Your firm may now find it unavoidable to implement a work from home policy or some kind of remote working strategy, given the current situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak. To help support you, here’s a list of tips to help you prepare your staff and remain productive in the face of adversity.
1. Stay informed
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the extensive media coverage of the coronavirus. It’s vital to ensure that you and your staff remain up-to-date with the current status of coronavirus with information from official and reliable sources. The Department of Health provides regular updates on the status of the coronavirus in the UK, alongside practical advice and helpful resources for employers. You can view the official health alert here.
2. Survey your staff
With many organisations around the country already implementing alternative work policies in light of the coronavirus, have you considered what your firm would do if the need arose for your staff to work from home?
Now is the time to be prepared. Whether you’re a sole practitioner or are part of a large firm, you should survey your staff to ensure that they have the capability to work from home. Have conversations with each of your staff to ensure that they have the following:
- Hardware – Do your staff have access to the hardware that they need to work as they usually would? Do they have a desktop computer, laptop or iPad that they can rely on?
- Software – Do they have all the necessary software installed on their devices? You should confirm that your staff have installed (or have the capability to install) software like Microsoft Office, LEAP, Adobe Acrobat Reader, MYOB and Xero.
- Phones – while most people have access to a phone at home, do your staff also have reliable mobile reception? If they don’t, you may like to consider alternative communication methods, such as Microsoft Teams.
- Internet – Do your staff have access to a reliable internet connection?
Workspace – While your staff may have the necessary tools to continue working from home, do they also have an appropriate space to work in away from distractions? A proper desk set-up with adequate lighting is important if your staff will be working from home for an extended period, particularly if they’ll be taking part in video conferencing.
3. Working from home with LEAP
Because LEAP is cloud-based software, it can be accessed from any supported desktop, laptop or mobile device that it is installed on. However, it is important to remember that LEAP requires certain minimum system requirements to be met in order for you to take advantage of its cloud-based features. These system requirements include a minimum internet speed, available RAM and particular versions of Office 365.
Consider asking your staff to test their home computers to ensure that they meet the system requirements now, to avoid any interruptions later on. You can find the system requirements for LEAP here or run a system audit to confirm that your computer meets system requirements by clicking here.
Once you’ve run the LEAP system audit, click here for instructions on how to install LEAP.
If you require support setting up LEAP on an additional computer, our UK-based LiveChat team is ready to assist you. Alternatively, LEAP also has a range of qualified IT partners to assist.
4. Maintain your client focus
You may be concerned about your client while you’re out of the office. However, your client service does not need to suffer simply because you’re working from home. Don’t forget that you have tools like LawConnect which is already built into LEAP and does not require any additional costs. LawConnect allows you to securely request signatures and share and collaborate on documents with your clients.
If your firm implements a work from home policy or similar, you may like to consider communicating directly with your clients to advise them of any changes to your arrangements or methods of communication with them. Your clients will appreciate this.
5. Be prepared
Now is not the time to panic. Take this time to make reasonable and practical arrangements should the need arise for your staff to work at home or away from the office. Begin conversations with your staff early to avoid any confusion or a last-minute dash to organise things like additional hardware.
Helpful Links:
To help you prepare for working remotely, we’ve listed some links to help you get set-up:
LEAP Mobile
Download the LEAP Mobile and Microsoft Apps on your mobile device to unlock your mobile office.
Instructions for downloading and accessing the LEAP Mobile App can be found below:
LEAP Mobile App for Android
LEAP Mobile App for iOS
Microsoft Office Apps can be downloaded from the relevant stores.
Android Device – Google Play Store:
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Teams
If you have a Business Premium subscription, you will also have access to Microsoft Teams. You can use Microsoft Teams to chat with colleagues or schedule online meetings via audio and video.
Microsoft Teams can be accessed online or it can be installed as a desktop app on your computer.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
If you expect to work with PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader DC installed.
Please click here to download Acrobat Reader.
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