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Effective Remote Worker Programs

Effective Remote Worker Programs

First and foremost, we hope everyone is safe and coping with the current state of affairs. Colden Company is a service-based organization and we are here to help in any way we can.

One of the most common requests we have received recently, to no one’s surprise, is to assist in setting up remote worker plans as stay-at-home directives have come down from various state and local governments. If your organization doesn’t have a policy in place, don’t worry, you are not alone. Most businesses are in a position of developing their plan on the fly as circumstances have changed. Those that did have plans in place, did not envision the scale and scope of this COVID-19 challenge and were forced to modify their plans anyway. Let us share what we have learned from our time helping many businesses around the United States set up their remote worker programs.

  1. Start with developing your policy.  Appoint someone or a team to oversee this process and determine who will need remote access, what resources these users will need access to, and how will they get that remote access.  Will they use personal computers? Will they be taking company computers offsite? If you are a business that has compliance requirements, security cannot be an afterthought.  Do you have data exfiltration policies in place to protect sensitive data? If you are allowing personal computer to connect to your network remotely, can you ensure:
    • Supported operating system that is patched to current levels.
    • Reputable anti-virus with active scanning
    • Hardware or software firewall enabled
    • Secure wireless
    • Strong passwords
  2. Determine the right technology. Most people assume setting up a VPN will suffice for remote access.  That is not always the case. It is important that you understand your application requirements.  Some applications do not perform under the limited bandwidth conditions that VPN provides.  A different solution may be necessary for those situations, such as Remote Desktop.
  3. Determine communications methods. How flexible is your phone system? Most VoIP systems offer flexibility to move phones or use FindMe, FollowMe technology to route calls as you need. There are also software solutions like Microsoft Teams that can provide video conferencing and computer-based phone calls to facilitate communications.

Communication will be a primary key to success. Let employees know what the expectations will be, follow through and assist those that need reassurance.  Have regular meetings with team members and keep it positive.  Challenging times can bring out the best in us all.  We can do this!

If you have any questions about this or want to get started on your policies, please feel free to reach out to us at (888) 600-4560 by phone, or info@coldencompany.com via email.

jiml

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