Many employees are switching to hybrid working to cater for thier employees needsand ensure they offer a sense of work-life balance. As a responsible employer, you should consider the ways you can positively impact your hybrid workers while providing the productivity and security of all devices equipped to offer this working style.
By mid 2023, 16% of people worked entirely from home, while 25% of the workforce have opted for a hybrid working week.
It is instead beneficial to consider the ways that you can implement a hybrid working policy to ensure employees remain focussed and avoid compromising data security.
We see a significant rise in employees working remotely during the summer bank holiday. It is great to see employers adapting to this new working style although just because this might be temporary doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take proactive measures to ensure your business is protected during this time.
Public wireless networks can be useful when in a pinch but, as much as possible, should be avoided for work purposes. A lack of security measures could greatly increase your likelihood of being hacked.
Realistically, it may be a better idea to use a wired network if security is a concern. However, some hybrid working employees may be required to travel as part of their role. In these instances, it may be better to provide your employees with a portable Wi-Fi dongle solely for work use.
When employees don’t need to travel, you could mandate that they work only from their home, using a secure connection, to minimise the likelihood of unauthorised access from weak connections.
When using public workspaces, whether that be shared office domains or even a local café, it is vital that your employees never leave their devices unattended.
This means that, should a hybrid working employee need to use the toilet, get a drink, or even stretch their legs for five minutes, they would need to pack up their belongings and take these with them.
While locking a laptop might help to prevent access, the item itself could still be stolen or damaged, requiring repairs or replacement.
Considering home working spaces can also be useful. Instruct employees to think about who else may be present when they are working. Those living in shared accommodation should keep any business devices in their locked, private spaces. Within family homes it can also be useful to consider the risk that children or pets could present.
The use of strong passwords should be encouraged and enforced both in the office and for hybrid working. While you may want them to be something you can remember, without having them written down, you should avoid anything common or easy to guess. This could include the names of any pets, children, or hobbies that could be publicly associated with you.
Some examples of bad passwords are:
Should you, or an employee, worry about setting passwords that are less memorable, you may instead want to use a password manager. These secure systems will store all of the passwords you might need, and can only be accessed by authorised individuals. Therefore, you would only need to remember one master password, rather than many for a variety of accounts.
Updating your systems may seem arduous and time-consuming, but it certainly serves a purpose.
While some updates may be installed to help the system to run more efficiently, others may improve existing security measures on your device.
Make sure that you regularly check for Windows updates. From here, you could either download and install them immediately, or instead set them to automatically update outside of work hours. The latter may be a better option as these can take a significant amount of time, especially for larger updates, and require several restarts.
Asking hybrid working employees to make a note to check for updates in their calendar could help to ensure that any updates aren’t missed.
Having secure anti-virus software on a device is vital, regardless of whether it is for business or personal use. However, just having this software installed on hybrid working machines isn’t enough.
For anti-virus systems to properly protect you from threats and ransomware, you need to ensure that the latest updates have been successfully installed. Should an update become available, you will be notified, either by email or on the software itself.
These updates could help to rectify any bugs within the software itself. This may help it to run more efficiently.
Alternatively, some updates may be in line with new cyber threats. As hackers change their approaches and methods, anti-virus software must also adapt to continue offering secure protection.
Without these updates, your working systems would be vulnerable and, if targeted, may not be able to keep unauthorised individuals out.
It is likely that your business has a number of policies and procedures to make the working day more secure, as well as inform employees what behaviours are expected of them.
The same can be applied for hybrid working. Using a variety of policies and best practices can help to keep your team safe from an array of cyber threats.
When not in the office, it may be tempting for employees to take a more relaxed approach to the working day. However, even if smart attire isn’t required, smart usage of digital systems is!
You may want to set out a list of hybrid working software that your employees can use within their roles. Within this, it can be good to stress that all software should be downloaded from authorised, legitimate sites. Installing software from third parties carries a risk that malware might be included without your knowledge.
