6 Unusual Ways to Make Remote Work More Productive

Are you looking for creative ways of keeping your remote team engaged? In this article, we explore creative solutions to enhance the productivity of your remote workplace.

The past few months have seen many more businesses move towards remote work. COVID-19 restrictions have forced many of us to find innovative ways of getting work done from the safety of our homes.

However, this presents a unique challenge. That of ensuring employees scattered across numerous physical locations can communicate and collaborate efficiently. Sadly, conventional tools such as emails and phone calls simply won’t get the job done.

Are you interested in out-of-the-box solutions to improve your remote work? If so, this article is just what you’ve been looking for. After extensive research, our technology experts at V&C Solutions have assembled the following creative ways of connecting your remote workforce, however far apart they may be.

That’s enough talk. Let’s get started!

Vlog Your Workspace: As the name suggests, a vlog (short for a video blog or video log) is essentially a blog whose medium is video. But how can this help bring your remote team together? A vlog can either be recorded and shared via the team’s email or live streamed in a group for starters. Its content can vary across several subjects such as the weather, the news, upcoming local holidays, local natural sceneries like mountains, etc. And if you nominate someone different for the vlog session each time, you can always learn something new about your team. Besides simply being an exciting group activity, it also helps you create a more closely-knit team.
Hold Company Trivia Sessions: If this doesn’t sound like your traditional team building activity, you’re right. However, it can be an exciting way of briefing the rest of your team on the progress you’ve made on an ongoing project. We recommend using multiple-choice questions as they are much easier to answer. And although you’ll still need to do some research beforehand, it’s certainly worth the hassle as it can be quite exciting. Not sure which questions to ask? Here are a few thought starters:
- Who has been with your company the longest?
- Who gets the most work done?
- Who is allergic to peanuts?
- Who just got married?
Organize Team Meals: Much like your regular team lunch, virtual team meals can be a great way of strengthening your remote team through the love of food. However, the difference between time zones can be a tricky hurdle to cross. You could be having dinner while a team member is just making breakfast. However, by sharing any meal, you can learn a great deal about your fellow team members’ cultures, not just the cuisine.
Microsoft 365: With offerings such as Teams, Microsoft 365 enables your remote team to meet, call, learn, chat, and collaborate. All in one place. Provided they have an internet connection, Microsoft 365 will ensure your remote workforce works together seamlessly.
Hosted Voice: A hosted Voice, also known as hosted PBX (Private Branch Exchange), virtual PBX or VoIP is a private phone system in an organization where a third-party vendor manages the servers, services, and equipment. By hosting your phone system, the cloud, a hosted voice is best suited to remote work through its extensive range of features such as:
- Simpler management.
- Flexibility and scalability.
- Add-on features.
VPNs: Briefly put, a VPN is a virtual “tunnel” that links a remote user’s device to an organization’s network via the web. Because they are protected by encryption, VPNs can safely send data back and forth across the internet.

This means remote team members can access the company network from their homes safely and reliably.

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