This is part II of our work from home security series! If you haven’t read or watched part one, click here.
Below we outline the rest of the nine security measures we recommend considering when working from home:
6. Consider File Sharing
This is an important question: how do you share files with your team, especially when they are at home?
A few things you can do include:
- Access them from the network with your computer connected
- Connect remotely into the network from home
- Move your files to the cloud
Part of this decision depends on if you plan on going back into the office at some point. If the answer is no, you could consider moving all your files to the cloud so that you can access them from anywhere.
7. Choose a Phone System
Along with creating a general policy and a personal vs. corporate devices policy, as mentioned in Part I, it is important that you and your business consider what your phone policy includes.
A few things to consider include:
- Will the company purchase the employee a phone?
- Will the company pay for the employee’s monthly phone plan?
- Are there restrictions on what the employee could do on their phone?
There are reasons that you would not want to move your files to the cloud, but this is dependent on your business’ culture, policies, or regulations that you may need to comply with.
Beyond the considerations, you need to determine what kind of phones you will use. Will all of your employees use personal phones or will you invest in a phone system?
A phone system can be used both in and out of the office, as you can move your desk phone to an app on your cell phone. This allows your employees to keep personal and business contacts and communication separate, while also having the flexibility of being able to get work calls while they’re driving or they are working from home.
8. Consider the Culture
How might your organizational culture change when your employees are working from home?
A big part of our culture is being neighborly. In fact, this is one of our core values! That being said, being neighborly over Microsoft Teams is more difficult than when we can check in with our team and clients in person.
Many organizations are considering whether or not to come back to the office. Part of this consideration includes how not returning back to the office will affect the organizational culture and communication between fellow employees.
9. Work From Home Etiquette
Working from home, for many of us, is a relatively new idea. There is no rule book to what you should and shouldn’t do in terms of work from home etiquette. So when considering this etiquette, we think about the following:
- Establish a professional space for virtual meetings: You would not invite your prospective or current clients into your bedroom, so be sure your background reflects what you want it to (ex. professional, organized, etc.)
- Creating a policy sets clear expectations: When establishing your work from home security policy, be sure you include things that are important to your organization’s image (ex. background considerations, dress code, etc.)
Dan Steenwyk, our president, walks us through the consideration of work from home etiquette at 23:28 of the above video.
Let’s Connect
Scams have only increased as many individuals are working from home and do not have all of the security measures in place that they may have had while working in the physical office.
We can help you implement all of these practices for peace of mind with your work from home security set up.
If you are looking to level up your security as you or other members of your team are continuing to work from home, give us a call at (616) 394-4940! If calling is not your thing, email us at sevans@macatawatechnologies.com.
