Remote Healthcare Work: Best Practices amid COVID-19

Remote Healthcare Work:
Best Practices amid COVID-19

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Best Remote Healthcare Practices Amid COVID-19
The social distancing response to
COVID-19 is moving portions of the
workforce away from the office or
facility setting and into remote, or
work-from-home (WFH),
environments.

For healthcare organizations, team
members now working from home may
include clinicians offering telehealth
services, case managers, administrative,
financial, IT teams, and others contributing
away from the frontlines of care.

Though an adjustment, with the
right practices, remote-first
environments can be as or more
productive than traditional office-
based settings.
Research has shown a productivity
and team member satisfaction
benefit of remote-first work,
including a performance increase
of 22 percent when one company
offered an organizationwide work-
from-home (WFH) option.

While functioning successfully in a
remote-first environment is imperative
for many organizations under COVID-19
mitigation and prevention efforts, those
that thrive in WFH arrangements may
see lasting benefits, even when teams
return to the office setting.
Organizations that effectively support
team members during the pandemic will
build trust, loyalty, and engagement.

Leadership can use this challenging time
to demonstrate they care not just about
team members’ work but about them as
humans, boosting engagement and
confidence.
Organizations may also learn they can
be more flexible and remote-friendly than
they thought while maintaining standards
and reaching goals.

As organizations move portions or all
of their workforces to a remote-first
environment, three groups drive a
successful transition: team members,
managers, and organizational
leadership.

As organizations move portions or all of
their workforces to a remote-first
environment, three groups drive a
successful transition: team members,
managers, and organizational leadership.

Following best practices for each
contributor will ensure a smooth
transition to productive remote
operations and critical social support
during a difficult time, as well as foster
lasting cultural changes that will
strengthen individual teams and
organizations as a whole.

Team Member Best Practices
Team members are central to their
organizations’ success in remote-first
arrangements.
By taking care of their professional
responsibilities as well as themselves,
individuals ensure a sustainable high
level of performance as operations
shift from office to home settings.

Ensuring Productivity from Home
By following these best practices for
ensuring productivity at work, team
members can maintain the engagement
they need to perform at the best of their
abilities from remote locations.

Whenever possible, turn on video
during meetings.

Wrap up meetings five minutes early to allow
coworkers an opportunity to move and stretch.

Use flexible communication tools
(asynchronous communications), such
as Slack, to communicate even when
users can’t answer a call or otherwise
engage at the same time.
However, be open to jumping on a call
when an asynchronous exchange on a
given topic continues too long without
reaching clarity or a conclusion.

In meetings, look for opportunities to
work and collaborate with other team
members and proactively schedule
one-on-one sessions (1:1s) with them.
These engagements build networks,
encourage collaboration, and spark
innovation.

Come prepared for 1:1s with managers.
These meetings are vital opportunities
for managers to gain visibility into
remote team member projects,
accomplishments, and challenges.
A 1:1 offers opportunities for a team
member to share recent successes,
ensure their manager understands the
scope and breadth of their work, ask for
help where needed, and ask for and
provide feedback.

Prioritizing Mental Health and Wellness
Transitioning to a remote-first
environment can take its toll on
mental health and wellness.
Without the physical separation
of leaving home for the office, some
people find it harder to disengage
from work and take care of
themselves.
And, without sharing office space,
team members also lose the
social support of daily in-person
interactions.

Remote-first team members need to
make time for self-care, including
sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and
other personal outlets.
Establishing a standard ritual for
starting and ending the workday can
enable a clear transition from work
to home, where a commute would
otherwise separate professional
from personal experiences.

Some ideas for transitioning between work and home life include the following:
Play with kids
or pets.
Meditate to begin or
end workday.
Enjoy physical hobby
for exercise.
Designate separate
office space
Take care of house
or yard work.

Team members can also adopt healthy
habits throughout the workday that support
well-being.
For example, where possible, go for a walk
between or while listening to meetings; find
intentional intervals to move around.
In small teams, schedule short, frequent
meetings throughout the week to connect
around work and socially.
Hold team lunches or walks during which
the team can eat, walk, or enjoy another
social activity in their own homes while on
an audio/video call.

