DETROIT – Remote working, for many businesses across America, has become the go-to form of working. It offers flexibility, comfort, and, in many cases, more enthusiastic employees. On top of that, it can even save the business some money. However, like everything, there are going to be some downsides, and that means that businesses are going to need to make some key investments to help their employees work to the very best of their abilities.

Here are some of the steps that businesses should be taking to make remote working a lot more comfortable for their employees so that it can benefit the business in more ways than one.

1. Use an employee intranet

An employee intranet can help with the smoothness of remote working. It can help businesses increase employee engagement, as it makes it easier for employees to work more efficiently because it can give them the same tools on their device as they would have readily available to them in the office. This is just one of the many advantages that businesses can find in a specialized employee intranet.

It can also help employees feel as though they are part of an organization, which can be difficult for some who are in a different state or country. Finding a sense of placement when working remotely for many employees can be a struggle, and this can cause their enthusiasm to go down, which can trample on any morale that they might have.

2. Allow flexible working

This is important for helping employees fit their work around their personal schedules, and can also provide opportunities to work with different people from one day to the next, which can help expand communication and friendships. This is essential for helping to combat any isolation that people may be feeling due to working at home.

Flexible working can also help attract different kinds of employees as they will be able to work at the times of day that suit them best. For example, some would rather work in the afternoons and evenings; others would prefer to start work in the morning and finish earlier on in the day to pick their kids up from school. This can also help businesses to give employees a more personal experience of working.

3. Train the managers

Businesses need to train their managers to work just as well remotely as they do in the office. This is extremely important, as working remotely (especially at the beginning of the pandemic when all of this was suddenly introduced) put so much stress on managers, as bosses expected them to know exactly what they were doing straight away, and employees had nowhere else to lay their concerns. Therefore, equipping the managers to be able to deal with remote working issues will not only boost comfort in the employees individually, but it can also raise morale across the whole team, which can be highly desirable for any business—remotely working or not.

4. Show employees how to set up appropriate workspaces

This is a big one. When working from home, it can be difficult to create a space that is perfect for the exact needs of the employee. Finding the perfect balance between practical, comfortable, and private can be difficult for some. It needs to be practical enough to work well as a good office space, but not enough to be overloaded and make it difficult to separate work and home life. It needs to be comfortable, but not so comfortable that employees lose the mood to work and would rather get up and do other activities on company time.

It also needs to be private enough to make sure that employees aren’t disturbed when working, and that they can only enter the space when it is time to work. By giving employees pointers on this topic, businesses can help keep their employees engaged, yet comfortable, to help them get the same results at home as they would in the office.

A few final thoughts

In conclusion, there are a lot of ways in which businesses can make remote working more comfortable for their employees, and this needs to be done by a lot more companies if they want to succeed in remote work. They should be looking into the best employee intranets; they should be making working days and shifts more flexible; they should be holding workshops to show employees how to set up their desks for home working; and they should be training their managers to work well with their employees and be able to organize their teams—in the same way that they would in person.

Bio: James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.