Tips for Employers and Employees Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic

We know that the onset and spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a major impact on health, wellness and daily life. This includes the workplace. Many employers are sending their employees home to work in hopes of stopping the transmission of the virus. As a remote workforce may be the norm for some companies, many others are learning how to work remote for the first time.

The Employee Benefits Management Group (EBMG) at Rose & Kiernan, Inc. found a good resource from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that provides some resources for employers to help employees ease into working from home, increase team engagement and stay productive.

With this in mind, we have put together a checklist to help you and your employees with working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Do your employees have….

• Internet connectivity and bandwidth at home?
• Equipment needed to establish home offices (everything from furniture to keyboards to monitors)?
• Access to the right software and conferencing tools?
• Access to filesharing, documents, spreadsheets and presentations?
• Collaboration tools to help work more efficiently by communicating instantaneously rather than long email thread exchanges?

Technical support and data security considerations for employers

Other considerations for employers include having a plan for technical support and also a way to limit data security risks. Employers can help ease the strain on IT staff by providing training videos for employees and support tools to help them self-diagnose and work through common challenges that may not need IT’s help. Also, having a cloud-based password reset and account unlock solution allows employees to be more self-sufficient.

Having a remote workforce can also pose a data security risk. A majority of company-owned devices have a virtual private network (VPN) installed to create a secure connection. If employees use their own home devices for work, employers can help them install VPNS on their home PCs or laptops. Also, employers can step up their authentication beyond just a user ID and password to include multi-factor authentication (MFA). This requires two forms of ID to confirm a user’s identity and provides stricter, more secure access to a corporate network.

If you have any questions on how to implement these measures, we recommend you communicate with your internal IT department or your managed service provider (MSP) who helps manage your IT infrastructure.

Rose & Kiernan, Inc. will continue to monitor and advise on coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on businesses and the workplace. Any further questions on working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Read more from SHRM. You can also contact us here or by calling (800) 242-4433.