Get best of the week

IT GRAD: first impressions of the remote work format

Hello, Habr! Connected is the collective mind of the cloud provider IT-GRAD. At the beginning of the week, we, like many other companies, switched to a remote mode of operation. Despite the fact that it is too early to give an unambiguous assessment of this experience, we want to share some of our own observations with you, show comments by company employees of different levels of responsibility, and at the same time draw up a checklist for switching to a remote site. It will be useful both to those to whom the wave of quarantine has not yet reached, and to those whom it has already, figuratively speaking, overwhelmed and knocked out of the usual working rhythm.



How we organized the transition to remote mode


In fact, we started preparing for the transition to the home office ahead of time, when there were only rumors about quarantine. For your convenience, we will give in the article a look at the remote format of work from different levels and points of view. This will allow us to create the most detailed picture of the transition.

Organizational level


Additional agreements were signed with all employees who were affected by changes in the operating mode. Also, since some employees needed to temporarily pick up laptops with personal information from the office, appropriate permissions were signed with them.

In order to create a more detailed picture with you, at each stage we will give the floor to our specialized specialists. “Firsthand” they will talk about the transition to a remote mode of operation within their area of ​​responsibility.

, -

, , , -.

- -. , . , « », .

, , . , . , , .


We had to make sure that all specialists, from developers to accountants and managers, would be able to work remotely in the same way as in the immediate workplace.
Being an IT company, we are fully provided with all the necessary specialists who helped to debug key business processes for functioning in a new mode. So on day “D” we were completely ready for the transition and completed it without any excesses in just a couple of hours. Our customers can indirectly confirm that nothing fell, did not break and did not start to slow down.

Perhaps the technical aspect of the transition was given to us the easiest. We illustrate this thesis with two more comments.
,

, .

VDI , - ( , , ITSM-, ) . , , . .

, , , .

, , , . IaaS .
,

…, , ? , . , , , . «» , . , 2010- , . , , : «» , VPN. - , «» , - .

? . () : — . - , , . , , .

, — , , : “-, , ?”


Managers needed to pre-discuss discipline issues within their departments and introduce some metrics to track staff performance.

During the first days of remote work, all company employees showed their best side: no gross disciplinary violations were detected, people understand that a working day at a table in an office differs from a working day on their own couch only by having a cat or other family members nearby (who also showed full civic consciousness).
, -

– - , , . , , . — , - .

— - «-». . , , .




The marketing department of IT-GRAD is one of the most mobile divisions of the company. In addition to full-time employees, outsourced specialists are in the department structure. The transition to a remote format of work did not become something extraordinary and was adequately perceived by the team. In fairness, it is worth noting that rumors of impending quarantine have been circulating in the information field for quite some time, and the team was both psychologically and functionally ready for change.
, B2B

, - . , . .

, . -, . , , Trello.
,

. , . , , - , - .

: , , . . , , .

— . . , , - .

: , - . , .

– «» . . , , .



We give the floor to Alik Fakhrutdinov , head of customer support.
. . , . «» , , .

, , , . - VDI , — , .

«» . — , .

8 20 — , . — . :)

. . — , , . . , .

-


, -

- — -, . « , », . 85%. 15% — , , , .

. , , ! , , -, .

, , , , , , SLA . , .

– , -, , . , , (, ). .
«». , . .

. , « ». — : .

— , . , .

. . , , .
, , - , . , !

-


In conclusion, we present a small checklist, which may be useful to you if the transition to a remote site in your company is only being prepared or is not going as smoothly as we would like. Of course, the checklist is based on our subjective experience, but most of the recommendations are universal and can be applied in your company, adjusted for the characteristics of your business and internal organization.

0. Any “unforeseen" circumstances should be prepared in advance. Analyze the information field, study the news, which is even minimally related to your work, and think over the steps to minimize the negative consequences of force majeure. As they say, you can’t be ready for anything, but this does not mean that you don’t need to prepare for anything at all.

1. Study the legislative framework - it is difficult to prepare documents at an emergency pace, therefore, following the “zero” paragraph of the checklist, you should clearly know how to act in a given situation from the point of view of the law. Turning to udalenka, do not forget to sign all the necessary documents with employees.

2. Always think about employee motivation. It is motivation that makes them not only appear at work on a schedule, but work efficiently, for results. It’s hard for many people to part, even for a while, with the usual working order. This can cause both disciplinary problems and a drop in employee performance.

3. Take care of the computer literacy of your staff. In the context of remote work, the ability to use a PC is not just a line in a resume, but a necessity.

4. Motivation is, of course, good, but it is also impossible to loosen control over executive discipline. Involve department managers, explain to them the importance of the situation. No employee should fall out of sight of superiors and colleagues. The team must remain a team.

5. Implement corporate means of communication: instant messengers, CRM, personal equipment. This will allow employees to be mobile and work efficiently both at regular times and on a remote site.

6. Consider organizing remote access to corporate resources.

7. The rules of remote work should be published for employees before the transition, so that there is an opportunity to discuss and adjust them on the fly.

8. Trust your employees. It is on them that your business rests. Dragon control measures will only push people away from you, reduce motivation and worsen performance. Everything should be in moderation: and control, and encouragement, and trust.

9. Do not lock the office or force people out of the office. An employee should always be able to return to the office for some important business.

10. By your own example, demonstrate a positive attitude to colleagues and subordinates.

11. Continuing paragraph 6, ensure that it is within your power to ensure the safe arrival and presence of employees in the office: disinfect rooms and workplaces, reduce the number of personal contacts between employees.

12. Do not be afraid of the appropriate implementation of technology in your business. Modern cloud technologies can ensure the functioning of any office from anywhere in the world. Experiment, master new tools for organizing your workflow and trust your colleagues, then no pandemics can affect the effectiveness of the team.

UPD: clarified the title of the article.

More articles:


All Articles