Login

10 free tools for remote working teams

With COVID-19 keeping everyone away from the office, the need for tools that accommodate remote teams continues to grow. Unfortunately, many companies are also having to keep their budgets small and can’t afford to invest in pricey software to meet their needs. Thankfully, there are several free tools out there that HR teams can use to make their jobs a bit easier. We share our top recommendations in this post. 

10 free tools for remote HR teams 

While there are many great options to choose from, we selected some of our favourite tools to make remote work easier for HR teams and employers. To help put them into action faster, we also shared ideas on how to use them for HR-related projects and initiatives below.

1. Asana

Asana is a task management platform that makes it easy to collaborate on projects with other team members. This is a great tool for remote work since it allows people to keep tasks organised, communicate with one another, and keep track of progress – all in one virtual workspace. Below are a few ways HR teams can use Asana:

  • Create a to-do list for new hires that they can check items off as they go
  • Manage ongoing projects with other members of the HR team
  • Document processes (i.e. for onboarding and offboarding) that managers and leaders can easily reference

2. Slack 

Communication is key – especially when it comes to remote work. Having a communication platform that can be used via desktop or mobile, such as Slack, makes the experience of working with decentralised teams much more seamless. Here are ideas on how HR teams can use Slack to their advantage: 

  • Create a Slack channel specifically for new hires
  • Regularly check in on employees to make sure everyone is feeling supported
  • Set up reminders for upcoming virtual webinars, events, or meetings

3. Flare HR 

At Flare, we offer multiple products that are free for companies to use – such as a remote onboarding software and an exclusive benefits and discount platform. These offerings can help streamline all your HR processes and provide a better overall experience for your employees. With Flare, you can: 

  • Add new employees quickly and integrate with your ATS  
  • Easily generate employment contracts and policy documents
  • Send new hires a link and have them enter information, sign contracts, upload certificates and more through a simple online interface
  • Give your workforce access to exclusive benefits and discounts with leading retailers like Woolworths, JB Hi-Fi, and Amazon

4. SurveyMonkey 

Surveys are an incredibly important tool for all HR teams to have at their disposal. If you don’t have the budget to afford a more comprehensive surveying platform, you can always use a free version of SurveyMonkey to create your own. Here are a few types of surveys you may want to consider distributing to your workforce: 

  • Employee engagement surveys
  • Pulse surveys
  • Onboarding and/or new hire surveys
  • Offboarding surveys
  • COVID-19-related surveys 

5. Donut 

When everyone is physically apart, it’s difficult to foster a sense of community. Donut is a great solution. This tool can help everyone – from people within your own team to other employees across the organisation – stay connected to one another by setting up virtual hangouts. Donut also integrates easily with Slack so you don’t have to download another platform to use it. There are lots of creative things you can do with this tool:   

  • Set up randomised “Donut dates” to encourage relationship building across teams
  • Assign new hires a buddy through Donut to help them ramp up and onboard faster
  • Create learning opportunities by connecting employees looking to learn new skills with experts inside your organisation using Donut 

6. Zoom 

Video calls are essential for remote work. This technology gives us that face-to-face time we need but otherwise wouldn’t be able to access outside the office. We love Zoom because it offers a free version that can host up to 100 participants and unlimited 1:1’s. They also offer an array of fun, virtual backgrounds to make meetings a bit more interesting. HR teams can use Zoom for multiple use cases, such as: 

  • Interviews with potential candidates 
  • Training sessions (such as a financial literacy workshop or DEI session) 
  • Company-wide meetings or celebrations 
  • Virtual events like happy hours or costume contests

7. Chimp or Champ 

Right now, employees are struggling with their wellbeing as a result of Covid-19. That means that it’s more important than ever to keep a finger on the pulse and check in with your workforce regularly. Chimp or Champ is a great tool that lets you send out an anonymous weekly employee happiness meter to see how everyone is doing. There are a few things you can do with the feedback you collect: 

  • Develop initiatives according to the happiness levels of employees
  • Create a monthly report to keep track of overall employee wellbeing (and make sure to share it with your leadership team so they’re aware too!) 

8. Dropbox

You likely work with lots of large documents in your job – such as contracts for new hires and legal documents for employees. Due to the file size, these documents are difficult to send through email. And we unfortunately don’t have the luxury of printing them out and handing directly to someone. In cases like this, Dropbox can be a huge help. It’s a platform where large files can be shared and downloaded. With this tool, you can: 

  • Create a shared folder for new hires that contains their contracts, forms, and other benefits information
  • Upload recordings of past trainings or webinars that all employees can easily access 

9. Loom 

One of the challenges with remote work is finding the right time to host meetings and events. Since everyone is working across different time zones and schedules, it’s challenging to find a time that’s convenient for everyone. Loom can help by letting you record presentations or announcements in advance. The tool then gives you a link so you can easily share the recording and let employees catch up when they have time. Here are a few other ways you can use Loom: 

