Challenges of Remote Working for New and Small Businesses
The current situation that the world is facing has not only upended established businesses, but it has also affected startups across the globe. The New York Times revealed the shocking statistic that in just a matter of weeks, plenty of startups have cut or furloughed thousands of employees, halted their plans for initial public offerings, and started to restructure their working setups.
For companies that have managed to stay afloat, they are leaning into working remotely to continue their operations. So, here’s how some startups are handling the call to work from home.
Helping others in need
If startups want to survive this rough patch, they have to work together to ensure that there’s still a startup industry to return to once this is all over. To this end, Boston-based startup Drafted launched a platform that allows recently furloughed staff to connect with potential recruiters and be endorsed by fellow co-workers. This platform was specifically designed to help those laid off due to the global health crisis, and to this end Drafted joins the ranks of Silver Lining and Chicago Superstars. Silver Lining is transparent about the fact that it’s run by donations from various companies in an effort to keep services available to organizations and candidates in need. This fact alone speaks to the importance of businesses looking out for one another at this time.
Fostering healthy work environments
When you’re in a real office, it’s easier to provide physical support — but with everything going digital, it’s crucial to find more creative ways of looking out for your team members. In this regard, companies that are used to digital collaboration are perhaps at an advantage when adapting to this “new’ work dynamic. Case in point: London’s Experience Haus launched a new initiative called OpenHaus, which involves hosting a series of virtual workshops to join for free throughout April, helping people to keep on learning even while self-isolating. Meanwhile, health startup accuRX has begun offering video consultation services for all frontline NHS staff for free. You don’t need to download anything and there is no need for fancy video equipment to use it. So far, the feedback has been nothing but positive.
Increasing communication
Teams have to be communicating more, not less. Abigail Rose, co-founder of media tech company Blended Sense, scheduled one-on-one interviews with each of her staff members to discuss how the business would change. This was the first step the Austin-based startup took, with Rose admitting that these hard conversations were crucial to keeping everyone informed and emphasised the idea that teamwork is needed now more than ever. While it may be a blessing to be able to still work, this situation isn’t easy and there’s no doubt that people are coping with it in different ways. Not only is communication necessary to ensure that tasks are being completed, it’s also needed to help team members understand where everyone is coming from in order to provide the best support possible.
Reassessing responsibilities to accommodate new working setups
An important part of transitioning to a new working setup is reassessing responsibilities to account for the new arrangements. The new setup may adversely impact how people are able to do their jobs – while some people were able to perform their tasks well in an office setting, distractions and responsibilities at home could put a dampener on their productivity. Startups should then make sure that nobody in the team is stretching themselves too thin. Ayima Kickstart emphasizes the importance of having specialists who are able to focus on certain tasks, freeing up the rest of your team to work on other important projects. Management may want to consider doing some adjustments that can lead to peak efficiency, even when everyone is working from home.
Our recent interview with HR research executive Jeanne Meister goes to show that multinational corporations and established businesses struggling to keep operations afloat during this tough time. It’s a wonder how emerging startups are dealing with having normal business operations turning upside down. Although this is a tall order to fulfill, startups need to be even more resilient than usual if they’re to survive this global health crisis.
Author:
Evan Mackey is a freelance writer who has been working remotely for over five years. He enjoys writing about finance, entrepreneurship, and psychology.
This is a collaborative post with Wise Marketing, a division of We Love Media Ltd.