Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your organisation by Alice-Marie Archer

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your organisation Offers guidance for business owners / leadership who want to send their team home to work Offers guidance for individuals engaging in working-from-home

Alice-Marie Archer, Fei Rong & Rebecca Petzel

Contents Preface

Donate

Introduction

Starting the working from home process Three Pillars of effective working from home

3 3

Personal workspaces in a virtual office Safety Digital / cyber workspace hygiene Avoiding Distractions when working from home

4 4 4 5

Technologies to enable working from home Managing people and their workloads Communicating Meetings Scheduling meetings Sharing Knowledge

6 6 7 7 7 8

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Working together on the same document Avoiding distractions Signing documents Tracking hours Scanning documents Shortening URLs Order Fulfillment

8 8 8 8 8 9 9

Potential barriers to working from home and tips for making it work: Access to the internet and a computer. Private Data & GDPR Encryption The digital divide Communication: Technological Barriers Guidelines for email communications: Guidelines for organisers of online meetings Guidelines for participants of online meetings Communication and trust Integrity and Trust Lack of Motivation.

9 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 13 13 14 15

A special mention - working from home with children

A compassionate culture for problem solving - “calling in”

Conclusion

Appendices: The templates Daily / Weekly Scheduled check-in Effective emailing Daily cycle of communication CoronaVirus Resources for Parents

18 18 18 19 19 20

Preface We are sharing this document in light of the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic where many businesses are being faced with the prospect of delivering their operations ‘from home’. Our aim is to offer our knowledge to help, particularly in light of very little intervention from governments to support businesses in this situation. This document is aimed at businesses who haven’t run ‘most’ of their operations ‘online’ before, but are in a position where this is

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

possible. We acknowledge that for many businesses their work is impossible to do ‘from home’, however some of these protocols may still be useful to you. As Julie McMurry, MPH puts it: “If you can WFH, do it precisely because your barber, your kid’s teacher, your local restaurant staff, your barista, and your doctors etc. can not.” Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-N Feel free to download and share this with others as long as you credit us, don’t adapt this or use it commercially

If you have found this work useful, you may wish to make a donation to the authors via this link.

Introduction Welcome to your virtual office. While this is likely new for you, luckily we have over a decade of hard fought wisdom on how to make working at a distance impactful. Believe it or not, there are even some advantages! You are about to join the ranks of trail-blazing cyber-teams, self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by the web to collaborate in achieving a common goal1. The great benefit of working this way is that you can work with people that otherwise can’t be in the room. This is really powerful, and we’ve seen these teams accomplish amazing things. However this new format provides room for new miscommunication and introduces different barriers to the successful completion of work. This document considers the interpersonal barriers to effective working from home and recommends protocols to facilitate home-working and to improve your effectiveness, and we hope, enjoyment]. Your virtual office can be a repository for documents and information, and a variety of different channels through which you can communicate as a team. This document goes through the typical problems encountered by working with web-enabled technologies and suggests beneficial strategies for counteracting these issues that you can employ in your organisation. 1

Gloor, Peter A. 2006. Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage Through Collaborative Innovation Networks. New York: Oxford University Press.

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

This document brings together the recommendations of dozens of world renowned virtual working and collaboration professionals, and our experience working with numerous businesses- into a digestible overview. These protocols and practices are technology independent, so you can pick and choose how to apply them in a way that works for you. Not all work can readily be undertaken ‘online’ ‘from home’. This document suggests protocols for effective online working-from-home for those organisations who have recognised that some or all of their operations can be undertaken this way. We hope that this document assists you at this difficult time!

Starting the working from home process Beginning working from home will involve setting up a few processes that are designed to replicate and leverage what might naturally happen face to face in your workplace. The best place to start is with the question - What normally happens face to face in our workplace? Examples might be- team meetings, sharing knowledge, making decisions together, signing forms etc But also don’t forget things like, saying hi to each other or having a chat that leads to an idea that leads to progress in your business. Once you have a list of the processes you will decide how you are going to make those things happen now that you can’t do them face to face. Read on to learn about things to consider, and the technologies you might want to use.

