Work From Home Due to COVID-19 Outbreak? Tips to Be More Productive and Efficient

Some insights on Work From Home for KrishaWeb as a whole

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, working from home is no longer considered as a privilege rather it is mandatory for people. The pandemic has been so massive that every company is forced to operate from home only. Nowadays the “mantra” of staying safe is to stay at your home only.

How COVID-19 Forces IT Companies for “Work From Home”

We have only 2 options to choose from to cope with the pandemic.

1. Work as usual and let the economy flourish. Here you are keeping yourself on risk.
2. Lockdown yourself and save yourself. Here you are affecting your economy.

The intensity of the coronavirus is unbelievable and there is no cure to it yet. The figures of infected cases and the death toll is increasing exponentially across the globe. Here we need a clever decision and Work Form Home is only the solution to it. WFH is helping keep you safe and holding your economy at a certain level too. No doubt we are not sure about the future as of now.

The majority of all companies have decided to give all the employees a chance of working from home. Fortunately, even without any sort of advance plan, there are plenty of things you can do to make working from home as an emergency success. Many of the businesses are struggling to operate but IT is one of the industries where we are picking up the nerve of it.

The world is at stake but you cannot put a stop on your projects or given assignments. When you are working from home, communication becomes very vital. Staying connected and keeping your eyes on the official communication becomes paramount. Be proactive and remain available otherwise your single miscommunication can break the deal between you and your customer. Try to monitor each and every official message of your company regarding emergency plans appropriately.

“Work From Home” Best Practices

We believe that every company must create some of the particular guidelines to ensure all the employees understand what is required from them when they work remotely. There are a few key elements of working remote.

We are trying to touch base some of the most important elements here which include

Use of Technology

Few necessary items that an employee has to have worked from home are computer, facility of managing telephonic conferencing, access to internal networks as well as few small but essential things like headphones with mic, an alternative arrangement of the Internet and of course a good sitting arrangement where they can sit for hours and work efficiently. These tools are quite significant for the habit of working from home.

Secure Connection

Working from home cannot be done without a stable network and which is why the remote workers must have a safe and protected Wi-Fi network and also work along with the trusted and proper virtual private network (VPN). Eventually, the VPN serves as the buffer between the Wi-Fi connection and also your mobile device or the computer. Any kind of transmitted data is then encrypted to protect this from tampering and interception.

Establishing a link between different departments

Everybody from the team needs to stay in touch with one another and for that communication plays a very significant role. Skype, Teams, Slack and some other messaging apps will help you stay connected with the team members. At times, the remote workers can feel isolated from the rest of the team, so this is significant to keep in contact with them via phone, email, messaging, or video conference.

Setting clear expectations in your “Work From Home” policy

Work from home policy has to be clear and straight. Try to create the policy with a few expectations of the program and that includes daily work schedule, company’s project execution policy, description of workspace, instructions for reporting personal injury and also damage to company equipment, and protection of proprietary company information.

Software and Apps that You Need

During the pandemic, as people are lockdown, and completing their jobs from home only, they will need a few apps and software to stay in touch with their companies and organizations. These apps are mainly used in various purposes such as Project Planning, Project Management, Work allocation and meeting or communication as well.

For Company Management

• Hubspot: HubSpot offers a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software – plus the methodology, resources, and support – to help businesses grow better. You can get started with free tools, and upgrade as you grow.
• Xero: This is an Invoicing software which is very useful for any company majorly dealing with multiple countries. It provides the facility to manage bill in multi-currency as well as from one license, you can run multiple companies too. You can reconcile your bank with the software with proper authentication too.
• RelyOn: A software that is majorly used for tax & e-filing, Payroll and Accounting of our Indian operations team. It gives a regular update and it remains all time up to date. Their support and service are up to the mark.

