Work From Home in 2020: it’s a different world working from home.
Stay Secure
There’s one thing that spread faster around the world than COVID-19 and that’s COVID-19 scams. The breadth and depth of these scams is breathtaking: fake cures, fake science, and fake emergency funding all delivered by every internet media outlet and texts. Google is blocking 18 million coronavirus scam emails a day and the FBI reports a four fold increase in cybercrime complaints.
How do you (and your staff) stay secure?
- You are the best defence. Slow down and read carefully.
- Keep your devices up to date. That includes addons like Zoom (more about Zoom below).
- Keep your little helpers (pets and kids), friends and family off your work devices.
- Use a password manager.
Here’s a poster for you and your staff about the four steps to stay secure.
Zoom
Zoom got caught as they overhyped the security of their product. They are making efforts to fix it and there should be a major update released April 24th. When you use Zoom, you’re using an addon to your internet browser. That needs to be updated on the 24th. I had one client who thought that only if you are the host do you need to update. That’s incorrect. The addon to your browser needs to be update whether you’re the host or attendee.
Where possible, I still recommend you use Teams or Skype over Zoom. Most of you already pay to use Teams as part of Office 365 Business. Microsoft is also offering a free 365 day trial of Teams for businesses. Microsoft also now allows custom backgrounds.
Do you find video conferencing tiring? There are some interesting reasons for this. And ways of combatting video conference fatigue. Excellent insights from BBC Future here.
Your new work space
You need a proper power bar to plug in all your work devices. See my blog here about getting the right surge protection.
Hate the laptop keyboard? Most are fine for occasional use but not long term sitting and plonking (notable exception being the Lenovo ThinkPad line). Do you need a ergonomic keyboard? I wrote about Ergonomic Keyboards here.
Worried about back pain? You can avoid back pain without expensive ergonomic furniture according this CBC piece.
How do you make a productive space? There’s little steps you can take to improve your home work space from Sense of Space.
