The year 2020 came in ready to throw us with some disasters left and right, the most recent being the coronavirus, which was recently declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
As a result, schools and universities have been canceled, and companies are now shifting to work-from-home models in order to keep their employees safe. But as a relatively new concept here in Egypt, especially if the whole company is working from home, what are some of the things that can make this easier for the employer?
As an employer, you have to look into your company’s needs. For example when it comes to online meetings, conferences or even trainings, there are multiple platforms that can be used:
GoToMeeting
This is for bigger businesses where image quality matters. GoToMeeting, is a mobile-friendly platform that offers video and audio, with an option to maximize video quality. However, good things don’t come cheap – there are multiple packages depending on your company’s needs. The main difference between the packages is the number of participants allowed.
The platform also allows screen sharing options as well as a drawing tool in one of the higher packages. The package prices range from 12 to 19 U.S. dollars per month.
This could be useful for training programs where the trainer’s screen needs to be seen in a higher quality, it could also work very well for teachers, especially the drawing feature.
Skype
Let’s go back to basics, Skype! It was one of the main video conferencing platforms for a while, and not only for business purposes. While video calls with up to 50 participants are free of charge, there is a business plan that can upgrade that capacity to 250 participants.
Skype is also mobile-friendly and quite easy to use. It is perfect for lower costs and smaller meetings. Screen sharing is also an option here, but the quality depends on the participants’ Internet power.
Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is divided into two parts, there are Google Hangouts Meeting and Google Hangouts Chat.
The Chat platform is free and accessible to all, but the video feature is limited to 10 participants at a time. Of course Google Hangouts can be found on every platform you can think of.
Google Hangouts Meeting’s advanced services used to require a monetary subscription, but in light of the coronavirus pandemic and decreasing face-to-face contact, Google is now offering these services free of charge for all the G Suite members globally until July 1, 2020.
Google Hangouts is available on as a Google Chrome extension, on Android and iOS.
Zoom
Google Hangouts is not alone in providing free services due to the worldwide pandemic, Zoom is also providing free services for educators in several affected countries such as China and Italy. They lifted the 40-minute time limit on the basic accounts, and provided free access to their other plans that allow a bigger number of participants.
Unfortunately for us, Egypt is not on that list yet, but the countries with free access are increasing, so stay on the lookout. Another option is signing up your school on their online form, granting your school’s domain free access.
Zoom is also quite well known in the market, it provides video and audio options. It is a user-friendly software, and in more advanced cases, they have some equipment that you can buy for your meetings. They’re called Zoom Room Appliances and they include cameras, mics and anything you need for a big meeting. This is mainly helpful for setting up a conference room at work to carry out all the meetings that need to be done with people overseas.
Other than Google Hangouts, Google is a very big umbrella that offers a ton of services for online sharing and co-working. You can now take advantage of shared Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and all the other live services that can show everyone you share it with what you’re doing in real time, including the most recent edits.
Other than helping you keep track of everyone’s work, it can be beneficial during those online conferences for notes, reviewing and editing material in any format it may come in.
And to collect all that data, you can just put all the files in a shared Google Drive with everyone on the team.
What you Can do as an Employee
Now for all the employees working from home, here’s what you can do to make this easier. Make sure your Internet is up and running, if your job requires a lot of online meetings, it might be a good idea to boost your Internet speed.
We know that it may be difficult to find a quiet place in a house full of people, so try your best to inform your family when there’s a meeting taking place. Most, if not all, of these video conferencing platforms offer an option where you can mute your mic, don’t be afraid to use it if you’re not talking.
Lastly, don’t forget to take breaks, just like you would at your regular office!