Three Pillars of effective working from home The behaviours and technologies you put in place for your virtual office will be important in ensuring its success. The core success characteristics of successful virtual office place are: a shared guiding vision, a strong ethical code, and open

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

communication2. When working virtually, any lack of clarity in the teams vision and mission, is exasperated and can trip up the work. To ensure these 3 pillars a re nurtured in a business or project, it is vital to: ● establish and / or clarify the team’s collective vision for the work, the core purpose and core values and make these explicit. ● These need to be supported by establishing protocols for transparent regular communication and for individual actions to create ● ...a trusting team that is assured of it’s integrity and can recognise and be proud of its diversity, given the advantages this offers. You may feel confident that everyone in your team knows what you are all working towards and also their ‘bit’. However when working in a virtual setting it can be easier to stay head down in a task and loose track of that larger purpose. Now is a good time to re-emphasise your organisational purpose and the role of each person. To support this - you could put together a ‘theory of change’. You can find a free template and also a course on developing your theory of change here3.

Personal workspaces in a virtual office We will consider the issues of the actual workspace separately to behaviours and technologies as this is the first place to start when considering working from home. Safety Like in the office, you will want to ensure everyone is working in a safe way. To help you set up your home office, or as an employer, to help you to be compliant with the law, the UK Gov gives advice on working safely with display screen equipment4 including this free checklist5. Whilst it may not be possible to do all of these things in the face of coronavirus, businesses should do their best to assist employees to be able to work safely. Individuals working for a business should do their best to make their workspaces safe. As an employer you may want to allow employees to take office equipment home - workstations, computers and chairs - if it means that they will have a better work environment. Or you may want to help employees by offering to buy them an appropriate chair for their home office. As an individual working from home you may want to ensure you have an appropriate set-up. 2

Gloor, Peter A. 2006. Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage Through Collaborative Innovation Networks. New York: Oxford University Press.

https://diytoolkit.org/tools/theory-of-change/ https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/ 5 https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck1.pdf 3 4

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Digital / cyber workspace hygiene This isn’t about personal hygiene, but about digital hygiene. “Cyber hygiene relates to the practices and precautions users take with the aim of keeping sensitive data organized, safe, and secure from theft and outside attacks”6. It can also be about making sure that you are all working on the latest version of a document, including the correct people in email and not losing or misplacing data. Everyone in a virtual office should be ensuring they work in a ‘hygienic’ way. Digital Guardian7 provides a list of tips for ensuring digital hygiene including how to develop a policy for your organisation. They suggest making a list of all the tools you are using and looking at the risks of issues with each of these. They include points like: ● Regularly changing passwords ● Making sure software is up to date ● limiting who has access to what (should be on an ‘essential’ users only basis) ● backing up data ● and potentially using a cyber security framework

Avoiding Distractions when working from home Working from home means all kinds of distractions and temptations arise that don’t happen in a normal office. The following are tips to stay on track. Please refer to the section on working from home with children if you are affected by school closures where more family-appropriate guidance is offered. Avoid Clutter - it's important to set up a suitable space to work from in order to perform good work from home. Home workspaces should ideally be clear from clutter and have adequate space for you to spread out as you need. This doesn’t mean you need a fancy workstation. One of the authors of this paper works from a small desk in her kitchen equipped with a small ergonomic stool-chair. Get dressed! Working in one’s jimjams might be an attractive prospect, but maintaining a level of dignity even when working online is important for our mental health. Getting up at a good time, and getting dressed and readying your workspace is an important part of your day just as it is for working face to face. Do not disturb mode - Letting people know you aren’t available even though you are ‘physically here’ is essential. Kids, partners, pets - all need to know you are ‘at 6

https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-cyber-hygiene-definition-cyber-hygiene-benefits-best-practices-and-more 7 https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-cyber-hygiene-definition-cyber-hygiene-benefits-best-practices-and-more

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

work’. If you have a home office you may want a ‘do not disturb’ sign. Wearing headphones can really help cancel out distracting noises and it also makes you physically ‘look busy’ to those who might otherwise think you are available. Digital discipline - It can be tempting to chat to friends, and browse the internet when working from home - by putting your phone on ‘do not disturb’ mode, and don’t open unnecessary browser windows is about self discipline. You can now get apps to assist you to concentrate online. See our technologies section for tips. Plan your day in advance -when you sit down, knowing what you intend to do is really helpful. Let this be the last thing you do before packing up everyday - setting out the tasks for tomorrow. Try to keep set hours including taking breaks if you can. If you have access to outdoor space, get outside and get some fresh air. Take a walk. Try to avoid eating at your desk. if you have to eat during a call, be sure to mute your munching and be discreet. and remember to stay hydrated! Connect with others - if you are both self-isolating and working from home, you may find that your social life and connection with others dries up. Web-based groups may be a great way to stay connected. Support local businesses that may be offering web-based courses. Is it time to learn French? You may also be interested in learning new skills that can improve your work or hat are just interesting to you- coursera8 and u demy9 offer brilliant online courses in all sorts of areas. Move your body, now you don’t have to commute to work, you may find that you get very little exercise. This can impact really negatively on your mental health. Now may be the time to take walks in your local area if appropriate, or take up an online exercise class like world famous Yoga with Adrienne, or with Erica Rascon or consider Brea Fischer’s tai chi lessons for gentle accessible movement! Those with kids might find resources like PE with Joe useful,or Cosmic kids yoga. Ask around your community to see what activities are being made available.