Platforms like Slack or other informal communication channels can help team
members feel socially supported and involved by engaging with one another
beyond their normal scope of both work and social topics, as this expands
opportunities for learning and connection.

A peer-to-peer recognition platform (e.g.,
Bonusly or Motivosity) can also help build
relationships by enabling users to
acknowledge coworkers within and beyond
their immediate teams.
Team members can also use established
employee networks, such as affinity groups,
to connect with others with shared interests.

Team Manager Best Practices
Team managers have a crucial role in
enabling a thriving remote-first environment.
They can set a precedent for video meetings
by using their camera whenever possible and
monitoring meeting participation to ensure all
individuals have an opportunity to contribute,
then following up after meetings with
members who have additional feedback.
Managers can also engage participants by
addressing them by name and maintaining
body language during calls that communicates
an attitude of listening and engagement.

In addition to team calls, managers can
support the remote-first environment by
scheduling video 1:1s at least weekly to
check in on both work and social well-
being (even if 1:1s were less -frequent in
the in-person setting).
Managers can use the first few minutes
of the 1:1 to catch up socially and
personally with each team member and
the bulk of the time better understand
elements of each member’s work, which
may be less visible in a remote
environment.

1:1s are also an opportunity to praise
direct reports’ work and share
personalized constructive feedback.
Managers should also remember to
proactively share direct reports’
successes up the management
chain, as they may be less visible
in the remote environment.

While weekly 1:1s may not always be
possible, creating as many opportunities
as possible to interact with teams will
promote engagement and ensure
each member’s success in the remote
environment.

Leadership Best Practices
By establishing policies and best practices
for remote-first environments, leadership
builds the framework for individual team
members as well as organizational
success in a remote-first setting.
Leaders can reduce confusion and
streamline communication by establishing
guidelines around which technology tools
to use in different contexts and, where
possible, unite around a single platform.

During the COVID-19 quarantine,
team members are balancing
remote work with other home and
personal responsibilities, including
caring for loved ones and home-
schooling children.
Leadership can help by providing
flexible work schedules.

As the situation allows, and remote
work scenarios become more
permanent, organizational leaders
may consider providing additional
benefits, such as a home office
reimbursement or home internet
stipend to enable teams to work
more productively from home.

Social Support
In addition to remote-first productivity, organizational
leadership can establish social support networks
and resources for their workforce, which are crucial
amid the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic.
Social support benefits, such as
an Employee Assistance Program
or a meditation app subscription
(e.g., Calm or Headspace), can
help team members cope with
anxiety.

Social Support
Also, organization-sponsored
networking opportunities, such as
affinity groups that allow team
members to gather and connect, can
help remote workers feel less isolated.
Forming a remote experience team
can also help leadership keep a pulse
on team member experiences, best
practices, and concerns.

Setting a New Standard
As long as COVID-19 quarantines are in
effect across the U.S., remote work will
become increasingly standard, and, given
team member satisfaction and productively in
WFH arrangements, remote policies may
stick as the new normal.
For non-clinical roles and others that don’t
require full-time onsite presence, health
systems may want to consider remote work
environments to broaden talent pools and
keep their teams engaged.

Setting a New Standard
Accepting remote work as a major shift in standard processes, not as a blip in
workplace culture, will help organizations put the time and attention into
remote-first best practices and capitalize on the benefits of remote work.

For more information:
“This book is a fantastic piece of work”
– Robert Lindeman MD, FAAP, Chief Physician Quality Officer

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Crystal Anderson is the People Operations Business Partner at Health Catalyst. She graduated with a
Bachelors in Management with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from
Brigham Young University in April 2017.
Crystal Anderson

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Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com
Health Catalyst is a mission-driven data warehousing, analytics and outcomes-improvement
company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes improve clinical, financial, and operational
outcomes needed to improve population health and accountable care. Our proven enterprise data
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Health Catalyst was recently named as the leader in the enterprise healthcare BI market in
improvement by KLAS, and has received numerous best-place-to work awards including Modern
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