It’s not an easy task to find a silver lining in the year that was 2020, but the remote work uptick brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic did shed some positive light on humans’ abilities to perform at high levels even when they are away from the structured atmosphere of a brick-and-mortar office.
If companies encourage things like maintaining a productive morning routine to get the mind in work mode, and empower their employees with the right tools to succeed, the remote workplace blueprint can be a big money saver for companies.
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Here are 5 Google Chrome extensions that remote employees, and entrepreneurs should have in 2021.
Zoom
Zoom is a program that most people dabbled with at some point or another during the height of stay-at-home orders, and even in the public sector it is a great tool for communication. In the business sector, it is even more of a crutch for bridging communication gaps, as it allows for large-scale meetings, instant messaging to groups or individuals, and screen-sharing capabilities, making it great for training.
It’s also touted for its customer service offerings, and with the option to have up to 100 people in a given meeting, it is applicable for small and large businesses.
StayFocusd
Though some employees say and prove that productivity at home is easier to come by due to a lack of distractions that occur in an office setting, some others struggle to keep on task with all of the distractions that can be found in the home setting. StayFocusd is a great tool to share with any colleagues who fall into the latter category. You can set up permissions to only allow yourself to access certain websites like Facebook for x-number of minutes each day, and also timing your breaks when you choose to step away from the computer.
Loom
Every guide to running a remote business focuses on communication practices, and Loom is another extension put in place to make communicating from afar seem more like communicating in the office. The similarities to Zoom do extend further than the rhyming name, and many of the offerings are the same, but Loom allows for recordings of the meetings, meaning they can be shared quickly and easily with team members who may not have been able to participate otherwise (and there is a feature that tracks who has actually watched it).
Papier
Extremely simple, but very practical, Papier is an extension that simply makes one of your Google Chrome tabs a place to jot down notes while you browse and gather information. The notes are automatically saved on your Google Docs or Drive, and can be shared with the click of a button.
Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a great management tool, and if you’re an entrepreneur with a remote work business model, it’s almost a must have. It allows for GPS tracking of employees, for tax purposes, online timesheets and time tracking, and an easy-to-use scheduling feature, if you have shifts to sort out.
The basic package is free, and is more geared towards freelancers who want to easily track their billable hours. Upgrades cost some, but it is a very affordable product for what it offers and the time it saves teams.
Rapidly Moving
The remote work world is expected to continue growing by the month, and this allows for a lot of other parts of business to grow as well. It is important to stay on top of evolutions in this budding industry, as new programs can mean a lot of money and time saved.