Technologies to enable working from home To facilitate the processes that you have recognised as possible to do ‘from home’, there are many apps available. Disclaimer - we’re mentioning some of the many we have worked with here, however you may find that there are others that suit your needs better - so do have a google for yourself! https://www.coursera.org/

8 9

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Managing people and their workloads Planning, tracking and management of tasks can be done using web-based software for example Monday10. For smaller teams, you might want to try Trello11 which is a simpler way to make a list of tasks, with deadlines and to allocate those to people on your team - really handy if you don’t need more complex project management (where something like Monday might be more suitable). Communicating can take place via: email - you most likely already have this set up already12. It may be an idea to consider setting up an email ‘group’. Google groups13 enable everyone working together on a project / task to only have to send messages to one email address, which automatically sends the message to everyone in the group - so no one gets missed out. It also ensures that you have a record of all the conversations in the ‘group for your team to refer back to if they need to. This is really helpful if someone is away, and needs to catch up with conversations. I’m going to mention google a lot here - all of their tools exist in something called gsuite14 - I highly recommend using this for your virtual office. messaging apps avoid those none encrypted apps and go for something like signal15 or whatsapp which use end to end encryption to protect your communications. video calls (for groups see section on meetings) Things like whatsapp or signal video calls can be great for having a quick video call with a colleague. Meetings can be enabled via Video Call applications like SKYPE16 or Zoom17 (both are encrypted). Zoom also allows you to share your screen so you can do things like giving a presentation via powerpoint to the group.

https://monday.com/1/ https://trello.com/ 12 but if not, consider using gmail.com 13 https://groups.google.com/ 14 https://gsuite.google.com/ 15 https://signal.org/ 16 https://www.skype.com/en/ 17 ww.zoom.us/ w 10 11

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Scheduling meetings can be done via doodle18. Doodle for business offers an ‘encrypted’ version of this service (see section on encryption). Schedulista19 offers a booking system (useful for example if you are a consultant booking in clients) Clinico offers medical professionals (e.g. osteopaths) a booking system which can accept payments, book in clients and also store confidential notes protected via encryption. Sharing Knowledge It is really advisable to keep your documents and information all in one place so everyone knows where to look for information. This can take place via a ‘shared drive’ stored in ‘the cloud’. Google Drive20 has the advantage of allowing really intuitive collaborative working, or you could take a look at Dropbox. Working together on the same document can be enabled by using collaborative writing tools - for example google docs21 or a wiki allow different people to write into the same document at the same time. Google docs offers word processing, spreadsheets, slides etc - all enabled for collaborative working. Avoiding distractions Working from home is full of distractions. Consider using an app like leechblock22 to stop you from looking at non work related websites when you are meant to be working. FocusWriter23 disappears everything on your screen apart from what you are working on. Freedom and AntiSocial24 block social network access. StayFocused is a googlechrome extension that restricts timewasting websites. Signing documents can be enabled by a document signing app - for example hellosign25 or docusign26

https://doodle.com/en_GB/ https://www.schedulista.com/ 20 https://www.google.com/drive/ 21 https://www.google.co.uk/docs/about/ 22 https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/ 23 https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/ 24 https://freedom.to/ 25 ww.hellosign.com/ w 26 www.docusign.com 18 19

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Tracking hours Tracking your team’s work can be done via apps like toptracker27 Scanning documents If a team member needs to scan documents, many modern scanners operating on a network offer ‘scan-to-drive’. You can read more on that here28. You may need to send them home with a scanner and route documents to their address. Be aware of data security. Shortening URLs Being able to shorten web urls can really help with tidying up your communication. bit.ly29 enable a url like: https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/star-wars-vintage-collection-figures/bn_702478758 0 become https://bit.ly/2x2W5wr - much shorter and much less messy! Order Fulfillment Is it time to outsource your picking and packing? Pick and Pack and bonded warehouses may have a greater capacity to manage staff shortages. You might want to look at your local fulfillment companies or even a larger organisation like amazon fulfillment for picking and packing your orders, shipping and handling, customer service, and product returns.

