The Covid-19 strain of coronavirus has remained a trending topic for the last few months. CDC shares that everyone should look out for the common signs of the disease, which include coughing, a shortness of breath and fever.
Medical and cleaning products have hiked up in sales, especially for masks and hand sanitizers. The more paranoid members of society have gone on to hoard up on everyday items and foodstuff.
Entire shelves of supplies have been wiped out.
Additionally, many societal changes have been set in motion as a result. We’re seeing the suspension of large-scale congregations in schools and the implementation of work-from-home models.
In fact, a Bloomberg article stated that the outbreak has triggered the world’s largest work-from-home experiment. Businesses and organisations are trying to limit face-to-face contact while staying operational via the virtual world. The concept of working from home is no longer a privilege or luxury, but now seen as a necessity in dire times.
We look at how you can achieve maximum productivity and convenience while in the comforts of home.
BizConference
If you’re interested in making work-from-home an integral part of your long-term organisational practices, BizConference may be your answer. The video conferencing platform offered by Singtel functions through a cloud-based system.
There is a minimum charge of a one-time set up fee and 12-month subscription. BizConference enables up to 100 participants for your conferences and the monthly fees are conveniently added to your existing Singtel bill.
An advanced cloud-recording function enables you to store the details of each conference for future references.
The best part for digital natives is perhaps BizConference’s accessibility, which supports most devices, including VC room systems, mobile, desktops and telephone dial-ins.
Kanban Platforms
Kanban is a term that originates from Japan, the leading land of productivity.
It refers to a transparent management system where demand and supply are openly viewed by the people involved. Some famous kanban systems include Monday.com and Trello.
Home-based task management is made easier and more systematic with the kanban method.
Each job management pipeline is arranged according to kanban cards, which include checklists, authors, comments, and deadlines. Keeping a tab on your tasks is as simple as cycling through the cards.
Kanban platforms come with paid plans offering premium features like app integrations and increased capacity for file attachments.
However, free-to-use versions are usually sufficient for most job management tasks.
Food Delivery Subscriptions
Food remains a human need regardless of an outbreak. Yet, some people are less likely to eat out until the situation improves.
In such cases, food delivery applications are true lifesavers for your domestic lunch breaks. You’re presented with a wide range of dining options (probably more than your regular cafeteria). Your orders come with an estimated time of arrival and insightful reviews.
The downside, of course, is the pricing, which is jacked up to account for delivery fees. You can reduce the toll on your wallet by temporarily subscribing for a premium account with your preferred app.
Premium accounts provide attractive offers, discounts and may even exclude rider fees. There aren’t any minimum commitment periods, so you have the option of unsubscribing at any time according to your needs.
Remote Work – the Future of the WorkForce?
Remote work was traditionally the domain of specific vocations, such as programmers, graphic designers and call center agents. The concept has since grown to become viable for most other roles in the Digital Age.
However, working from home comes with its fair share of challenges that shouldn’t be discounted. Remote work is only successful when workers have the self-discipline to stay resolute and focused despite immediate distractions.
Workers need to be prepared to face disturbances that are usually absent from the conventional workplace. If there are noisy children at home – they’re going to be a problem.
On the other side of the same coin, the wonderful thing about working from home is that you don’t need to plan your work wardrobe, endure the insufferable commute or rush from one stressful meeting to the next.
Even so, home-based work isn’t for everyone. Many jobs still require a physical presence.
A clear distinction is seen in medical practices. It is impractical for cardiologists to perform remote examinations for heart patients. Alternatively, skin specialists from KK Hospital are already providing virtual consultations.
We’re most likely to see a renewed interest in home-based workdays.
There’s no doubt that a single one of these packed in every work week can significantly improve work life balance.
In fact, we may benefit from greater employee satisfaction across the industries and a revision of the 21st century workplace.
