5 Tips for a Successful Teleworking Trial During the Corvid19 Event
Since the Coronavirus first reared its ugly head, I have been recommending telecommuting as a way of reducing the risks of spreading Corvid19 through your workforce. I have been pushing for this for years for many reasons, including reduced business costs, staff satisfaction, reduced commuter traffic congestion and more. I’m pleased to see news media and others now also trumpeting this call.
Working from home isn’t easy and straightforward for everyone and I’d like to share 5 tips, based on personal experience, that might help.
1. Make sure you have a space that is just for work. Minimise distractions and while it may be home, while you are in that home office, it is not your home.
2. Work out a plan if you have a partner and children. If you haven’t worked at home before, agree on some basic rules. For example, a signal, maybe a closed door, that says you are at work. Compensate by making quality time available.
3. Find a way to stay focused and stick to a task. Forest is a cool mobile app that can help. A virtual tree grows as long as you stay focused for a predefined period of time. It withers if you stop the activity you are doing. What’s even cooler, is that the more you use it, the more real trees sponsors pay to have planted.
4. Whether you are the people leader or the staff member, stay in touch with your colleagues. Have virtual meetings, maybe Skype or Zoom as a way of maintaining business relationships. That contact is really important and helps maintain continuity.
5. Make sure you take home everything you will need. Laptop, paperwork, meeting notes. There is nothing worse than getting to your home office and finding you have forgotten something essential.
Evidence suggests that productivity and job satisfaction increase when people are entrusted with telecommuting. There is the potential for the coronavirus to decimate some workplaces, it also means that people can feel safe, working at home.
When people feel a little off colour and start coughing and sneezing, this causes concerns for fellow workers. It also means that people can continue to work, without using up sick leave or annual leave.
If your business has been considering allowing or encouraging staff to telecommute, this is a great opportunity for a trial. It doesn’t commit you to do it long term, although if you do it well, I suspect it will become part of your business model. Don’t treat it lightly though. It isn’t simple to do well. This is why many consultants have been employed in cities like London where traffic congestion is at its worst.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Animal Abuser
🚨 URGENT WARNING TO ALL LOST & FOUND / PET REHOMING PAGES 🚨 and people rehoming pets or reporting lost animals.
It has come to our attention that a long-term, repeat animal abuser is still actively obtaining animals through Facebook groups.
The type of animal does not matter — birds, livestock, dogs, small pets — anything he can access.
He monitors rehoming pages. He approaches people offering “help.” He presents as reasonable. He will say the right things.
Do not give this person any animals under any circumstances.
If you are an admin of a lost & found page, a community group, or a pet rehoming group:
• Please stay vigilant
• Check profiles carefully
• Share this warning across your networks
Animals have already paid the price for people not knowing.
If you are unsure about someone requesting an animal, ask rescue groups to help.
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.5% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.7% Critical thinking
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30.1% Resilience and adaptability
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2.7% Other - I will share below!
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