Potential barriers to working from home and tips for making it work: Access to the internet and a computer.

You may need to ask your team about their home- access to the internet and to a computer. You may find people on your team only access the internet via 3-5G using a smartphone. You may need to assist your staff to work from home by supporting them to get access to the internet and lend them a suitable computer / tablet.

https://www.toptal.com/tracker https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-scan-documents-directly-to-google-drive/ 29 https://bitly.com/ 27 28

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Private Data & GDPR

If you are taking work online that has not previously been worked online, you may find you suddenly need to take additional measures to protect / work with people’s personal information. Ensure that your staff and volunteers understand their responsibilities when it comes to gathering, storing and using personal data. This guide30 covers GDPR in a really helpful way. Encryption

Most communications - email, Facebook Messenger, Twitter direct messages, private messages on forums etc - are not encrypted by default. This means that you can easily have your communitions hacked and that you might not be living up to your region’s gdpr standards. Encryption protects your communications from un-authorised access and helps you to remain compliant. See the section on ‘technologies’ for suggestions of encrypted options. The digital divide

The digital divide separating those who are highly technically sophisticated using the web and Information technology, versus those who are less so, can create rifts during online home working. Individuals comfortable with highly sophisticated web interfaces may use technologies which individuals using IT for simpler tasks may struggle to use. Using technology that is more sophisticated than your participants typically leads to demotivation. ● Stick to the lowest acceptable level of technology: e-mail, Skype/ Zoom, chats apps (e.g. whatsapp, skype), websites, Google docs and blogs are really accessible and can help to ensure participation. If you want to use something like ‘Slack’- a more involved technology for group working - this will only work if everyone you need to use it is able to be proficient in it. Question the technologies you use and go with what is ‘enough’. ● Ensure communication is available offline to enable internet-free participants to keep up with a project, and as back up for Internet glitches. You may want to set up a shared team drive in dropbox, google drive, or another ‘cloud’ based system. ● Hold space for those who are slower at typing this could be as simple as asking their opinion directly regularly in chats. ● Choose video over text when possible. Many people communicate much better verbally than reading / typing. If you can thoughtfully incorporate video calls you can capture more of the implicit communication and do better work together. We don't need to see each other for every piece of 30

https://www.voluntaryarts.org/gdpr-data-protection

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

work, but think about which meetings and conversations would most benefit from the additional cues of video and be sure to regularly incorporate. Both challenging and creative conversations are often aided by the additional non-verbal communication. Communication: Technological Barriers

Lack of body language: W hen working with an online team without being able to see each other, it can be difficult conveying emotions. When working with only typed words this can quickly lead to miscommunication. ● Use video and audio conferencing to facilitate the subtleties of communication for web-meetings and to minimise miscommunication when you can’t be face-to-face (e.g. skype or zoom). ● Audio/visual meetings should be backed up with typed / records and minutes which should be considered “official” and include all decisions and action points from conversations - these should be shared via your team ‘drive’. Knowing where things are: Often face to face we rely on asking someone where a document is stored or who to contact for information. If you don't have good group information organization systems the work will be slower. It's worth taking the time to make sure you have a shared understanding of where and how shared information lives. We have had good success with creating a ‘manual’ for business functioning - with alphabetised or categorised information on where to access different items. Remember to include: ● Who the manual is for / not for ● Who is responsible for the area of work (helps stop getting wires crossed / repeating work) ● Where the specific items / documents can be found (add hyperlinks to shared documents) For example an entry in your manual might look like this (real example from an existing business):

Employment Contracts Contracts are looked after by XXX Our employment contracts can be found here For Drawing up Employment Contracts - we use this service: www.legalcontracts.co.uk

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

USER

PASSWORD

xxxx

New Employees - Induction Resources XXX is looking after new employee inductions New employees have to fill out a new starter form supplied by XXX - xxx@.xxxcom They need an Employment Contract (see employment contracts) They need a Role Description - see template They then need to have a risk assessment developed for their position (see Risk Assessments) They Need to be familiarised with the BioSecurity Plan (see Biosecurity Plan) A training plan needs to be developed for them inline with the biosecurity measures plan - training is to be recorded here New employees need to be added to the google calendar, Trello, Whatsapp

