Taking the lead in empowering the private sector during COVID-19, the Chamber Academy of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with FITIS and LK Domain Registry, hosted a webinar for over a hundred participants, on how to successfully work from home (WFH).
The webinar covered an introduction to working from home, and the communication aspects of it by Professor Gihan Dias, CEO of LK Domain Registry; Collaboration and Workflow Aspects by Mr. Wellignton Perera, Director/ CEO of Enhanzer (Pvt) Ltd; and Security aspects by Mr. Sujit Christy, a Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Cybersecurity Professional. The event was moderated by Mr. Aruna Alwis, CEO of FITIS.
The importance of making an investment for home-offices was stressed by Professor Dias.
“If we spend about Rs. 10,000 per employee at office, we might need to spend a bit more on their home office – for network charges and everything, and creating a pleasant work environment similar to that in the office,” he said. “For Work at Home, you need to know what your employees are doing daily, and what they have completed in terms of work.”
Similarly, employees should be trained on how to use technology to WFH, and be given tech assistance, socialisation, and other forms of support that is usually given at an office.
Speaking about collaboration and workflow aspects, Mr. Perera spoke about following a structure for meetings and updates, which enables running a business smoothly.
“It’s very important to take breaks in between, because you’re glued to the computer the whole time.”
Reiterating what Professor Dias said, Mr. Perera encouraged having a regular working setup and space to work effectively. Microsoft To Do, Wunderlist, Monday.com, Trello, and Microsoft Planner were all good tools to utilise, he said. Another point of importance was that people should not feel confined when working from home.
(LI)