t mean they do a good job of keeping them secure.

Not only should you ask your employees about the complexity of their passwords, you should also ask how they are keeping track of those passwords. If you get the sense that it’s causing problems for your employees, purchase a password manager for everyone to use. You can even encourage employees to use their browser, as long as their IP address and internet connection are secure.

Another surprising way to keep your passwords secure is to write them down! A simple notebook can help your employees keep track of passwords, as long as they keep it in a safe place inside their home.

Do Employees Understand the Importance of Encrypting Data?

Do your employees know what it means to encrypt data? Only once they understand what it means will they understand how important it is. Make sure you talk about what it means to encrypt data and talk about how it makes it more difficult for hackers to gain access to important information.

Use encryption software and all information that employees transmit will automatically be encrypted. However, you should also show them how to encrypt Microsoft Office files. That way, if they’re sending information on their own, they know how to encrypt it too. 

How Do They Prefer to Communicate?

Communication is extremely important when you have a remote workforce. You can’t just walk up to another cubicle, after all! Fortunately, there are a million ways for employees to talk to each other and you, but therein lies the problem. You don’t want to be fielding messages from multiple platforms all day long!

Find out how your employees like to communicate. Then, choose from some of the best collaboration software options that include:

• Todoist
• Asana
• LiquidPlanner
• Miro
• Slack
• Teamwork

Once you have made a choice, stick with it so everyone is using the same platform. It may also be worth your time to talk about the role of email within your team.

What is Their Daily Routine?

Knowing more about your employees’ daily routine can help you help them work from home effectively.

For example, you might want to ask them when they plan to be on their computer during the day. Even if everyone can work flexible hours, it can still be helpful to know when you can get a hold of everyone by knowing loose schedules.

Do they have a designated workspace, are they able to concentrate, and are they able to take breaks? These are all things that are worth knowing so you can help your employees make the most of their time working from home.

There are many ways a remote workforce can benefit your business, but only if you put in the work to make sure everyone can work from home safely and securely. When you ask these questions, you can cover all your bases so you and your employees can be successful when working from home.

Photo credits: eOffice