Remote work comes with its set of challenges, and sometimes, you need more than just team-building activities and thriving work culture to keep team members motivated. And one of the best ways to achieve this goal is by providing employees with essential tools and hardware that promote workplace productivity. We are talking about dedicated tools and applications that encourage a cohesive work environment while doing business remotely from anywhere in the world.

Benefits of remote work solutions
Plenty of free and paid software can be implemented for daily use at home. Moreover, here are the known benefits of remote workforce management.

Better time management
Employees and corporates benefit from working remotely with efficient time management. Surveys indicate that 90% of managers reported improved productivity when employees were given flexible time and work solutions to complete tasks at home. As a remote worker, you also save time, money, and effort in commuting to and returning from work.

Reduced overheads
Organizations without owned workspaces save much on the overhead expenditure necessary to run a corporate office. In addition, surveys indicate better employee retention, loyalty, and increased happiness when corporates become more flexible with work assignments. Many companies continue to promote work from home as a desirable perk to retain some of the best talents in the industry.

Better work-life balance
Time management is one of the biggest hurdles when you have to commute for hours to a job that may even extend into overtime. By working from home, you enjoy a better work-life balance minus the stress of a commute, navigating social aspects, and even dealing with undesirable situations on your way to work. Instead, in a remote setting, you control your day at home to plan work and personal activities.

Freedom to move around
Many recent surveys have evidenced that remote work encourages the freedom to move around. Most employees enjoyed the notion of working from various locations. This way, you could eliminate the stagnancy created by following a fixed routine at home and avoid burnout.

Most useful remote work solutions to maximize productivity
These are the must-have tools to work efficiently from home.

For video conferencing
Video conferencing enables teams to collaborate actively instead of messengers and email trails to get work done. Real-time conversations are more productive on any given day. Companies these days provide workers with free and paid tools for setting up video conferencing. Moreover, these tools also support third-party integrations so that you can sync all your devices simultaneously.
Google Meet gained a lot of popularity during the initial days of working as it is easy to set up, readily synced with all google accounts, and relatively simple to navigate. Another great alternative is Zoom, but the software also has limitations regarding free use for video calling and the number of participants. Also, a lot of third-party integrations for zoom calls are paid. However, Zoom features many valuable tools to engage remote employees, making it the next best solution to physically going to the office and collaborating on a group task.

Remote work solutions for workspace
Video conferencing allows everyone to communicate actively and collaborate on similar tasks. However, you also need a dedicated workspace platform to facilitate the charges being expressed on calls. This is where project management software can help save time and effort by actively sharing a workspace to send messages, access files, make changes, and communicate everything on record. Dedicated project management software like ProofHub, Nuclino, Basecamp, Trello, and Instagantt provide all-in-one remote work collaboration tools designed explicitly for conducting office tasks.

Instant messaging services for business
Businesses and corporate entities rely generously on short messaging to communicate and request status updates for online projects. This is where tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams come in handy, providing bulk peer-to-peer messaging services. Slack is an innovative tool with chat options for businesses over a secure communication server to ensure maximum encryption. You can send texts and emojis and share files directly from the chat box. What’s more, Slack can also be used to share screens, send data requests, and run active polls to request everybody’s opinion on a project or decision. Consensual polls boost team building and make employees feel a significant part of the organization. Microsoft teams offer similar tools and services to communicate proactively using a secure server. Any day, this is better than relying on instant messaging apps for social media.

Office tools for collaboration
Besides video conferencing and project management tools, corporates also require apps and tools that allow file sharing and real-time collaboration. For example, Google Sheets and Google Docs are two of the most widely used productivity suite apps that will enable multiple users to work on the same file. These tools automatically save data and update the documents and worksheets in real time, allowing all team members to provide input. It is also possible to track changes in all documents effectively so that nothing remains unaddressed.

Additional productivity tools
Additional cloud storage software and AI-enabled marketing tools enable ease of access and provide automation to some extent to eliminate human error. Moreover, having a feedback mechanism in place is one of the crucial aspects of ensuring workplace productivity. In working from home, employers must gauge employee happiness by reviewing feedback given in real time.

Conclusion
Increased productivity automatically translates into better business growth and profits. And working from home has certainly made a significant difference in how things are done. Employers and employees have realized that as long as productive remote workforce management tools are available to collaborate and contribute daily, working from home can be a feasible solution for those who don’t necessarily thrive on physical and social interactions. All that matters is the quality of the work done.