Using Curation of Tech to be a WFH Hero

Mark Casady, General Partner, Vestigo Ventures

Mark Casady, General Partner, Vestigo Ventures

We have seen so many businesses work to cope with the new normal in working from home. Do not go it alone as there are so many services readily available to help.

Using technology and innovation is critical in this new world to find the best tools for collaboration and engagement. Knowing what cloud based white board to use, for example, for sharing ideas remotely along with the right video conference system for your needs takes some time to sort out. You likely have those in place now so focus on culture and supporting your employees.

Lets turn to what employees need at home. They need insight and instruction on best practices for work from home. This can include making sure they delineate work time from personal time which is much harder with no commute to break up a day. They need to take time away to take a walk or recharge their energy.

Asking them frequently via surveys are very helpful for getting feedback on how it is going for everyone. Using it to spot issues early and address them is key.

Organizing events that are fun and informative are critical as well. This can be a short daily video meeting by team that helps them stay connected. Or it can be an all employee meeting to learn how the business is performing in the stressful times. Do not over do it and make it exhausting but rather engage on the right topics at the right time.

Even more important is to get fun organized as well. A virtual cocktail hour is a popular one for many. Do not forget birthdays or work anniversaries to find an excuse to take time together laughing and sharing stories. Using technology here is critical. For example you can have a virtual goat come to a meeting or use a funny background for your video call to spice up a session.

Then we turn to technology in the broadest sense of the word. Getting new benefits and offers to employees is a way to engage them and show the company cares about their well being. These do not have to cost the HR team anything more than time. It’s about assembling a selection depending on your employee population’s demographics and interests.

We focus on technology based companies as venture capitalists but we love seeing how they can help employees. We have seen pet wellness from Wagmo to student loan management from Vault taken up by companies for new perks. There are many great choices.

We know money stresses have gotten even heavier in these times. Imagine getting them access to Cushion which negotiates with their bank to reduce fees. Or providing a credit consulting service from Clerkie to have their credit scores improve. Finally for a little fun, check out Long Game in the app store of your choice to see how to teach savings using games.

All of these ideas of engagement are about using technology wisely. You do not need to build it but rather curate it for your company to be a WFH hero.