That certainly was the cry in March 2020 throughout the UK by many workers, forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to work from home – and I’m not talking about school pupils. Until then, many people working in various industries really did not give a lot of thought about the realities of walking a few steps to work rather than leaving the house for the daily commute. Many staff who, in the early part of the year, were forced to work at home really did wonder how they would be able to work effectively.
For Evergreen Business Support Ltd (EBSL), it’s simply how we work, and how we’ve worked for more than twenty one years. We offer digital dictation. Customers are able to download our free App Evergreen Dictate from the App Store or from Google Play (see links below).
Customers dictate, we transcribe, and we send back the documents via e-mail or upload them as necessary. Our systems, our workflows and our processes are tried and tested, many, many times over. It works. We provide an outstanding service, and we always have done. It’s our business model. We are excellent at what we do. During the early days of employing home workers, we regularly received applications from people hopeful of being employed, without them having really understood that working at home did not simply mean being available for work and also having a home. Lots of applicants didn’t even expect that we would test their typing skills or check their qualifications. Some people are still amazed that we actually interview people (twice or three times sometimes), ask for references, have a work rota and a holiday chart, issue contracts, utilise a probationary period, have proper lunch breaks … the list goes on.
My feelings, having worked at home for more than two decades, have not really changed since Day One of setting up a business and employing home workers.
- Working at home should not be embarked upon just because it’s fashionable or because your competitors are doing it.
- Working at home does not work for every role and for every business.
- Working at home for a company should be seen as a ‘proper’ job. The fact of working at home should be incidental to the job itself.
As our nationwide confinement to home is eased, there will be a collective sigh of relief for many. However I still think that ‘Sir, you’ve given us too much homework!’ will be the frustrated words of many, as they would dearly love to get back to the office.
Give me a call or drop me a line if you want to chat through anything about home working. If you are an employer thinking how best to manage a remote team, get your team dictating or get your transcribers transcribing, I am a good sounding board, I really understand about home working and remote teams.
Gill Price
Evergreen Dictate
Evergreen Business Support