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Oct 03

All leaders must adapt to the new world of work

By Sponsor Insight

Establishing an employee-centric work environment is a good business strategy

by Sara Johnson, director, executive education, clinical associate professor

The world of work is changing — and so are workers’ expectations. The call to leaders is clear: Adapt now or risk the organization’s future.

Adaptability is one of the keys to effective leadership. Those who adapt well know how to adjust their style when the situation calls for it. Another key is continual learning — being willing to find new ways to do things that will help you lead others and your organization while also improving worker satisfaction and organizational outcomes.

These elements of effective leadership are especially necessary in our current work environment. As employees around the world return to offices and worksites, leaders must recognize and act upon the reality of our new world of work. Not doing so means potentially losing good workers and watching organizations fail as a result. The price of this turnover can have a ripple effect on our communities and society, including economic impacts, hiring challenges, and an increased competition for quality workers.

Evidence of a workforce shift already is mounting. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 11.5 million workers quit their jobs between April and June of 2021. People are rethinking what is important to them and … well … it’s no longer “business as usual.”

According to Shahar Erez, CEO of the freelance talent platform Stoke, “The Great Resignation is propelled by three forces: the changing generation, the economic crisis, and the realization among employees that they can have a different social contract — spending more time with family when they work remote and skip the commute.”

In addition to those factors, workers say personal safety also is a consideration during the ongoing pandemic. As new strains of COVID-19 spread, working in a collective environment doesn’t feel safe to some.

Navigating a changing landscape

So, how does a leader adapt to navigate these new realities? Learning fast is necessary as is recognizing that what was once important to their workforce is no longer a priority. In the 2000s, many companies focused on fun — creating workspaces with recreational activities so that their employees could play and decompress at work. Fast forward to today and fun has fallen by the wayside.

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “Future-Proofing Your Organization,” the authors note that what matters to employees now is having their work connect to a meaningful purpose. They also value inclusiveness and autonomy. Workers want to be trusted to do their jobs — on their terms, and leaders need to understand how to balance their employees’ personal needs with the company’s ongoing business strategy.

For years, we have said that a good business strategy includes a focus on customers. Customer-centric business practices have been put in place to achieve this strategic goal. It is now time to use employee-centric business practices that will meet the needs and demands of your workforce; a
workforce that will now choose where to work based on how autonomously and meaningfully they can work.

Leaders, my advice to you is this: Quickly make the shift to being more employee centric. While it may force you into uncharted waters, adapting will help the future success of your organization, those you serve, and your employees as we navigate this new world of work.

Jun 21

Developing a successful hybrid-work model

By Sponsor Insight

By Cody Lents, Partner and Change Manager at COVI, Inc.

Empower employees with choice
As vaccinations trend up and restrictions trend down, a significant number of workers are set to return to the office in coming months. Your extroverted employees are undoubtedly excited. However, their introverted counterparts may not share the same enthusiasm. So, how can you maximize morale and culture to enable the best performance out of both groups?: A thoughtfully-designed hybrid Work-from-Home (WFH) model that prioritizes both the needs of your organization’s employees and processes.

Lay the groundwork for success
The first critical step in transitioning into a hybrid WFH model is developing and communicating processes that level the playing field for both in-house and remote workers. Set clear expectations about your organization’s internal communications, cyber insurance, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, etc., to ensure that remote workers don’t feel left behind compared to their in-person colleagues.

While remote work can be an opportunity to cut “traditional” office costs, leverage it as an opportunity to invest in your workforce. Consider using what your organization saves on overhead to provide your employees with a stipend to make working remotely more comfortable. This allows employees to outfit themselves at home with equipment like an ergonomic chair, an extra monitor, noise-canceling headphones, etc.

At the office, consider re-developing your organization’s layout to better accommodate a hybrid approach: dedicated “open-space” plans for those in and out of the office, private offices for focused work, and spaces specifically designed to encourage collaboration/socialization both face-to-face and virtually.

Invest in your infrastructure
The next critical step in transitioning your organization to a hybrid approach is ensuring your infrastructure is capable of handling the needs of employees working in different spaces. Now may be the time to upgrade your organization’s software to the enterprise level so that you can take advantage of security, communication and collaboration features.