Sharing Documents: Sharing documents and communicating across various word processing interfaces, browsers and email hosting services (which often differ between disciplines, countries & cultures) can be frustrating due to slow loading and formatting problems and lack of portability and transferability between proprietary systems remains a barrier. ● Ensure that all communications are undertaken in an accessible format. To ensure accessibility even if internet connection is poor: o 72 pixels per inch resolution loads faster, o no more than 900px wide means images fit most screens o with the minimum number of graphics – as a rule of thumb for email and web, stick to having ‘enough’ g raphics. ● It might be worth considering sticking to googledocs files to ensure accessibility - as this provides an encrypted, free, easy to use, collaborative working environment designed for web-based work. Signal to Noise ratio: The more people you get involved in a home working team and the more complex an issue, the more ‘noise’ (irrelevant information

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

including tangential conversation) you get and the less ‘signal’ (relevant, useful information). For example web-forums and e-mail lists tend to generate a lot of noise, without much signal, which can be very frustrating. It is difficult to design technology that draws out 'signal' from 'noise'. Guidelines for email communications: ● Use the subject line of emails to provide clarity to the reader. E.g. Project name, sub project name, details e.g : Exhibition, skype meeting, deciding dates ● Ensure that your response is relevant to the subject line (don’t start sub conversations under the same subject line) ● Avoid using ‘reply to all’ unless entirely necessary. o Consider the use of googledocs for developing conversations on specific subjects and sub-topics. If your area is very complex, this can be where systems like slack s tart to be useful - but only if everyone is easily capable of using it. ● If you are using a website as the interface for working together - as for all interfaces with your team and audience, keep it simple, keep it ‘enough’. ● Be concise. ● Be clear. ● Add a privacy disclaimer in your signature ● Consider using the email template at the end of this guide Guidelines for organisers of online meetings ● Only invite people who absolutely need to be there ● Prepare your agenda ahead of time ○ Include - things that can only be done via this meeting ○ Do not include anything that can be decided via email or a one-to-one chat ● Ensure for each agenda item, you get ○ action points ○ owners of tasks ○ suggestions for further work ● Test the call before you start - to ensure everything is working ● Check in31 at the start of every meeting - essentially asking your participants - how they feel and what do they need to switch off from in their physical and mental space to be fully present in the virtual room. 31

https://www.tlnt.com/for-more-productive-meetings-do-a-mindset-check-in-first/

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

(Whilst acknowledging that it might not be possible to switch off from that thing). ● Enlist someone to time keep ● Enlist someone to type up the minutes ● Stay on task - if tangents occur, draw the conversation back to the agenda. ● It can be hard to interject - Some software allows participants to ‘put their hand up’ to speak. If this isn’t an option suggest participants request to interject in the chat window if they aren’t managing to be ‘heard’. ● Queue participants who have requested to say something ● Keep an eye on the chat window ● If someone seems to be repeating themself, ensure they know they’ve been heard by feeding back to them what you are hearing from them: ○ “What I’m getting from you is that you think xyz” ○ Capturing what they’re saying in a shared display goes a long way towards making people feel heard ● Use a shared display -- like slides presented via screen sharing or a collaborative google doc -- and make sure all participants can see it to help track the content and stay focused, as it’s easier to drift off and lose the conversation thread when not in the room together. ● Use different formats and ways of participating to keep participants engaged. You can do things like: the meeting engaging - you can do things like ○ send out a quick poll via doodle ○ ask questions in the chat window ○ split your attendees up into breakout groups (in zoom you can send them to ‘rooms’) ○ you might have a website you want them to look at Whatever you choose to do to ensure engagement - make sure all the links are in your agenda so no one gets left behind. ● After the meeting within 24 hours send out thanks, a recap, notes and highlight action points and next steps. Additional tips for zoom in particular ● Consider using the Zoom attendee attention tracking feature in order to manage participation / get feedback on your own hosting- if many people are distracted - it’s on you! ● zoom has integrations with lots of other apps including googledrive, dropbox and gmail ● You can record your meetings and save them in your shared drive for participants to listen back to.

