As employers raced to prepare and equip workers to work remotely in all too many cases they missed a critical piece to the puzzle, asking employees for their feedback.
While both internal IT departments and external vendors rushed to deploy hardware and software for remote work from home most failed to ask how it all was/is working. Just because a computer can connect to the internet does not mean that all is well in Shangri-la. Some examples of what to ask are-
Are you able to connect to the network consistently
Can you share files routinely and reliably
Is your screen size sufficient to do your job efficiently and productively
Do you run into any technology hurdles consistently
Are you comfortable with all of the new tools and services that we have provided to you
What technical differences have you noticed working remotely versus onsite
Equipped with this information IT departments and vendors can make adjustments as needed. This is important because employees already have enough stress to deal with during this pandemic plus as we all know, a happy and well-served employee is a productive employee. Furthermore when the employees are happy worker productivity remains high as does company profitability.
I encourage you to learn a lesson from the late former Mayor of New York, Ed Koch. Wherever he went as Mayor he always asked everyone the same question, "how am I doing?" My lesson and quote on this are different but in the same vein, "if you don't ask, they can't tell."
So while technology may power our businesses, human beings use it. Please don't leave them out of the equation, they will be grateful for your interest and concern.
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