A Deeper Look at the Work-From-Home Life

Being able to work from home is an experience that is quite the opposite of working within an office. The facade of working from home looks like a dream scenario, however, there are some imperfections and obstacles one must deal with. If you’re considering working from home, be aware of the possible hurdles so you can be as productive as possible.

Stick to Your Hours

Being able to work from home will give you the opportunity to set your own hours (within reason of course) that work best for you. However, in order to be successful and stay in the work mindset, one must strictly stick to these hours. There will be distractions at home that won’t be experienced in the office like children and pets in need, unexpected visitors, and the availability of personal belongings. It’s important to communicate with loved ones (and more importantly — yourself) that you are essentially not home and are “in the office.”

It’s All on You

Working from home means there are no other employees around to chat with, which can be a good and bad thing. There will be less chit chat to distract you, but there will also be no one around to assist with problems or to work with on certain projects. Your daily or weekly workload is yours and yours alone that you are solely responsible for completing. A person’s self-responsibility will truly be tested when they work from home.

Stay in Contact

The allure of working from home and not having to talk with anyone might be an introvert’s dream, but contact with other people in your business is still needed. Email and work chats should be used regularly for quick and efficient communication with fellow employees and clients. Phone calls and video conferencing should also be utilized when working on larger group projects and for meetings among employees. The best tool available to someone working from home is a VoIP phone system. With features like call forwarding, call tracking, video conferencing, etc., VoIP can make communicating from home that much easier!

Working from home sounds like the best work perk available, but it can be hard to accomplish without the right mindset and tools. In order to make working from home more efficient, consider a VoIP phone system from Reliable Voice & Data Systems. To learn more or to schedule a free estimate, give us a call at (877) 385-6657.

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How to Achieve a Proper Work-Life Balance in Your Small Business

Trying to get your small business to the next level is not only a full-time job, it can oftentimes be your entire life! While it is good to have passion and goals for your business, you don’t want to burn yourself out (or your employee) to the point of not having a life outside of your work. In order to achieve the perfect work-life balance, you should…

Train Now, Relax Later

Having only one or two people (usually managers) that know how to complete certain tasks will keep those people in the office, oftentimes when they shouldn’t be. It’s important to make sure that multiple employees know how to complete a variety of tasks. This will allow people in higher positions to be able to leave without worrying that something isn’t able to be done without them. Proper training for all may take some time, but will make everyone’s lives easier down the road.

Make Office Hours Known

As the owner (or manager) of a small business, many people come to you with a million different questions and requests. To keep your day on track with minimal distractions, set aside a specific time of your day to allow for people to come to you with anything they need. This will eliminate unannounced visits from clients, vendors, or other employees. Now you will have a set time for you to complete your workload while also having time to interact with the people that make your business what it is!

Turn Off and Go Home

At a certain time each day, make it a point to leave the building of the business, avoid checking your emails, and turn off your phone. Going home is the first step, but with smartphones, email, and VoIP technology, staying connected to your business is at the tips of your fingers. Every once in awhile it’s okay to work from home after work, but try not to make this an everyday thing. If you’re the type of person who wants to keep an eye on your business, consider installing CCTV security cameras to keep an eye on the place when you’re not there.

Setting specific rules and guidelines for work will help you and your employees achieve the right work-life balance. When your business is ready to install VoIP phone systems and CCTV security cameras, contact Reliable Voice & Data Systems. To learn more or to schedule a free estimate, give us a call at (877) 385-6657.

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How More Collaboration Can Help Your Small Business

A successful business is one that has employees who work together and collaborate on projects and tasks. Working together has benefits that one can’t experience by working alone. If you want your small business to reach the level of growth you expect, incorporate more collaboration between employees.

Take Advantage of Strengths

Having employees work together on a project will result in each person being assigned a specific task. When working together properly, each employees should be assigned to the task that they can do the most efficiently of any other person in the group. By identifying the strengths of each worker, the business will benefit from everyone doing the best job they can.

Increased Efficiency

Now that employees are assigned to their specific task (their strength), they will know who is doing what job. Knowing who is doing what job will prevent tasks from being duplicated, or worse — not completed at all. Having everyone involved and aware of everyone else’s jobs can cause projects to be finished ahead of schedule and at a lower cost to the business. If that wasn’t enough, knowing who is doing what job will allow an employee to ask the right person for training in something they feel they aren't effective in.

What Can Help?

Many businesses will have their employees work together, but a common problem can arise — not every employee is in the same central location. If a business has employees in multiple buildings, working from home, or constantly on business trips, they will all need a way to reliably communicate. The answer is a business VoIP phone system. VoIP will allow your employees to communicate with each other via video conferencing, cell phone connectivity, and call forwarding.

Employees who work together to accomplish the goals of the business will help launch the success of that business to new heights! When your business is ready to switch to a VoIP phone system, contact Reliable Voice & Data Systems. To learn more or to schedule a free estimate, give us a call at (877) 385-6657.

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