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Guidelines for participants of online meetings ● Beforehand, make sure you have looked at the agenda and have thought about what you can contribute to the meeting ● Mute your microphone when you aren’t speaking ● Avoid speaking at the same time as others and cutting in - you can type that you want space to speak in the chat window ● Try to have light shining on you not behind you or you will just be a silhouette. ● Whilst it may come across as unprofessional to have a pile of dirty laundry in shot - these are testing times - you know your workplace best - but try to find a tidy space to work from if you can ● Ensure any cohabitants know not to disturb you (again that can be impossible with kids) ● Look into the camera when you are speaking as it makes it easier to engage with you ● Don’t multitask - be present - by which we mean, avoid multiple browser windows, scrolling on your phone ● Your job in this meeting is to make sure that the aims of the meeting are met. Check yourself - do you have something that needs to be said that you are holding back? Are you the one ‘waffling on’ (much easier to do online)? Is there anyone that is being quiet that you think has good things to conribute - invite them into the conversation. ● Stay on task - if you find you are deviating from the agenda, draw the conversation back to the task at hand. Communication and trust

There's a common perception that it is more difficult to establish trust in on-line communication versus face-to-face communication, especially at the beginning when people haven’t proven their integrity. A lack of transparency and the feeling that work is happening behind closed doors is one of the fastest ways to erode trust; and a mechanism by which virtual work can dig away at one of your pillars of collaboration. Communication can also become less effective if we make assumptions about other people’s written words without face to face non-verbal cues and a sense of presence to convey additional meaning. Perhaps the most important work of a virtual team is to be extra explicit and clear in their communication to maintain trust and creative work. Some tips below. ● State up front what you are expecting, what roles, risks, and responsibilities everyone will take. Those agreements become your structure and people are accountable to those agreements.

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

● Decisions will happen without everyone in the room necessarily. To maintain trust, be explicit and clear about who made a decision and how. ● Communicate everyday that’s considered a work day, even if it’s just a brief end of day check-out and short status update (see our template at the end of this document) ● Consider making all communications available to the relevant people via a shared mailbox where old email can be reviewed by anyone. This could be for example via a google group - using a group email address. ● Ensure records of communication are simple, concise and clear. ● Use Emoticons to show emotion (even if you think they are tacky) this saves a huge amount of conflict. ● Take extra care to be polite. It’s worth the extra time. We tend to make assumptions and project our own issues more easily when we don’t have body language to reference. Slowing down and communicating really clearly can help us make up for these missing cues. The ladder of inference32 is a useful tool for making sense of situations and coordinating our thinking with others. ● Use video conferencing technologies for synchronous communication rather than relying on email (Skype/zoom). Being overly verbose can erect barriers to participation, as it is difficult to keep up with and understand. The further you stray from lay-English, the more aware you must be of the possibility for misinterpretations. ● Keep communications simple, clear and concise ● Make a glossary available to your team via your team drive and include any technical vocabulary. Most teams that regularly work from home adopt their own syntax, tone, style that can be difficult for outsiders to understand, providing a barrier to entry. New comers to your project could be confused by the use of acronyms or abbreviations ('r' for 'are', 'ttyl' for 'talk to you later'). ● Avoid abbreviations or be prepared to explain those necessary to newcomers. Integrity and Trust

A way to erode the trust of your team is on the level of participant integrity. Although this is a challenge even in the face-to-face world of project work, miss-trust is amplified when working from home. Because we aren’t face to face, the management of the team falls to every organisation and person within that team: both the Management of the team, and the management of yourself as an 32

https://thesystemsthinker.com/the-ladder-of-inference/

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

individual player in the team. Tendencies towards micro-management, a management technique we know stifles agency, creativity, and ultimately effectiveness, are exasperated with moves to virtual. When we’re not in the office together we must trust each other to take responsibility and make decisions on our own. It’s the best way to succeed as a team even when in an office together; here’s the chance to unlock and unleash the team. To support the trust of your team, everyone in your team (managers as well as team members) can try to: ● Clarify your expectations of each other – what is “on time”, what is “publishable quality”. As above, it’s important to be very clear what all of our roles are, who is responsible, and our decision-making process. ● Clarify success and failure. With every project, before you start, slow down to be extra clear what outcomes would be a success vs. a failure. ● Respond quickly to emails – e.g. within x hours or days for a quick response, or x days or weeks for a bigger task - agree what works for your team and respect those agreements. ● Answer emails and messages thoughtfully. If timezones aren’t a barrier, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone. ● Be respectful and considerate in your communications ● Assume the best of triggering communications ● Be available for web-conferences ● Be direct Lack of Motivation.