For Work Allocation and Management

• MIS: We have an inhouse software which we use to track our day to day billable and non-billable hours. We have all the projects added to it with limited or more access to different resources. We have Project Managers and Team Leads who are managing it successfully and we can keep a track of each project with the help of it. We use it for our day to day task allocation as well.
• Dropbox: Working on the go can be quite frustrating, especially if you forget to load the right files on your own device or tablet. With Dropbox, you will not have to face this kind of issue, because this specific app permits you to access the stored files from any device with an Internet connection. This app is quite helpful in storing a lot of files. The best part is that you will get the option of sharing the files safely and securely with clients or your coworkers.
• Zoho One: It has also gained massive popularity amongst the users as this is helpful for CRM, Sales, Marketing, Support, HR, Accounting and Operations. Sharing data, spreadsheets, documents and other important things whenever you are working from home with full-fledged Email, Calendar along with the Contacts packed into one single app, Zoho One is considered as one of the best tools to use for remote work.
• Basecamp: This is one of the best software we found to use for customer communication with the team of the project. It gives the facility of Message board, To-Dos, Docs & Files, Campfire (common area for sharing message), Schedule and Automatic check-ins. The tool is really good as the cost of it is very liberal as compared to the facility they are providing. It is one of the best tools when you are dealing with B2C type of clients those who don’t know much about technical stuff.
• Asana: If now you are working solo or collaborating remotely, Asana is mainly known as one of the fully-featured, easy-to-use project management platforms. The best part is that each and every user out there simply keeps the track of tasks and subtasks, assign work to other people on your team, track milestones and also some other project development, and more. Users will get the chance of setting this up to send you some of the reminders and the notifications for only about anything like when the team member actually posts any of the tasks or even any sort of upcoming project is due as well. Asana is quite beneficial to upload any kind of file and then share it as well.
• ProofHub: ProofHub is another popular software for task management besides the ones that we have mentioned. It works great for remote teams because it brings everything together. It offers flexibility to task management with its multiple views that include List view, Kanban board view, Gantt chart view (timeline view), and also Calendar view. You can assign tasks with deadlines, share files, review proof and approve them, communicate with teams and clients. It also gives you a designated space for real-time discussions. So, collaboration does not remain a challenge. And, you don’t have to jump from one tool to another for everything. Moreover, it integrates with the apps that you already use like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive and more.
• To-Dos List Evernote: Apart from the above-mentioned apps and software, Evernote & OneNote have gained massive popularity amongst the users who are working from home in this quarantine days. One of the interesting facts about this app is that you will be able to make some of the to-do lists and jot down any kind of notes as well. Apart from writing the notes down, you will be able to take photos and then make voice recordings as well. This app also helps you to note down everything, which you have scheduled for the future.

For Meeting and Communication

• Skype: Skype is one of the important and useful applications that you require while chatting with your colleagues, boss, clients or any other personnel during office hours. This one provides the capability to make calls, instant chat, video chat, and use SMS messaging and all from the same interface.
• Slack: In these days, slack is considered as one of the very popular and beneficial apps, which helps one to communicate properly. This helps to message, share and edit the files and different documents and it is also used across the devices as well. It is used as a collaborative tool to connect the project-wise team. Like most other collaboration apps, there are paid and free plans available.
• Hangouts: Sharing important messages and images in a quick manner, Hangouts are one of the best options to choose for communication. Basically, one can use this app to communicate easily. Not just from PC, but one can also utilize this app from their mobile as well. It is one of the best tools for a group call.
• Zoom: It offers free video conferencing for up to 100 participants, with a 40-minute time limit. Its paid subscriptions are available to allow more participants, increase the time limit, and obtain more advanced features. In early 2020, usage of Zoom increased sharply as schools and companies adopted the platform for remote work in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, rising 67% from the start of the year to mid-March.

At KrishaWeb –

How We are Managing “Work From Home” and being Safe from COVID-19

The Coronavirus outbreak has put the lives of many of us on a halt. The anxiety and fear of what is to come and can be seen on people’s faces. This is why, we at KrishaWeb, have declared the work from home protocol for our personnel who used to join us from the office every day. Many of us comprehend the fact that going absolutely remote by leaving office due to the COVID-19 fear can hamper productivity. But as they say, work is worship and works cannot put on hold, so our team has decided to give a complete schedule to our personnel so that the synchronization never breaks.

Though almost every one of us is working on different time zones now we are fully WFH and this is why a proper and well-maintained schedule will help them to complete their assignments between a given deadline. The first and foremost things that we have asked our workforce to do are to stay connected in the office hours. Basically, for better productivity, we are utilizing Skype and Slack for chat, Zoom and Google Hangout for 1 to 1 communication. We are also working through some other useful apps and software like Jira, Teamwork, Basecamp, our own custom PMS, Asana, Monday, Trello and many more tools as per our client’s convenience.

