Every day, more companies are encouraging employees to work from home. The fact is, only 3.4% of workers typically worked from home at least half the time, according to Global Workplace Analytics. In the current scenario, in which thousands of professionals have had to adapt and connect to corporate networks remotely, are they prepared to perform their tasks safely?
According to IBM X-Force, when employees work outside their offices, away from IT staff, and in an environment with advanced security precautions, they can be vulnerable to attackers. To help these professionals globally prepare, IBM X-Force offers more tips to ensure a secure remote work environment:
- Only use the tools provided by your organization to work remotely, avoiding putting your company at risk. If you are unsure what to use, consult your IT department for resources and information.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible. This adds an extra security checkpoint, such as confirming login with a password or your biometrics, plus a second checkpoint which can be a cell phone or confirmation via email.
- Ensure all devices are patched and up-to-date with backup systems to eliminate vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.
- Be wary of suspicious emails. Look at the address and analyze: is it spelled correctly? Do you know the person who sent the email? If not, don't open the attachments or links, no matter how attractive the message may seem.
- If it's been a while since you've found updates available and/or you've had your router for a few years, maybe it's time to get a new one.
- Stay connected to your company's VPN when outside the company network.
- Avoid using your corporate email address to register for services and websites for personal use.
- Know your company's incident response plan and how to contact your IT department if you have a problem remotely.
- Enjoy the benefits of the cloud when working remotely. Do not download corporate files to personal devices without proper authorization and management tools.
- If you are using your personal devices for work, make sure you use your company's designated mobile device management solution to ensure you are safe and following appropriate device policies.
HOME OFFICE BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
1 – Increased team productivity
According to surveys, the home office can increase the performance of professionals by 13%. Several factors contribute to this improvement. One is that there are fewer distractions and interruptions from colleagues and phone calls because you work from home. Therefore, the ability to concentrate is high, making the delivery of activities more effective.
Another reason is related to comfort. Determining a specific space to work at home creates a pleasant and quiet environment for professionals to carry out their tasks. In addition, it is possible to choose the most suitable furniture to ensure ergonomics.
The employee also feels more confident, as the home office is still a kind of reward and demonstration that the company trusts him to work at a distance. Therefore, he feels stimulated to produce more and better.
In this way, companies that are afraid to adopt the home office and see their productivity decline can rest assured; the opposite tends to occur when adopting the correct measures. In fact, several tools already allow the manager to assess the performance of employees in the home office.
One of them is the Ahgora Timesheet, in which the professional writes down the activities X hours worked. With this, you can perfectly visualize your productivity by analyzing the time invested in each task.
2 – Decrease in the occurrence of delays
Several factors can lead employees to be late for work in everyday life, from traffic to unforeseen alarm clocks. Not only does this hinder project delivery, but it can also delay the start of important meetings and events.
With the home office, this problem no longer exists. After all, without having to travel, the employee is already in his office. He just needs to be committed to starting his activities at the agreed time – flexibility is an advantage, but it can be a big villain when working from home.
3 – Greater organizational flexibility
One of the benefits of the home office is that it allows for flexible hours. In this work model, it is common for employees to work for deliveries and not be charged by time. It is possible to determine how many hours the employee must work per day without this involving a fixed workday.
For companies, this is important because it allows the professional to act in the part of the day when he earns more. For example, if it is in the afternoon and evening, there is the freedom to choose this time and, thus, deliver your tasks properly.
With this, the employee also feels more satisfied. After all, you can solve other issues, like going to the bank and seeing a doctor, without missing or being late for work.
You must be logged in to post a comment.