Goodbye Summer Hello Fall | Transitioning Your Team into a New Season

The first day of spring is March 20th, but depending on where you live it might be here sooner than you think! It’s never too early to start planning something to look forward to, especially in today’s time. Although last spring threw us through a whole whirlwind of changes and emotions, this year we have the opportunity to do it right and safely. Whether your team is remote, in-person, or anything in between there is a plethora of activities and ideas to take advantage of this spring to bring everyone together. Let’s list some ideas and key dates to keep an eye out for.

It’s a new year. And while some of you may have set expectations for the year, there may be some of those that didn’t set goals at all. Instead, you’d like to move through the motions and do as you wish throughout the year. Regardless of the goal-setting strategy of your choice, you most likely have a few dreams you consistently imagine yourself doing as time passes. Goals that may seem too impossible to reach.

While remote work has changed a lot of long-held office etiquette — (t-shirts as work attire, children interrupting meetings) one thing that hasn’t changed is the preparation and focus required for job interviews, even those being held virtually. While some virtual interview advice may be obvious, there are other video interview tips you might not expect in the new world of remote work. 

No matter your company’s size or industry, your employees are one of your greatest assets. And it’s in your best interest to keep them happy—apart from the ease of a positive work culture, strong team dynamics deepen trust, foster communication, and improve collaboration.

Equally important to remote team productivity and team building is appreciating and celebrating your remote team. How do you celebrate success at work?  How do you wish a co-worker a happy birthday? Congratulate them on getting married, or a new addition to the family? Have a night out after work? Working remotely has changed these things and it’s not as easy to celebrate with them, or thank them for their hard work. Thinking outside the box is necessary.

There’s a great deal of focus lately on how to help remote workers maintain productivity. With so many people around the world having abruptly transitioned to work-from-home conditions, this is indeed a pressing concern. However, productivity isn’t the only thing we should be thinking about. Working from home can make for a full-fledged lifestyle change, and can be jarring to employees in a number of ways. Even if they keep working, they might feel somewhat disconnected from their professional lives, and by extension their finances. Given these concerns, we’re going to go over some financial wellness tips that can help remote workers to maintain financial stability and stay on top of this aspect of their lives.

During this uncertain and challenging time, it is more important than ever to understand how your employees are doing. Now, as COVID-19 continues to disrupt businesses across the country, it is an optimal time to send internal surveys to employees. Many employees are working remotely for the first time and this may have impacted their productivity and even mental health.

Rather than expecting office life to “go back to normal” after coronavirus, business and team leaders should be planning for what many are calling the “new normal.” So what does team-building after COVID-19 look like? For starters, it includes safe and sanitary workspaces for employees, potentially more remote hires, and flexible work-from-home policies. 

Given the state of the current environment, businesses everywhere are adjusting to remote work. Whether your organization is a veteran to remote work policies, or entirely new to the concept, successfully maintaining a remote team requires the same general best practices as a traditional one would. Fortunately, this growing trend offers a plethora of benefits for both employees and businesses overall. From greater flexibility to improved productivity, the switch to remote work can be a liberating thing when properly managed. That said, proper management begins with ensuring your remote employees are equipped with all necessary tools to perform their jobs both efficiently and securely. Now more than ever, cybercriminals are targeting remote workers, and in these fast-paced times, it’s important you feel confident in the security of your business and the data behind it. To help make certain of that, we’re sharing a few cybersecurity best practices to reduce the risk of your remote employees falling victim to an attack.

Recognize, motivate and make your employees HAPPY! Happy employees are the most productive. We’ve heard them say this a thousand times already. In any business structure, happiness is fundamental in maintaining a smooth flowing operation. Happiness should be the core of your company culture. Put your employees’ interest first, and you’ll be surprised how they will take care of you and the business.