Google Offers Work From Home Tips Based On Employee Survey 

Google recently spoke with more than 5,000 of their employees to figure out the best remote working practices that they’ve experienced within the past six months. Chief executive Sundar Pichai recently announced that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Google would be extending their work from home policy until at least July 2021. Before making this decision the company surveyed their employees to better grasp what was working, and what wasn’t in terms of remote working. 

The main thing Google wanted to focus on with their employees was their well-being, performance quality, communication with one another, and productivity from home. They found that making team meetings a priority was extremely important for maintaining a positive company culture virtually. These meetings are often the only time employees communicate with each other “face-to-face” via video conferencing. 

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Google has also recommended that all of its team leaders take a special interest in their employees personal lives and getting to know them on a deeper level. Enduring working through a pandemic together has proven to be a bonding experience for many companies, and Google wants their business model to exhibit that. 

Being present is also key to a healthy work environment in general, but especially when workers aren’t able to be in each other’s presence. Specifically, Google recommends making sure all employee cameras are on during group video conferences, but muting your microphone when it’s most practical to not distract from whoever is speaking in the moment. They also recommend giving both verbal and non-verbal cues of agreeance (“yeah that’s a good plan”, “most definitely!”) so employees really feel like they’re being listened to. 

While it’s important to also give your employees their space to actually do their work, industry and team leaders should make it a point to check in with everyone at least once a day. Even if it’s just a quick message exchange about the weekend, it’s important to keep communication up so employees feel comfortable to go to one another when life and work gets overwhelming; as it has for most of us at this point in time. 

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It’s also important for team leaders especially to recognize and praise their employees’ good work. Now that we’re all working on a more independent level at home, it can be easy for our hard work to get overlooked. Receiving a message from your boss praising you for a specific completed task of any kind will keep morale up, and greater build that bond between you and your workers. 

Google also recommends that employers discuss a list of “norms” that all employees need to abide by with their work. These norms could include expectations for email response times, taking days off, who to go to when your having difficulty with a certain task, the easiest ways to communicate with you and other higher-up employees, and how often everyone should be checking in with one another, even to just say “hey, how have you been this week?” 

Finally, make sure your company is using a digital platform that is easy and accessible for everyone. Not every meeting needs to be a video conference and not every clerical error needs to be addressed with a phone call. Digital platforms like slack, discord, whatsapp, etc. make it easy for employees to quickly message each other for clarification/checking-in. So when discussing the list of norms with your employees, make sure to mention which mediums of communication are most appropriate for specific tasks or issues.