This move to virtual is actually a chance to really consider and improve each individual on your team’s motivation. If people are not motivated, when working from home they can easily walk away or reduce their level of contribution. When considering motivations for working from home, the value participants seek is often beyond simple financial rewards. As a leader of a team that is working from home you must consider motivation and rewards in a different way - the value exchange. The largest de-motivation is when this value exchange is not realized. People need to get out of the work what they were expecting, or at least see a clear possibility of this reward in the future to stay motivated. A sense of agency and true ownership is so critical to ongoing motivation ● Set high expectations of your team. “I’m so impressed to see such integrity and drive - you have worked persistently for this moment”. ● Encourage motivation by validating good work from your team members - this could be at the end of every day in a ‘check-out’ group call - where you can go over what worked and what didn’t and give praise where due. Consider using the “daily / weekly scheduled check-in” at the end of this document

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

● Re-iterate that working this way involves shared risk and shared reward. And ensure the reward structures match up with this shared work and effort. ● Consider additional performance / contribution related rewards for your home-working team. ● You may want to uncover what motivates your team and ensure that this value exchanged is realisable.

A special mention - working from home with children When we think of working from home, we don’t often think this will involve also providing primary childcare 24/7. In these unprecedented times we need to attempt to support our working families. This is going to require compassion from employers to match the lengths staff will need to go to in order to manage children and work. This means that flexitime for workers with children needs to be a norm not an exception. In order to ensure those working odd hours are not disadvantaged, it’s extra important to ensure all communication, decisions, and documents are clearly documented and accessible in a shared space. Harvard business review have put together an informative guide for parents working from home with kids33. It includes ideas for: ● Setting up and maintaining a routine ● Establishing a workable schedule (and includes a template for doing that) ● considering partner swaps (4 hours work, followed by 4 hours childcare) ● asking family / friends to take a video shift - entertaining kids via skype or zoom / helping with homework You may also want to consider spreading your workload accross more days. We also urge you to find out what online activities are happening that are accessible to you-in the UK cbbc has a baby club. You may find some local initiatives for example junior jungle in Bristol is holding morning online raves for kids that can keep the little ones occupied for a moment whilst you multitask or you could sit your kids down in from of Oliver Jeffers daily storytime34 via instagram. Dr Lizzie Archer (CAMHS Clinical Psychologist) has put together a list of resources for those with children that features as an appendix to this document.

33 34

https://hbr.org/2020/03/a-guide-for-working-from-home-parents instagram.com/oliverjeffers

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

A compassionate culture for problem solving - “calling in” “When I see problematic behaviour from someone who is connected to me, who is committed to some of the things I am, I want to believe that it’s possible for us to move through and beyond whatever mistake was committed” ~ Ngọc Loan Trần on Black Girl Dangerous “Calling In” has been referred to as “a less disposable way of holding ourselves accountable”. It’s a means of recognising that we can all make mistakes, and inviting someone to do better. This article35 provides a good introduction. In working from home, it is easier to get offended, easier to say things you wouldn’t say face to face and ultimately it is easier to walk away. Ensure your team understands and is committed to attempting to call in each other, in order to get through tough situations. ● Here is an email template that you / your team might find useful for drafting effective email.

Conclusion Working from home can work for your business. The foundations for a successful virtual office - shared commitment to a vision, clear communication and trust - need to be nurtured in order for working from home to be effective. With planning, and a bit of extra management, your organisation can find success with online working-from-home.

https://theconsentcrew.org/2016/05/29/calling-in/

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Appendices: The templates Daily / Weekly Scheduled check-in Consider the following schedule for daily / weekly communication - if people are navigating different situations - again we are thinking of those at home with no childcare - consider using email or a chat app as it takes the pressure of immediate response away. Checking in - Skype / Zoom / VoIP meeting / email / chat app ● Check in - how is everyone doing - 2 mins each. (if you aren’t familiar with check in - this is a time where someone might say - I am feeling really excited and on top of my game today O r - my sister is in chemo today so if I seem preoccupied that is probably what is on my mind Or I’m looking forward to x task Or I’m feeling a bit rough today - I’m going to do the best I can. I might have to duck out this afternoon. ● Progress report - where is the work ‘at’ in terms of deadlines, task completion milestones etc. Share any changes to the project plan ● Set out schedule of work ● Set out your expectations for touching base ○ “please all keep an eye on our group whatsapp / skype / chat today - when you complete tasks please share them in there and please everyone remember to give a little hi-five to your teammates as they sign things off”. Checking out - Skype / Zoom / VoIP meeting ● Each team member indicates what they have done today, and what they hope to get done tomorrow. What worked, what didn’t work. ● Team leader indicates how things are progressing in terms of overall schedule. ● Validate good work and suggest what you want to see more of ● Flag any issues that need to be reviewed tomorrow