At KrishaWeb, we always prefer to talk more rather than chatting. We also utilize G Suite for setting our meetings through our calendars. Basically, Google Suite, Google Sheet, Google docs are quite helpful for sharing the documents.

In the end, what we can actually say is that this is a very seriously difficult time for the human race and this is also a duty of each and every individual to fight Coronavirus away from our lives. The best thing to do in this situation is to stay healthy and stay safe and obviously stay at home. So, you will have to nurture yourself, and then you will have to keep healthy through nutritious diet and exercise, practice good hygiene and sanitation, prevent spreading of germs, and definitely seek medical attention immediately if you suspect you or a loved one has fallen ill.

How KrishaWeb Employees Feel About WFH due to Coronavirus:

Neeta – Digital Marketing Manager: “WFH is a need for the current situation due to COVID-19. Today is the 9th day of Lockdown here. As an IT company, we have the advantage to manage WFH easily.”I experienced both the positive and negative sides of “WFH”. It saves time to reach office, give the flexibility for breaks, even working hours when I can work most efficiently. So, I prefer to start work a little early in the morning. I love chatting with my kid and could justify her. On the other hand, it increases calls and chats while managing the tasks and team. Also, it becomes difficult to cope up with some household tasks during working hours especially for a female worker.”

Kenar – SEO Lead: I found it’s difficult to manage personal and professional life by sitting in one place and sometimes feeling more tired. But anyhow trying to balance. You need to find out and decide the best times, when you can do your office work and when you can do your personal work. I felt that the morning time is best for me to do my office work. So, I start my day early than the usual time and try to finish as many of my tasks in the first half of the day. One thing that I observed that people are being timely in the calls.”

Pratik – WordPress Team Lead: “It saves time of the transportation but increases the call with the team to guide them about the task or in any difficulty. It gives flexibility in work timings.”

Nisarg – Design Team Lead: WFH gives the flexibility to take a break at any time. It gives you a custom environment like I prefer to work in silence so I can set the noise level as I want. I can easily make calls with client eve I can set the room temperature that I suit. I don’t have to travel long to reach the office and then have to set myself in the mood to work. I love to see my daughter daily sitting next to me and studding and chattering around the whole day with me. It’s hard to monitor the work of juniors or subordinated while working from home. So won’t be able to keep them on track if they divert from their task. You just have believed that they are doing a proper job. In my opinion, If you are not a self-motivated person then WFM is not your job.

Nirav – Custom Framework Development Team Lead: Till now my experience of working from home is good. It gives freedom to doing tasks without any interruptions. Sometimes communication becomes really frustrating. Maintaining positive relationships with co-workers and leads become difficult when you can’t see them. I personally feel that WFH makes you more responsible and accountable.

Gunjan – Project Manager: It has been a great experience rather than the first experience in my career to work from home. If I say the positive side that WFH facilitates me freedom in my work. I need to communicate with the team and give updated regularly so this improves my communication skills and I get the things done on time as other team members are also can stretch from home.

I can be more in touch with clients and connect with them late at later hours which is more convenient for them. Also, it has some negative side like sometimes, I don’t get prompt replies from the team and have to wait when discussing with clients. Internet issues are also a pain.

Milan – Sales Lead: I think WFH is a good thing as I always get full time to concentrate on my jobs. This saves all your energy which you are investing in travelling to reach the office. I can concentrate more on my tasks and get them done without any distraction of chat/talk like we have in the office.

Ashmi – Project Co-ordinator: Truly, it’s a different experience to have work from home. I am a Project Coordinator and I believed it would be easy to connect with a team like with the client but I was wrong.

In the beginning, we faced some trouble in communication but gradually all set. I found them to be routine with this. They found more time for their work and delicately they are committed to complete the given set of tasks. They get more time for their work and delicately they are committed to complete the given set of tasks.

I am taking this as a positive experience for me and my team because they learn many things during this phase and understand how to cope up with the situation in limited resources.

A glimpse of “KrishaWeb Team Working From Home”

“Stay at Home, Stay Safe”