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As a team of over 40 people, based across two time zones, we have some useful tools and tips for working remotely during COVID-19.
We regularly have online meetings, but we understand that many of our customers are more accustomed to face to face communication.
During this adjustment, we recommend these tools and handy tips below to help you and your team:
Arrange online meetings
Zoom | This is one of our team’s more frequently used tools, alongside Slack. It allows you to have 1:1 or group meetings. There is a free version which restricts meetings to 40 minutes in duration, but depending on your licence, you can invite up to 500 people on one conference call!
See a short video on how to arrange a Zoom meeting here
**Tip** for Zoom, Google Hangouts and Microsoft meetings | allow you to share your screens which is an invaluable feature to help explain documents or to go through presentations together
Video calls over FaceTime or WhatsApp | our team has spoken to our customers when each of them have been in the middle of a field, at opposite ends of the country!
Slack | If your team uses Slack, we can easily be added to your chosen team’s channels for example. The video calls are free and are a great way to communicate quickly
Communication and collaboration tools
Slack | We are all big fans of the platform at KisanHub. It works really well quickly communicating to individuals and different teams or projects.
Our CTO demonstrates a 2 in 1 tip for both Slack and Zoom
**Tip** to acknowledge quickly you have seen a message by ‘reacting’ with a thumbs up or other emoji
Google Drive and Google docs | if you have access to a google account then you will be able to use the ‘G Suite’ which includes a shared Drive. This is cloud based and can be accessed
Trello | this is versatile, one way to use it is to create project tasks and role amongst your team
Last pass | Security is always key. This works well, but there are others available
Culture in a remote environment
Continue weekly events | our top tip we recommend trying a virtual pub quiz example to mark the end of the working week and welcome the weekend
Keep morale positive | During weekly team meetings share good news stories and invite ‘guest speakers’ from different teams each week
Do not underestimate the power of a meme | share a light hearted image or GIF to strengthen your company’s culture and simply make your team :)
Routines for your physical and mental health
Weekly | Maintain meetings with your team and these check-ins do not have to purely work related, do they have any other projects outside of work at the moment? Also, our team’s favourite is a quiz night every Friday or you can have games nights
Daily | It’s important to maintain a regular daily routine which works for you. Ideally this includes regular breaks, catch ups with your team and exercise outside
Virtual coffee anyone? Inviting people for a group cuppa together or 1:1 is a great way to simply see how they are, because sometimes it’s the small things in life that make the biggest difference!
What else are we doing to help during COVID-19?
Our team is connecting people through ‘virtual handshakes’ who are either looking for extra support to continue producing food, or searching for temporary work during COVID-19. Find out more on our blog here and by contacting us hello@kisanhub.com