When you allow employees to make the most of hybrid working there is always the risk that they won’t be as efficient as when in the office. While you may hope that employees would still conduct themselves appropriately, it may be of use to have software in place to keep an eye on things.
Over half of employers approve of monitoring their employees’ activities throughout the day. Using secure monitoring software allows you to see what your employees have been doing, down to the last click. This can also flag up periods of extended inactivity. While this can feel akin to spying, it will give you peace of mind that work is being completed.
However, it can also be used to promote better well-being within your company. The software could be insightful in showing employees who work through their lunch break, or outside of general business hours. This then allows you to implement better work-life balance, aiding to the welfare of your team.
It is important to note that, while you are within your rights to install this software on business devices, you would not be able to do the same on an employee’s own device. Employees must also be informed that this monitoring takes place. Learn more about employee monitoring software.
Hybrid working can be a great asset to your business and its employees. Rather than rushing into things, it can be a better idea to consider what you want to get out of hybrid working.
Whether your employees plan on coming into the office or working from home, you can still utilise bespoke IT support. This can help to eliminate downtime, regardless of location. Doing so in combination with other hybrid working best practices helps to create a fulfilling working day. If you would like to take a deep dive into your current security level against the industry-recommended standards for hybrid working simply click here to book a meeting with us.
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Agnes Molnar
Agnes is Syn-Star’s expert content writer, she has Master’s degree in English Literature that provides a strong foundation in writing and critical thinking of everything she does.
Qualifications: Masters in English Literature
In-house training: HubSpot SEO, WordPress Training.
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Agnes Molnar
Agnes is Syn-Star’s expert content writer, she has Master’s degree in English Literature that provides a strong foundation in writing and critical thinking of everything she does.
Qualifications: Masters in English Literature
In-house training: HubSpot SEO, WordPress Training.
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Team Productivity:
You and your team are able to see where they are using their time and how productive they are actually being. Also they are able to clock in and out, so really good for flexi-working.
Team Monitoring:
If you would like to know what your team is doing and how productive they are being, we are able to monitor them and create screenshots of what they are working on. This can be run in normal or stealth mode.
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We have members who volunteer with youth organisations, are engaged with the Round Table, run marathons and volunteer at events where we may be needed. Every charity receives a discounted IT and Telecoms service too.
Protecting your digital data is crucial for every business and this can start with the industry-leading security we offer. The Syn-Star specialists can help with identifying any vulnerabilities within your IT systems and act accordingly to ensure cyber-attacks and data breaches are mitigated.
Your business will never fall behind with its technology when you work with Syn-Star.
We understand IT and Telecoms for your business is an investment, but it’s important to use the best resources available to enable the growth of your business. Our IT Consultancy and Virtual IT Director Services are available to support you with how you use your business technology for years to come.
Syn-Star can conduct quick and easy phishing exercises to identify people within your team who need to improve on their knowledge around fraudulent emails and how they can be alerted to these threats.
At Syn-Star, our experts can proactively work to understand exactly what software you need to support with the business operations. Whether you need a listening ear on what software to choose, or would like to seek some specialist knowledge, we’re here to help where we can.
At Syn-Star, we keep Telecoms simple. There’s so much available to help UK companies with their communications. VoIP systems, fixed landline, cloud phone systems, SIP trunking and more. Contact us for further details.
Desk phones, cordless phones or conference phones, Syn-Star can provide you with whatever you need.
From conference calling facilities to the headsets which work best for your team, we’re able to provide all the equipment you need and complete any telecoms job from start to finish.
There is no need to be in the office to make and receive phone calls from your company’s number. Our market-leading Telecoms platform gives you the flexibility of desk phones, soft phones and mobile apps as standard.
Whether your team works remotely, or perhaps staff are on a business trip anywhere in the world, calls can still be made, and people are reachable via phone wherever they go.
With a range of products, our team can support you by installing exactly what you need for internet connectivity. We work with the very best products to provide speedy bandwidths which play a part in the increased productivity of your team.