Migrating your organization’s servers to the cloud is another way to streamline efficiency for your remote workforce. This makes it easier for your employees to collaborate and share files via a centralized location in which they can upload/save their work to.

Don’t compromise on security
With employees using a mixture of personal and company devices, it’s imperative that your organization communicates a clear security policy to ensure the safety of your data. The following three steps are a great start to a more secure digital infrastructure:

  • Determining what endpoint protection your remote workers need will aid in virus prevention. Windows Defender is a great antivirus software included in Windows 10, however, it does not meet the compliancy and security minimums of today’s security landscape.
  • Implementing two-factor authentication [2FA] is a secure way to ensure that only admins and users are allowed into accounts that would otherwise be vulnerable to cyber attacks.
  • Utilizing a virtual environment that allows devices to connect to a secure server or service, as opposed to a user’s internet connection, allows your organization to keep information encrypted, private, and safe.

Questions?
Now is the perfect time for a comprehensive technology assessment to prepare for the new-normal in our evolved workspaces. If you want to discuss what an assessment entails or if you need assistance implementing a hybrid-work approach for your organization, reach out to COVI at cody@gocovi.com for help. COVI is an Information Technology (IT) agency specializing in productivity, security, support and strategy services, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Apr 12

What’s next?: Make the most of a hybrid work model through strategic planning

By Feature

Local research team reveals the challenges of building an effective plan post-COVID-19, and how to overcome them

by Shari Finnell

As organizations shift their focus to a return to “normal” after COVID-19 restrictions, many leaders are realizing that they must prepare for an entirely new normal — one that accommodates employees’ desire to introduce more flexible work-from-home policies as permanent options.

Leaders can use this unprecedented crossroads to lead their organizations to a more productive environment — with the right planning, according to Sam Julka, president and founder of Doris, a company commissioned to research how remote and in-person working models impact productivity.

Sam Julka,
president and founder of Doris

Doris, which recently released a comprehensive planning guide, “Hello, Hybrid: Your Workplace Playbook:,” captured data and insights from 16 organizations throughout the Midwest to determine the different factors that contributed to work productivity under a hybrid model.

“We studied that concept very deeply,” said Julka, during a recent interview with Charitable Advisors. “We learned there were multiple definitions of the word ‘productivity.’ We also learned through this study that the hybrid work model was going to be where many organizations wind up.”

Organizations that successfully implement hybrid work models can reap numerous benefits, including higher employee retention and optimal recruiting outcomes, Julka said. However, the transition may be difficult. When compared with fully remote and fully in-person work models, hybrid models will be the most challenging to execute well for numerous reasons, Julka said.

For example, the research revealed numerous complexities beyond determining if employees will all work in the office on specified days. Teams will need to figure out policies and protocols around factors like ensuring that employees take PTO; whether it’s acceptable to send and respond to emails beyond normal work hours, managing employees’ work hours to ensure they are avoiding burnout, and assessing career advancement opportunities — whether an employee chooses to work from home or fully in the office, Julka said during the interview.

“The playbook is really meant to help any organization, specifically a leadership team that’s trying to figure out their path forward,” she said. “Instead of writing a research paper, which is what we most often do, we ended up creating a tool to make it as helpful as possible for various organizations.”

Julka noted that the playbook will guide teams through comprehensive planning and deep conversations around their hybrid model, taking into consideration scenarios that are unique to their workplace.

“I don’t think that leadership teams are going to be able to read five white papers, and then just all of sudden have the answers. There won’t be a silver bullet that everyone will be able to follow,” Julka said.

“If you’re going to do a hybrid model, you have to do a very good job of thinking deeply about what your model may look like,” she added. “There will be rigor involved in trying to figure this out, and it will be harder than it was when we all just sort of dropped the pencil at our desk in March of 2020. It will be harder as we start to figure out how to come back effectively.”

Julka also said it is important to anticipate some failure points in all the variables as organizations adapt to a new way of working. It also is critical to recognize that the foundation of a healthy hybrid model is trust and accountability among the workforce,” she said.

“If an organization is thinking about a hybrid model, our recommendation would be to have some pretty serious conversations about what it means to trust your workforce, trust your leaders and how you’re going to all hold each other accountable for what’s going to happen,” Julka said.

To hear the full interview with Sam Julka of Doris, click below.

