Remote Workforce Checklist COVID-19

Best Practices for Enabling Your Remote Workforce.
When unprecedented emergencies such as COVID- 19 arise, it may become necessary for organizations to transition to a remote workforce. This transition can o­ften be complex for those who don’t have the proper infrastructure in place. We’re here to help take the anxiety out of enabling your remote workforce. While every business is different, the following checklist should help set you on the right track.

SECURITY:
As teams across the country start working from home, it’s extremely important to keep security at the top of mind. Even in times of crisis, bad actors continue their assault on our data, we’ve even seen an increase of cybercrime on our government during this time. Here’s where you can take action today:

• Mandate that your employees use multi factor authentication for their work devices
• Ensure all employees are using work approved devices with the latest anti-virus soft­ware
• Outline clear device backup processes for your employees, it is in fact the last line of cyber security defense Remote

ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL DATA:
File sync and share solutions are not new, but in times like these they are essential to having a highly productive remote workforce. When it comes to these solutions, make sure they allot for the following:

• All files are kept in one place that is regularly backed up.
• No VPN necessary to facilitate anywhere, anytime access
• Role-based access and secure share links Real-time collaborative editing with collision prevention defense

REAL-TIME COLLABORATION
To keep things business-as-usual, teams need to stay in constant communication. Verify that you are acting on the following:

• Standardize on a videoconferencing platform and a backup such as Zoom, RingCentral, or Google Hangouts
• Increase usage of messaging tools like Slack or Teams
• Schedule daily activities for your organization or team such as a daily stand up or weekly company all-hands
• Institute self-reporting by employees to report on time and project management and any blockers they may be facing

HOME OFFICE INFRASTRUCTURE:
The following will help ensure that in addition to appropriate devices, your team is ready to operate with no interruptions:

• Before important calls and video conferences begin, have employees test network connection and audio quality to iron out any issues in advance
• Ensure that your employees can reach cloud-based applications and services directly without having to utilize the company’s network
• Confirm backups of your services so staff can operate regardless of downed services
• Ensure access to remote file server and sync & share solution across laptops, phones and tablets

CULTURE, CULTURE, CULTURE!
It’s vital not to neglect what makes your organization special – its culture! Consider the following to keep things fun:

• Contests – who has the best work from home look?
• Trivia or fun polling to learn more about your coworkers
• Encourage employees to build in 15 minutes with each other on a rotating basis to “chat” with no work agenda Walking meetings – encourage employees to take calls while walking outside or doing other socially / publicly acceptable activities