Here at HopDial, we are closely watching the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) as it continues to impact various areas of the U.S. and the rest of the world. We understand that we have a valuable role to play in helping our business partners and customers to continue to function as more information around the coronavirus continues to unfold.
Many businesses are shifting to work from home or remote work operations in an effort to adhere to social distancing protocols. HopDial has been assisting businesses with incorporating remote work solutions for years, so this is an area that we consider ourselves to be experts in. But as with all changes and shakeups in business, there are some obstacles employees may face when working from home during this time.
Poor Communication
Despite the technological advancements in the telecom industry over the last several years, many people cite poor communication as their biggest challenge in working from home. Of course, nothing can meet the efficiency of face-to-face interactions where gestures, facial expression and body language can convey meaning that is often as important as the words being spoken. Anyone can tell you that emails and text messaging are notorious losing tone and meaning due to ambiguous phrasing not always made 100% clear to recipients, making it difficult - and often embarrassing - to ask for clarity.
HopDial’s Solution: A smart phone system like HopDial is intended to bridge this gap in communication. Multiple extensions can be setup for a virtual phone number and assign them to individual users or groups. Thus, anyone within the company can quickly reach a specific team member. The BYOD-compatible call-processing system will route calls to any desired device (landline, mobile, IP-telephony) or ring all of them simultaneously to minimize the number of missed calls.
Another widely used feature is conference calling. It’s not only a convenient way to hold meetings, dispense information and instructions to multiple employees, it’s also a valuable asset to have at your disposal when an issue requires your team to have a group discussion.
Technical illiteracy
Let’s face it, every business has at least a handful of employees who lack technical prowess. In addition, some employees may be too preoccupied with day-to-day tasks to find a moment to properly learn a convoluted software or hardware manual. What’s worse, some will use any complexity of communication systems as a way to avoid adapting the technology and consequently avoiding interaction with their coworkers, managers, and customers. And when you’re not working in an office environment, you can’t just come and speak to these people in person.
HopDial’s Solution: HopDial phone systems are designed to be extremely easy to use. Once the system is fully configured, your employees can receive calls via a smartphone he or she normally uses. Making calls and sending text messages from a virtual phone number has never been easier: either a web interface or a mobile app (both iOS and Android compatible) can also be used.
Lack of Discipline
While flexible hours and lack of strict supervision makes a smart work-life balance possible, that doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone to accomplish. It takes willpower to be able to stick to a schedule when there are so many distractions like children, pets, and a bed in the other room.
As a result, some remote employees attempt a staggered model of working for a couple of hours, then taking a short break before returning to work later. For some people this type of work schedule results in a boost in productivity, however some employees may find themselves struggling to stay up on their work. And ultimately, when looming deadlines and tasks start stacking up, that delicate work-life balance falls to pieces. working for 15 hours a day with short breaks for meals and sleep doesn’t contribute either to an employee’s health nor to the quality of the work he does.
HopDial’s Solution: A smart phone system won’t turn a person into a self-motivated hard-working employee overnight. However, HopDial provides a way for everyone on your staff (including yourself) be able to set their status as available or unavailable. Call routing rules can be set to depend on the presence status. For example, if a remote employee’s status is set to “Do not disturb”, an incoming call can be redirected to another team member). To the managers it is crucial to know who is available at the moment, while a visible indication helps promote self-discipline and creates a business-like mood.
How Can HopDial Help Your Employees Work From Home?
Constant connectivity
Call forwarding with bring-your-own-device compatibility makes it possible to manage your business calls from anywhere. It’s hard to miss a call when all of your devices are ringing at the same time.
Start making calls instantly
While we recommend using our latest phones and software, HopDial phones systems require no additional hardware to operate. Pick your virtual phone number and start using our comprehensive business phone system to your advantage.
Flexibility when you need it
All basic features are subject to customization: record your own greetings and menus, design call routing patterns, create blacklists and whitelists, activate/deactivate additional features as you see fit. HopDial is scalable as well and allows you to connect as many users as you need, assign any number of extensions, and more!