We all value work and family balance. But during the holidays, that seesaw tends to teeter more toward family, even when end-of-year deadlines hang over our heads. No one wants to be the office jerk who says NO to flexible working routines. Saying YES may open up your business to lowered productivity and increased security risks—unless you have clear Work-From-Home (WFH) strategies.
A recent study by Tenable found that 67% of business-impacting cyberattacks targeted remote employees. Working remotely is like having your cake and eating it too. Still, it’s entirely appropriate to ask your employees (and yourself) to eat the cake at the dinner table. What we mean is that to support your employees’ productivity and company security, make sure you’re implementing some Work-From-Anywhere (WFA) best practices. Just as they can’t eat the cake off the floor, if your employees are going to work from home or Grandma’s basement, they need to check that their setup meets simple expectations.
WFH/WFA Best Practices:
A Decent Internet Connection
Most video calls require at least 5 Mbps, but 50 to 100 Mbps ensures that multiple people can stream at once without issues.
Access Shared Company Resources
Make sure employees have tested their connection off your company’s network BEFORE they leave. Can they access the VPN? Are their login credentials stored safely in a password manager?
A Place to Work
Preferably a room with a door (that closes…and locks). Nobody wants Grandma crashing a Teams meeting. Noise-canceling headphones are also an excellent idea.
Agree on Core Working Hours
If your employees are working remotely (not taking vacation), make sure they’ve agreed to be available at certain times, including team meetings. Yes, this means they can’t watch their kids and should have childcare set up.
Have a Project
Especially for short-term WFH situations, having a clearly outlined deliverable is an easily tracked productivity metric. They either got it done or they didn’t.
Have A Cybersecurity Policy
According to Tenable’s survey, 98% of remote workers use a personal device for work every single day. A cybersecurity policy includes all aspects of your company, not just remote work. However, remote work is unique, and you may need to take extra steps to protect your business if remote work is happening at your company.
This includes installing security software on devices and enforcing multi-factor authentication on their device, work applications, and when accessing the company’s network. Train your team on at-home security, like how to spot phishing emails, create strong passwords and keep kids or other family members away from work devices.
Remember…
Nobody wants to get tied up in a security snafu or lose productivity over remote work. Make remote work policies a core pillar of your company so that whenever an employee requests time off, you have a policy in place to ensure they can do their best work and do it safely!
Reach out to us at IT Radix to set up a short call about the three most important things needed for a secure WFH environment.
First published in our August 2024 IT Radix Resource newsletter