In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the threat of a second national lockdown looming, more people than ever are now working from home.  This new way of remote work arguably calls for a different mindset and greater levels of support for co-workers, who may be juggling multiple responsibilities and struggling with feelings of isolation and stress. In this post, we look at how to support your colleagues when working remotely.  

  • Try and connect on an informal level

One of the hardest things when it comes to remote working is missing out on office ‘chit-chat.  Informal encounters like stopping by someone’s desk or bumping into someone when you’re in the kitchen making your afternoon coffee are not only beneficial for building relationships, but they also lead to creativity, new ideas, and project collaboration.  To re-create this, try to kick-off meetings discussing topics unrelated to work, having virtual gatherings like happy hour socials, and scheduling learning circles where people can come together, talk informally, and catch up with one another.

  • Be Authentic

Authenticity is perhaps more important than ever as we collectively come to grips with a new reality.  It’s hard to assess what others are thinking and feeling across a Zoom meeting, so it’s helpful if everyone brings a level of authenticity to work interactions.  So next time your child bursts into the room during one of your Zoom calls, don’t worry – it’ll make you seem more ‘real’ to your co-workers.

  • Establish communication guidelines

It’s important that you establish communication guidelines with your colleagues.  Do you want to use text, instant message, or email for queries? And how quickly do you expect others to respond to your messages? When you’re talking to co-workers, you should also think about what type of technology you’re using for each type of communication. Text-based communications like email or chat are good for sharing information, but if you’re problem-solving through collaborative decision-making, you should use video chat or pick up the phone.

For more tips on remote working, take a look at this post.  

 

A few things organizations can do to protect themselves from cyber threats

Whether you’re working alone or seeking the services of IT support in London, you need to increase cyber security at your workplace. You can do this in the following ways:

• Educate employees
With cyber security, it’s important for your employees to actively apply the action plans. However, if they do this, they need to be educated about cyber crime, the attacks they may experience and what they can do to stop this from happening.

• Structure and safe-guard your data
The most-important thing to do is for you to identify what data is important for your organisation. That way you can re-structure data and add additional levels of protection. Backups and recovery plans must be in place to also ensure safety in case of a cyber attack. Therefore, this exercise will help you identify if there is any data theft.

• Draft a response plan
Set up a cyber security team in your organization. Ask them to come up with a flexible plan and apply this to keep your data safe. You can also seek input from your IT support.

• Equip yourself with new-age skills
Finally, upgrade your cyber security skill sets by having someone personally trained. Remember that just as hacking technology becomes more tricky, so does anti-hacking security technology. We would advise you to consult an IT company for the latest technology.

About IT-MSP

IT-MSP was founded in 2017 to provide London’s small & medium businesses with end-to-end IT services, right from purchasing and installing hardware to providing Mac, Windows & Linux support, cloud solutions, and data backup. We support our clients using proven, high-quality systems and security practices that blue-chip companies take for granted.

We consistently achieve excellent client satisfaction thanks to a process-driven approach, concise documentation and our team of friendly and highly trained London based engineers.

Youssef Baiza
Director

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