Working from home is becoming more and more common. Whether you’re a student studying from afar, a nomadic marketer (hi) hopping in and out of coffee shops, or someone who needs flexible working options to fit around your life, remote work is both possible and productive. It doesn’t have to be disruptive and can in fact open up new opportunities for better collaboration – take it from a business that’s been doing it for over 15 years.
In fact, any business can enable remote working with the right tools and methods. We’ve written plenty of content on the subject, which we link to below, along with our best recommendations for tools, articles from across the internet full of top-notch advice, and everything else you could possibly need to make working from home a success.
2020 UPDATE: If you are reading this because you or your organisation has been affected by the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, we hope this information is helpful. As a B Corp, we are committed to being a business that is a force for good. To stay up to date on the latest developments and advice, please go to these sources:
Table of Contents
Our own finely crafted advice on remote working
Here is a list of relevant articles that we’ve written on the Articulate Marketing blog; on the sister site for our own HR app, Turbine, or on our CEO’s personal management blog, GeekBoss, and elsewhere.
Articulate Marketing
Turbine
GeekBoss
And this useful article from an Articulate client: Chalkline
The homeworking tools we use everyday
Here are some of the tools we use all day, everyday (at the time of writing), to power our remote working business, and the top three things we like about each:
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Video conferencing: Microsoft Teams
- You can see multiple videos at once in a grid
- You can share your screen for presentations, and people can click links in the live presentation
- The record button (and, bonus, the mute button)
- Automated transcripts
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Project management: ClickUp
- Simple project portal layout
- You can invite other people onto a project
- Logs messages about one task in a thread, so you can see everything that’s happened on a particular part of the project in one place
- Advanced sprint planning and progress tools
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Email: Outlook and all the goodies that come with Microsoft Office 365
- Easy to integrate with other tools, especially if using Zapier
- Use shared calendars to co-ordinate meetings and workloads
- You can use folders, rules and categories to organise everything
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Instant messaging: Slack
- You can create group messaging channels to sort chats by subject
- Direct message with one or multiple people
- Custom and animated emojis (vital)
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HR (time off, PO requests, expenses): Turbine
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We made it, so we get it for free (also it’s inexpensive generally)
- Super quick and easy way to request and approve time off
- Keeps track of everyone’s birthdays and employment anniversaries
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Paying for stuff: Pleo
- Everyone gets a company card but the business controls how much money is in the joint account
- Reminds you to attach receipts to purchases
- You can cancel or freeze cards in the app if they get lost or stolen
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Organising finances: Xero
- Use for swift, fuss-free bookkeeping
- Accounting software that you don’t have to be an accountant to use (but it may help!)
- Use to send invoices to people who owe you money
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Storing files: Dropbox
- Cloud-based storage, so you can access your files on any device
- Saves storage space on your computer
- You can use a shared Dropbox that everyone can access
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Real-time collaboration in a document: Notion
- Multiple people can edit a document at the same time
- You can view documents in the browser and link to them without worrying about versions (v1, v2, v3 etc.)
- It’s an infinite blank sheet of paper with endless nesting and smart databases – the possibilities are endless
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Employee wellbeing: Calm, Woebot and BupaBoost
- Remote working can be lonely, so these apps help maintain a happy workforce
- Calm has soothing music and rain noises to help you drift off for your lunchtime nap (what? #remoteworkinglife)
- If you’ve ever wanted to talk to a robot, Woebot is the best place to start
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Hiring: Workable
- Collate applications all in one place
- You can move candidates through the stages and track progress
- You can email candidates right from their thread, use templates, and see all comments and documents
- Also Hubspot and Fizz+Ginger, along with other marketing stuff
And this useful tool created by an Articulate client: Cerulean Studios
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Trillian – HIPAA compliant secure instant messaging
Tools and apps for working from home
Here are links to tools that you may be considering as part of your suite of workplace applications. We have either used these in the past, use them now or have heard good things from people we trust. Some may have multiple uses, and, where particularly appropriate, we may list the same app in two sections.
If you’re an organisation leader or a department manager that is just starting to figure out agile working methods, we advise putting together a list of your team’s requirements and then reviewing each tool against that list. That way, you’re less likely to get swept up in the razzle-dazzle of product features.
General links
Project management
Brainstorming, whiteboards and flowcharts
Video conferencing
Video recording or simultaneous watching
Instant messaging/chat
Customer communications (CRM), NPS, support and sales
File storage and sharing
Personal organisation and productivity
Online training and learning management
Employee wellbeing and happiness
HR, people management and hiring
Accounting, invoicing and expenses
Mobile working advice from the depths of the internet
These nuggets of wisdom have been earnestly skimmed for quality by this writer. Here are the criteria for entry:
- Information is relatively up to date, meaning it’s relevant for the modern reader.
- Content comes from an authoritative source or valuable perspective.
- Content is well-written, based on research or experience and is suitably engaging.
- There is at least one particularly useful piece of advice or information that is not repeated in the other links in the section.
General links and advice
Why you might consider working from home and how to start
Some stats and data on mobile working
Finding remote work and asking your boss for homeworking options
How to hire excellent independent workers
Working nomad employee communication tips
How to manage people effectively from a distance
Working as part of a virtual team
Health and wellbeing resources for telecommuters
Organisational advice for home workers and offices
Maddy Leslie
