Over the last couple of years, we’ve begun to discover just how detrimental feelings of isolation can be for our teams. Even employees who might have assumed they would be comfortable “working alone” in the past have learned their creativity and productivity can suffer out of the office.
Unfortunately, for many companies, periods of lockdown and government-imposed restrictions may mean you have no choice but to require your teams to work from home in certain situations. When this is the case, companies need to be properly prepared to assist their employees in operating effectively from home.
I spoke to Toni Galo from Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise about his suggestions for surviving ongoing isolation in today’s unpredictable world. Toni is the Cloud Solution Marketing Consultant for ALE, with years of experience helping to drive and initiate business transformation efforts.
What Are the Challenges Companies Face with Isolation?
While most people didn’t expect the shift to hybrid and remote working practices to happen as quickly as it has, there are definitely benefits to the distributed workforce. Allowing team members to work, at least partially, from home, can improve their productivity levels, reduce the costs of in-house staff, and even enhance overall business performance.
The benefits of remote and distributed working are why so many companies have begun implementing long-term hybrid working strategies. However, the threat of isolation is why the majority of companies are focusing on “hybrid” work, rather than all-remote operations. For many employees, there still needs to be some connection with the standard workforce in place. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible during periods of isolation.
During previous lockdowns in 2021, Toni published a blog about the importance of building strong collaborative foundations to protect against isolations. Today, he says further work needs to be done to prepare for ongoing isolation. “With the incidence numbers of infection in the world beginning to steadily grow again, many countries are edging towards another lockdown. The demand for caution on a greater level means many people will soon be isolating both professionally and privately again.”
According to Galo, companies going into the next isolation with the same lack of preparation exhibited during earlier lockdowns risk significant issues. “Productivity will start to drop, and engagement will fall again, pushing companies further behind on targets.”
What Did You Learn from the Last Lockdown?
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has been one of the many companies helping brands of all sizes make the transition to a new world of work in the current landscape. The company, and Toni Galo has learned a few things over the last couple of years.
“Perhaps the most important lesson to learn is there needs to be a real strategy in place. People in recent lockdowns have simply responded to the issue as best they could when it happened, rather than having the right strategies in place already. While we didn’t expect to have to suddenly shut down companies and work remotely the first time the lockdown happened, we have more time to properly plan and consider our options this time around”
Toni noted that without preparation, there’s no chance of maintaining the levels of productivity engagement most companies need to thrive. In the previous lockdowns, half of the working world saw losses in productivity simply because people weren’t prepared to work in a new environment.
“We need to make sure the right strategies are in place to help all employees – particularly the ones who have spent decades working in the office and following specific routines.”
What Tips Would You Give for New Lockdowns?
When I asked him which tips, he would give to companies facing upcoming lockdowns, Toni reiterated the most important thing for companies right now is planning. The faster organisations can begin examining the market and looking for the right technology and tools, the better off they’ll be.
