<= Tech tools in the age of COVID-19
Christine Trodella, head of Americas at Workplace from Facebook, says many companies and philanthropic organizations have reached out to Facebook to understand what it’s doing to support and guide its employees during these unprecedented times. According to Trodella, the company has seen growing interest in topics related to how to practice self-care and navigate new routines as employees shift to home or remote work environments.
“At Workplace from Facebook, we help our customers and their dispersed employees close the communication gaps that may arise as they are forced to adapt to a new remote work environment,” Trodella says. “We know it’s not always easy.”
Trodella shared two Facebook resources that leverage best practices it has seen work internally, as well as among customers, to help other companies.
The first, Workplace: Remote Working Resource Hub, contains tools, tips and advice to keep people informed and connected so everybody can be “apart together.” Meanwhile, Facebook: Working Remotely–How We Make It Work offers resources that are currently supporting Facebook employees while they work remotely worldwide to help others on the same journey.
Glenn Sanford, founder of eXp Realty, a Seattle-based Workplace by Facebook customer, says that, with a workforce of more than 28,000 real estate agents and 600 staff working 100% remotely, Workplace complements the firm’s virtual campus and enables it to further connect its work community for instant communication, collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
“I encourage all agents to reach out to me via Workplace,” Sanford says, noting that the company uses chat rather than email to replicate the instantaneous and off-the-cuff conversations that happen in an office environment.
“Agents freely share their best practices in videos and posts, bringing the best of the best from around the world,” he says. “We also launched a Workplace Group, eXp Kidz Korner, for caregivers who are juggling work and engaging their kids who are home due to school closings and stay-at-home orders.”
In times of emergency, Trodella says, organization-wide collaboration tools like Workplace make it easy to live stream meetings or announcements, support two-way communication or even employ bots to quickly gather feedback from employees.
“Workplace is positioned to support companies needing to adapt to remote work environments, especially if they’re doing it for the first time,” Trodella says. “We have years of experience connecting frontline workers and now, more than ever, we know it is imperative for companies to utilize the best technology to minimize friction and close communication gaps.”
