Welcome Back? Tech Tools & Strategies for Those Remaining Remote.

• Author: Blitz, Adam
• Position: TechTalk

Welcome back to the office, everyone!

OK, maybe I'm being facetious. It seems like for some the need to go back to the office is very high. But for a large majority there's a dread hanging over the summer knowing that come fall, the expectation is commutes are back and being in the office full time is going to be standard.

Personally, I've decided going to the office full time will not happen anytime in the near future. I'm not going to say never, but not for now. Every firm is going to have to make those decisions themselves and those that decide to stick with remote are going to need to build systems that retain high-quality work together with a cohesive remote team.

As my firm moved toward a fully remote environment with no plans of returning to the office, I wanted to provide some of the non-accounting applications and technology that we will be using to ensure our cohesiveness.

Phone System

What is an accounting firm (or any office) without a phone system for our clients to call into? Because we realize that our employees don't have a ton of office space in their homes, we went with a full digital phone service: Grasshopper. The calls go through our office manager's workstation, who is then able to easily route the call to any team member. This service can be used if you are in an office or not. Personally, I like its flexibility to meet our firm's needs.

Working Hours

Maybe this is not tech focused, but it's important in the work from home environment. We expect routines in our office and therefore, when we are not physically in the office, we retain similar routines. So, each member selects their normal business day and posts it on the firm's shared calendar. If you ever want to see whether somebody is available, click over to the calendar and you have your answer. We hold our team accountable to those hours and expect minimal interruption to those hours. Having a cloud-based Google calendar that the entire team can see removes all the, "When will xxx be available?" questions.

Recruiting

Since we're now fully virtual and our staff is not required to be local, we have stopped searching locally for talent and are on the search for people anywhere and everywhere in the country. I have found success with Flexjobs.com. I find that going to a place where like minds meet--I want somebody remote, and the person looking wants to be remote--is a better place to start than the traditional methods of the past.

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