[Infographic] Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Communication Strategy for Remote Teams

If you’ve been working from home, you might feel like all of the days are running together, and you don’t have a good handle on time anymore.

Here’s a question for you: When’s the last time you took time off work?Taking a break to unplug and recharge can give us the strength and resilience we need to manage all that we have.Taking time off to focus on something more creative or physical, for example, can give you a sense of work-life balance.It’s not enough to just take time off, you want to make sure your time off is truly refreshing.

Try these tips to help you get as much as you can out of your vacation—even if you’re not going anywhere.- Make sure you take the amount of time you need.

If you don’t feel like you fully wind down from your job on the weekends, then taking two or three days off might not be long enough to rejuvenate you.- Before your vacation, look at the work that’ll need to be done while you’re gone.

Can any of it be done ahead of time?

If so, do it—but slowly so as not to overwhelm yourself.- Set an out-of-office message for your email so people know they shouldn’t expect to hear from you.

The article instead talks about Slack Alternatives —which might have you wondering why bother looking at the alternate options when Slack is so great?Well, the reasons could be plenty.

It could also be that there are few Slack Competitors are likely to suit the budget of your team affordably.Whatever the reason be, there are two things we are very sure of —First, this article has a compilation of best of the collaboration tools of 2019, and Second, you must not miss out on the outstanding features these tools can provide for your workplace organization.

As a Slack biggest competitor, it provides organizations and businesses with features like instant messaging, video call, file sharing in an exclusive and secure environment.

Much like Slack, the tool connects the users within their organization irrespective of their time zone, location, and makes for a robust online-based workforce.

The premium version is as low as $1 monthly, per user.

Not only does it facilitate effective communication, but it also allows the users to customize the workspace and collaborate on built-in Office 365 applications.

It wasn’t until the pandemic that it went from optional to a necessity, and it’s sped up digital transformations in a drastic way.Rapidly employers had to consider evolution as far as their IT infrastructure, how employees could access the resources they needed to do their jobs, even when working from unsecured Wi-Fi networks, and how to create policies conducive to this new way of doing business.Employers and IT teams have lost much of their centralized visibility to see what’s happening on their network.

Employees are laxer about cybersecurity when they’re working from home.There’s also often a lack of clarity on remote work because there aren’t well-defined policies in place.With all of this in mind, the following is a guide to what businesses should know about transitioning to a more permanent version of remote work, or at least a hybrid environment.An Overview of Remote WorkNow that we’re significantly into the pandemic, both limitations and benefits of employees working remotely has become much clearer.

That could mean, if practice followed the estimation, that three to four times as many people would be working from home than they were before the pandemic.As was touched on above, there are challenges, including not just the technical considerations but also how to coach employees, ensure there’s recognition and maintain a cultural connection to the company.Specific business considerations stemming from remote work include:Fraud—there’s the potential for fraud to become a more significant risk when employees work from home.

You want to make sure that leadership is regularly communicating with them, sharing goals, and reinforcing your corporate vision.

Employees may not know how to work securely when they’re remote, or they may be less vigilant when they’re not in the office environment.

It’s also hard for employees to discern what’s a phishing scam because they’re highly sophisticated in many cases.Passwords: Even when you’re utilizing VPNs, firewalls, and more traditional means of securing your network, if employees have weak passwords or reuse them, you’re at risk.

The fear of COVID-19 and attempts to try and slow down its spread across the globe has led to a situation where a lot of businesses shut down their operations and attempt with the telecommute working model.

Of course, there are a lot of businesses that had practised this model for years (and with a great success rate), nonetheless, for a lot of employees, entrepreneurs and organizations this is a brand new concept.

So, the big question is – after their employees can return to the office, is there really a need for such a thing?

A smaller on-spot staff means that you can get by with a smaller office, that you have to pay fewer commute benefits and avoid a lot of unnecessary expenses.

In other words, the existing structure of business work may forever change.Online businesses are boomingWhile it may seem like the industry is in shambles (or will be very soon), the truth is that online streaming services, apps and e-commerce are probably doing better than ever before.

Keep in mind, nonetheless, that while these businesses exist online, they are usually focused on the local market in order to offer quick deliveries.

In fact, in 2021, many individuals started their own remote businesses trying to take advantage of the work-from-home atmosphere and availability of remote working tools and technology.

With the right tools and team and clear goals, your business can take flight even with employees distributed across various regions.

Start by creating a website and creating a Google My Business account.

Then, create accounts on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and so on, and link them to your website.

Next, consider social and paid ads to get the word around.

Some other ways to increase your digital presence include:Writing valuable and informative content on your website and sharing it on social platforms.Sending out emails to people who sign up for your newsletter and your services.Participating in marketplaces, seminars, webinars, and industry conferences.However, merely having an online presence is not enough.