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Effective emailing Consider the following email template for use in your team. The explanation of each element is below the email content: subjectline: Sales/Monday check in/agenda items ---- Dear Colleagues (What is this email about) I invite you to contribute agenda items to our sales-team check in on Monday (How- highlight instructions) Agenda items can be contributed via this link (link) (Why) The meeting responds to our ongoing sales drive. (Consider the form: we will do x with y to achieve z) We will be looking at the leads repository with the junior team members in order to assist them to ensure that our database is up to date. (WHEN - WHERE - add relevant detail EVERY TIME you email so that your team don’t have to trawl their inbox to get to relevant information) The meeting will take place over ZOOM and can be accessed via the following link (link). The full agenda can be accessed here (link) and notes from previous meetings are available here (link) Regards Alice "This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any review, use, distribution, or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive the e-mail, document, or information on behalf of the recipient), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this message." Daily cycle of communication You may want to engage your team with regular communication about their progress. This daily cycle of communication can help

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Leadership - Things you can say to your team over the day: Early ● What are your intentions for today? Lunchtime ● Are you facing any challenges / what decisions are you making? ● How are you adjusting your work in line with challenges? Afternoon ● What are you signing off on, what can you close / complete? Close ● Offer gratitude, thanks, enthusiasm ● Release everyone from the day and encourage them to let go of the work for now, and seek rest, take time with their families etc.

CoronaVirus Resources for Parents Compiled by Dr Lizzie Archer, Clinical Psychologist, CAMHS

Activities and Education The green parent big lockdown resource list (there is loads here!) Free online activities for children at home from school The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read Alouds & Activities National Literacy Trust parents portal Edinburgh Zoo live Zoo-cam! Long list of free education resources Free ‘Stay creative’ classes until end of March from Brit.co Advice on home schooling during Corona virus 1 Advice on home schooling during Corona virus 2 Info for Kids and Teens Covibook – Supporting and Reassuring Children Round the World Anna Freud: Video for children & young people MIND – Coronavirus and Your wellbeing (for teens) For Parent-Talking to YP about Coronavirus: BPS guidance – Talking to Children About Coronavirus Anna Freud: Video for parents Place2Be – Guide to helping parents answer questions from their children and to support family wellbeing Young Minds - Talking to your child about Coronavirus and 10 tips from their Parents Helpline to support family wellbeing

Protocols for enabling online working-from-home for your business

Child Mind Institute- supporting kids during the covid-19 crisis Child Mind Institute- supporting teenagers and young adults during the covid-19 crisis Motherkind podcast-how to talk to your children about coronavirus Youtube example of a conversation about the virus For Parents-Supporting children through Coronavirus: Liverpool CAMHS resource – Supporting Children during social distancing CKPHU- How to help children understand and cope with covid Blog post from psychologist Dr Stacey Thomson about coping with covid Royal College of OT’s- Staying well when social distancing Amaze - information pack for parents regarding education Parental Self-Care Child Mind Institute- Self care for parents in the time of Coronavirus A great Self Compassion website Free guide to living with worry and anxiety in uncertainty Free meditations from Headspace Information for parents of kids with neurodevelopmental needs/ Special Educational Needs (SEN) National Autistic Society – Covid-19 guidance and helpline for parents, young people and staff Free Webinar Replay: Coronavirus Crash Course for Parents: Keeping Kids with ADHD in ‘Study Mode’ While Home from School Info from parent community- Special Needs Jungle HSC Public Health Agency Advice on Covid-19 Easy Read Easy read information 1 Easy read information 2 Coronavirus ‘Social Story’ Other useful Education info The Department for Education (DfE) helpline (see below) offers guidance for anyone with education-related questions on coronavirus – from early years up to universities, plus parents. Tel: 0800 046 8687 (open Monday to Friday 8am-6pm), DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk Amaze - information pack for parents regarding education Supportive Information for Schools (for teachers) Anna Freud: Supporting Schools and Colleges during periods of disruption Anna Freud: Video for school staff BPS: Support and advice for schools