Mar 15

Make Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) practices easy and secure

By Sponsor Insight

Save your organization a collective headache with software and hardware that make remote work easier, safer, and more secure.

by Cody Lents, partner and change manager, COVI, Inc.

With nearly 42% of the American workforce continuing to work remotely, you’ve undoubtedly had firsthand experience with an unreliable home connection, or tried connecting with a peer who has had challenges. A normally fine broadband connection can suddenly come to a grinding halt when family members and neighbors all sign on for remote work and school.

The easy solution? Higher speeds and more bandwidth. Unfortunately, that is not always available. The best alternative? A dedicated hotspot.

Establishing a reliable home connection
While mobile hotspots work great in a pinch to provide connectivity when and where you need it, a dedicated hotspot device can offer even more capability — allowing you to tap into organizational resources via a VPN pass-through, and options that enable users to block devices and “whitelist” media access control (MAC) for added security. Additionally, it allows you to make calls and use the data connection on your phone without draining its battery as a hotspot.

The Skyroam Solis (to leverage AT&T and T-Mobile networks) and Verizon JetPack are two great examples of a dedicated device that will ensure your team never experiences a glitchy, lagging Zoom call again.

Securing personal devices for work
An IBM Survey found that 53% of remote workers are on a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, using their personal devices for work. However, about 61% of respondents say their employer provided no tools on how to properly secure those devices. The use of personal devices for work puts your organization’s data at risk of cyber-attack.

Implementing a security infrastructure, such as a VPN or gateway is the best investment your organization can make to ensure the safety and security of your technology:

Virtualized remote services
Solutions like Microsoft’s RDS/Published Apps, Citrix, or AWS’ App Stream, enable organizations to allow their employees remote and secure access to their infrastructure’s resources. By tapping into their physical office PCs, employees have access to all the applications, data and resources they need to do their work — eliminating the need for any other virtual desktops/applications to accommodate teleworking. Virtualized Remote Access can provide aa safe, secure option for all.

Alternatively, Amazon offers two options that facilitate connection to your dedicated digital infrastructure via its IT management subsidiary, Amazon Web Services (AWS):

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), such as the AWS-managed VPN, enable you to create an encrypted connection over the public Internet between a private Amazon cloud and your organization’s infrastructure, allowing for the application of your existing security policies.

VPNs are a convenient connectivity option for smaller organizations just beginning with AWS, though utilizing public internet can present some security concern for those looking to better protect their data. However, such security policies are invasive and can cause issues and confusion if connected to BYOD devices without clearly articulated and accepted company policies.

AWS-Direct Connect bypasses public Internet and establishes a secure connection from your organization’s infrastructure into AWS by connecting an Ethernet cable from your router into another AWS Direct Connect router. This option is great for organizations that are seeking secure, ultra-low latency connectivity. Though the process can be more involved, Direct Connect provides a predictable network performance and 60% cost savings.

Questions?
If you need assistance making remote work smoother for your organization, reach out to COVI at cody@gocovi.com for help. COVI is an Information Technology (IT) agency specializing in productivity, security, support and strategy services, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Aug 17

Managing telecommuters

By Feature, Leadership

By Gabe Duverge, copywriter, Grace College and Theological Seminary

A recent study from the Society for Human Resource Management found 38 percent of employers in the United States allow some of their workers to work from home on a regular basis, up from 23 percent in 2008. This 15 percent increase demonstrates just how quickly telecommuting is taking hold in the work place.

The primary concern for companies when considering telecommuting policies are what the costs and benefits could be. Although high-profile companies like Yahoo are ending the practice in their organization all together, there are still plenty of companies that have found success in remote management. Here are some of the key benefits of telecommuting from employer statistics group.

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Aug 17

Consider telecommuting from Montana

By Feature, Leadership

By Eric Whitney, reporter, Montana Public Radio

Most local economic development schemes focus on creating jobs. Many offer incentives to startup companies, or try to lure existing companies to relocate.

But a campaign in Montana is turning that on its head. It’s not trying to recruit companies but rather employees to come to the sparsely populated state and telecommute.

David Blackburn works for a financial services firm in Jersey City, N.J. He and his wife both have six-figure incomes, but real estate in the New York City area is so expensive that they have to live kind of far from their jobs.

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