The pandemic times have caused many companies to change their management methods, starting with workplaces that have become employees' own homes. Those who were used to serving clients in the office also had to adapt and learn. tips from online service at home office.
However, this has given rise to a series of difficulties that prevent them from performing this work well. In this article we will show you what they are and also tips on how to overcome them from good practices on how to work with home care.
How is online service applied in the home office?
Since it began to be carried out remotely, online service gained autonomy from the people who carry it out. After all, when it is done at home, company employees no longer have their colleagues and managers at their side with whom they can ask questions about the guidelines. day.
By the way, for it to be well done, it is recommended that the environment is also as conducive as possible, which includes a good table and comfortable chair to maintain the level of productivity.
It is also advisable for people to work in a room in the house solely dedicated to this. However, those who live in small places (such as conjoined apartments, for example) can follow some tips such as:
- dress as if you were going to work in the office, as this helps you get into the modus operandi of work;
- avoid having objects that can cause distraction;
- use productive methods such as GTD ou Pomodoro to help prioritize actions and make better use of time respectively.
Thus, the home office can be done efficiently so that the service does not lose the level of quality. Of course, that doesn't stop problems from appearing, as we'll talk about next.
What are the difficulties and challenges of putting online service into practice?
Here we raise the main problems experienced by service professionals while working in the home office. Thus, we emphasize the importance of putting ourselves in their shoes, as these difficulties are present in the routine of many people who work from home.
Lack of focus
The environment favors the good execution of the work, this explains why some people feel more productive when they work in offices. However, this scenario changes during home office work, as the work point becomes the residence itself.
As we are used to doing various personal activities at home, it is common for us to lose focus at times. For this reason, since people started working from home, they have had the impression that they dedicate more time to professional tasks than they did in the days when they did so at the company.
Procrastination
As well as lack of focus, procrastination is another problem commonly faced in the home office. After all, while working in the office, we try to fulfill all the tasks within the shift period. But when we are fully in the place of toil, many think that it doesn't matter how long they can be done.
This is an invitation to procrastination and it can become a snowball, because a task that must be done today, but you leave it for tomorrow, ends up adding to the one you needed to do yesterday, but left for today.
Distractions
As we said above, there are many activities we do at home that are not work-related, especially for those who live with their family. Children running around the house, a dog barking, the neighbor who turns on the makita at seven in the morning…there are countless everyday situations that can lead us to distraction.
Even those who live alone and in quiet environments can fall into this trap. Just a glance to the side and any element of the house can cut your concentration during work: the book on the bedside table you were reading the night before, the dishes you need to wash sometime, the furniture you've been coming to for a long time. thinking about changing places, among others.
delays
All these difficulties cause deliveries to be delayed. You know the report that was supposed to be delivered on Monday? Maybe he'll be ready by Wednesday. What about the closing of the month that needs to be ready by noon? It may be that it is finished only at the end of business hours.
Therefore, delays can happen, which made some companies flexible about this after the home office was adopted. But there are tasks that cannot be delayed, such as sending documents or the time given to a customer to resolve a problem during service.
communication failure
This is another problem that has arisen because of the difference between face-to-face and remote work. At the physical location, when the employee needs to talk to his superior or have a quick question about the service being performed, all he has to do is look for him and call him to talk. But in online mode, how can this be done?
Some use email, WhatsApp, others the firm's intranet. But, in both ways, the response can take a long time, which impairs the progress of the service and, above all, customer satisfaction. If internal communication is not efficient, the external one will hardly bring the results that the company wants to achieve in order to grow.
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Tips for online service at home office
Well, now that we have seen the difficulties that the online service professional goes through, let's go to the tips that can solve them once and for all.
1. Organize online training
The first step is to organize a online training that involves all employees who perform the online service.
This training needs to involve good work practices so that it is performed as efficiently as it would be in the office or call center.
Thus, tips to contain distractions at home that lead to procrastination, delays and lack of focus should also be passed on during this training, so it is important that you collect the difficulties that your remote employees have to raise these guidelines.
2. Have fast and constant communication
When the work is done remotely, this does not mean that the people involved also need to be “distant”, which implies failures and delays in communication. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to have tools that optimize it and, equally, an organizational culture that makes it work.
The most appropriate tool should be aimed at creating the intranet. THE Slack, for example, allows you to create groups for the company's departments and also to chat privately with each member.
We say that organizational culture is essential because it should emphasize the importance of always being connected to the intranet to respond to messages that arrive there in a priority and agile way.
Thus, if an employee has a question during a service and needs to contact his/her superior, he/she can do so via private message and receive a response quickly to the point of not leaving the customer being served waiting.
3. Acquire tools for customer service
In addition to the intranet, tools for customer service are essential and we don't just refer to the program used for this function.
No software runs well if the computer is not good, right? Therefore, it is necessary that everyone has notebooks that work very well so that the service is done with quality and agility.
In addition, if customers are served by video or voice, headsets and fast internet must also be provided for company members.
4. Monitor service indicators
When we work side by side in the same environment, it is easier to check the level of service provided by each of your employees. However, it is not possible to do the same when the work is online.
Therefore, have a moment in your daily or weekly routine to analyze the service indicators in order to know if everyone is doing them the right way and what are the points that should be optimized to make them even better.
5. Observe employee development
Monitoring also has the function of observing the development of each employee within the service. To see how it is evolving internally, also make sure to periodically schedule a 1-on-1 meeting.
This type of meeting aims to find out how the employee is feeling about work and what their professional goals are so that you align them with the company's goals.
This time also serves to find out what difficulties they have been having in relation to work so that you can guide them in the best way.
By following these online service tips at the home office, you will be able to apply it in the right way and that benefits everyone.
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