Your Guide to Wellbeing for Remote Workers

This article has been produced in collaboration with Telegraph Spark. The original article as well as a collection of helpful guidance, business stories and interactive quizzes produced by the SAP Concur organization and Telegraph Spark can be found on this Building Business Resilience hub.

Whether you are working flat out or find you have more time on your hands, we are all learning to cope with new ways of working right now. Not only does that mean navigating new technology and processes, but we have the added pressure of the uncertainty that COVID-19 has created.

Natalie Gwilt is UK senior director of customer success for SMB at SAP Concur UK, which helps small and medium-sized businesses with their expense, travel, and vendor invoice challenges. Natalie has had a lot of conversations with customers in recent weeks about how SMEs have navigated these trying times.

“We know how tough it is for many businesses right now, especially with some staff furloughed, which is putting added pressure on finance teams,” she says. “Month-end, quarter-end, cash-flow projections and more are needed by the business now more than ever.”

Dr Nick Taylor, chief executive and co-founder of Unmind, a workplace mental-health platform, adds: “While the initial shock of the lockdown announcement and the anxieties experienced in the direct aftermath of the outbreak have hopefully dissipated somewhat, the continuous stream of news can keep our stress levels at an unhelpful height.

“Working from home, especially under quarantine or self-isolation for extended periods, poses challenges to our mental well-being. We may experience loneliness through disconnection, stress amid the uncertainty, or difficulties navigating new family dynamics. The key to solving these issues is clear communication.”

A meta-analysis by Gallup found that companies with highly engaged workforces are 21% more profitable than those with poor engagement. This is especially significant considering businesses have so many employees working from home at the moment.

To help people stay productive while working from home, Natalie Gwilt’s team has been offering their customers leadership and mindset training programs, focusing on mindfulness and managing stress. “Often the more stressed or busy you are in your job, the harder it is to apply yourself to concentrate on something other than work,” says client success director Natalie Gwilt. “But the benefits of doing so are immeasurable.” 

Richard Izard, managing director of Global Leadership Associates, agrees. “When humans are under pressure, it’s more important than ever that our basic needs are met,” he says. “Connection and being heard are two of the most meaningful, but they’re often in danger of being overlooked in our current virtual ecosystems. If you want happy and productive employees, they need a sense of purpose and satisfaction that comes from having those needs met in their professional environment.”

If that sounds daunting, it needn’t be. Here are our experts’ six steps to maintaining productivity in a pandemic.

1. Explain your expectations

As Richard of Global Leadership Associates notes, it’s important that employees have a clear understanding of what is expected of them at work. This is especially important for people who are balancing homeschooling or caring for someone else with their workload. “It can be reassuring to know that one project completed in two hours could be as valued as working eight hours today,” he says. Dr Heather Bolton, head of psychology at Unmind, agrees and adds: “I always stress that we are currently operating under strange times – and therefore perfection is not what we are striving for, but rather cooperation.”

2. Be flexible on working hours

Employers need to understand the hours their employees are putting in, including more one-on-one and team meetings, and be more flexible. “Our mental health is directly related to the level of control that we believe we have over our circumstances,” says business psychologist Lucinda Carney, chief executive of Actus, a performance management software firm. “It can feel like this has been significantly depleted since lockdown. Supporting staff to set their own routine that works around their personal situation, which may well not be nine to five, empowers people to be productive on their own terms.”

3. Build new connections between team members

“As we’re all working remotely, we’re missing out on those chance workplace interactions that can inspire innovation,” says Ed Beccle, co-founder of workplace mentoring platform Grasp.hr. “Instead of allowing people to become disconnected, you could use this time to set up mentoring relationships across your firm. This can be based on work-related skill shares or social interests. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is building those lines of connections between employees across departments.”

4. Use the opportunity to study team dynamics

Our unprecedented reliance on technology during this pandemic can be a really useful way to gather data about your business, says Ed. “I often think of organizations as being like a ball of string. The knots represent the relationships between people. The more knots, the stronger the ball and in business terms this equates to resilience in the face of a challenge such as this pandemic.” Grasp.hr looks at meeting invites sent out by employees to see which are the most collaborative, although this approach isn’t favored by all companies.

5. Ask about their pet…

When you are regularly meeting on conference calls, it can be easy to miss the nuance of how each team member is feeling. “Instead, try setting up regular face-to-face check-ins to create some form of social interaction,” says Nick. Once a week check-ins with each member of your team should be enough, according to Richard. But don’t make it all about work – make sure you engage on a personal level as well. “Checking in emotionally is vital. Whether that is asking about their pet or how they feel about their colleagues being put on furlough, the point is asking about what matters to them.”

6. …and their furniture

It’s a mistake for leaders to overlook the practicalities of working at home, says Lucinda. “People are working on sofas, dressing tables and ironing boards,” she says. “This just isn’t sustainable, and you can end up with long-term back and neck problems. We need to get managers and HR to take an interest in the home work environment and encourage people to have a proper desk set-up.” 

In addition, employers should ensure their staff still have access to the correct tools and technologies so they can be productive. A global survey conducted by the SAP Concur organization and Forrester showed that more than 60% of respondents named travel and expense (T&E) management software, accounts payable (AP), and automation tools as the most important tools that enhance their employee experience.