Tech Essentials for Remote Workers
Any telecommuting position, whether you work remotely from home, a coffee shop, or a co-working facility, will mean that workers need to be able to communicate at all times and have specific tools for the job. Depending on the role, you may need different technology, but there are some key tech tools that anyone who works remotely will need. This article tells you what tech you generally need.
Internet Connection
An internet connection is vital for nearly all jobs where you work remotely. Numerous firms demand that their remote workers subscribe to a high-speed and reliable internet connection like DSL or Cable. For many roles, a minimal or slow connection will not suffice to keep up with the demands of the role when you work from home.
A Headset
Depending on your role you may need a noise-cancelling headset. If you are doing phone work for extended periods of time a headset is essential. Likewise, if you need to participate in many online meetings a headset can be very useful.
Printer and Scanner
If you work remotely, it is essential to have a printer with scanning and photocopying capabilities. Depending on your role, you may not need it for your daily tasks. However, in most jobs, you will need to print out information, lists, contracts, photocopy documents and more. You will probably need to sign documents and scan them, and send them off to your employer or other members of staff.
Webcam
When working remotely, it is often important to have a webcam. If you are teaching or need to attend online business meetings, you will need video conferencing capabilities. Most laptops come with built-in cameras and all you need to do is download the software your company uses to connect, such as Skype. However, if you have a desktop computer you may need to purchase a webcam.
Savvy Software and Apps
As a remote worker you may find certain apps and software can help you organize your work better or liaise with other team members. For example, if you work on a global team where your colleagues are spread across the world, it be hard keeping track of who is in which time zone and when they are available for meetings or likely to respond to a call. EveryTimeZone is a useful tool that allows you to instantly see what time it is across the world at that very moment. The tool is also great for working out what time to book a future meeting for multiple parties in different time zones as it allows you to scroll forward in the calendar to the the time and date you want to have the meeting on and calculate what that will correspond to for your colleagues so that you can arrange a time that works for everyone. Another great tool is iDoneThis.
It enables teams to manage day-to-day tasks. iDoneThis allows you not only to assign tasks to team members and for remote workers to report what they accomplished but additionally the tool compiles all the data into a final report which is sent out to all remote workers so that they can keep tabs on who has achieved what.