  • Create videos that explain the onboarding and offboarding process
  • Pre-record training sessions so employees across all time zones can view it at their leisure
  • Have your CEO record messages or announcements to share with the organisation

10. Calendly

Being able to effectively schedule meetings is even more important in the remote world than it was in the office. Calendly is one of the best tools you can use to make the scheduling process a bit easier and more transparent. It integrates with popular calendar apps and shows people your availability so they can easily schedule a meeting or appointment with you. Some of the benefits of using Calendly includes:

  • Making scheduling easy for potential candidates who are interviewing
  • Simplifying the scheduling process across time zones
  • Reducing blockers to scheduling meetings for larger groups 

Using the right tools can make the remote working experience so much easier. Make sure to take advantage of the free ones we mentioned above to create a better work experience for yourself and a better HR experience for your employees. To learn more about Flare HR’s free onboarding software and employee benefits, request a demo.

Managing COVID in the hospitality industry with Shaun McDonald from Lucas Group

Lucas Group has six restaurants across Sydney and Melbourne including Chin Chin, Kisumé, Gogo Bar, Baby Pizza and more. Their aim is to provide exceptional dining experiences which redefine the boundaries of expectations and excite the senses. In this interview, we chat to Shaun McDonald, the General Manager of People and Development, about how Lucas Group have been managing COVID in the hospitality industry.

Tell us about the impact of the pandemic on LUCAS Group

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant industry, including LUCAS Group, was required to close as non-essential services. The impact on our business resulted in us having to stand down 650 people during that time, and changing our business operations. 

Our main priority was around our people. Every decision we made was about putting our people first, communicating regularly, and executing on a strategy that supported our people as much as possible throughout the pandemic.

We shifted to ‘takeaway’ business operations within 48 hours and reopened our brand — something that we’ve never done before. The sole reason for this shift was to support those people that would not be eligible for financial assistance from the government. 30 percent of our crew are from overseas. 

The Job Keeper Program was introduced by the government a few weeks later, which was great for our people. It was another mechanism for us to support our crew. We applied immediately, and were able to support our stood down crew.

How did you manage communications with your staff? 

Strong communication was critical for us during this time. We focused on crafting messaging that was concise and clear, and enabled managers to share messages aligned to our CEO’s direction. Managers were provided tools and training, so they could communicate with their people.

At every level of our organisation, we ensured people understood the new direction, that they knew what to do in their roles, were trained up effectively and ready to fight. We needed to ensure our systems and processes were set up to effectively deliver the same quality in house in a takeaway model. 

Training was so crucial to helping people understand what to do, as their roles changed — and to deliver exceptional service to our guests and bring that level of comfort.

What are your return to work strategies and plans? 

As we transition our business from being a takeaway back into a restaurant, there are a few safety precautions we needed to make to our workplace so our crew felt comfortable to return to work. At the beginning, things were changing on a daily basis, constant updates, changes to legislation and changes to the job so we needed to keep up to date.

When we reopened we wanted to make sure that, we had done everything as a business to make sure that our people were safe, and explained to them that we were meeting social distancing guidelines and being compliant.

We also educated our managers to make sure that the messaging was the same. This brought a level of comfort to our crew. We’ve actually received a lot of positive feedback about the level of communications that came out of the clear and the concise messaging that was distributed.

We had to go through lots of planning to ensure which employees we would stand up and planning how we would layout our restaurant to adhere to social distancing restrictions. If any of our staff had reservations about coming back to a guest facing role, we put some of them into back of house roles so they would be more comfortable. We made sure that we communicated to our staff so that they knew we were running our venues safely and we were adhering to all the requirements set by the government.

How do you ensure that your employees are engaged and feel safe after returning to work?

Pulse surveys have been a great for us to ensure that people are comfortable with being back in the work environment. We’ve been able to get feedback and jump on any changes that we possibly need to make to make sure that people feel safe and they feel comfortable at work.

Related article: 10 Ideas to help you boost your employee engagement

Learn more about how Shaun McDonald used Flare to engage with employees through digital onboarding and benefits in this case study. If you’re looking for an additional HR software to support your business, Flare offers a free onboarding software with employee management and benefits. To learn more, please request a demo.

8 tips to help you and your team work from home successfully

Businesses all over Australia have implemented work from home policies to help stop the spread of COVID-19. In this guide you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to work from home successfully and ensure your teams are as effective as they can be while working from home.

Work from home tips to help you and your team stay productive

Here are some tips on how you can work from home successfully.

Get into a morning routine

Starting your day off right with an effective morning routine is essential for having a successful day. It might be tempting to just roll out of bed 5 minutes before your start time and work in your PJs all day, but doing so won’t put you in the mindset for productivity. Set an alarm each morning and get up early each day so you can get dressed for work like you normally would. Make yourself a coffee and eat a healthy breakfast so you can ensure that your body gets the nutrients it needs to complete your day. All of these activities can help you put yourself into the mindset of having a successful and productive day while working from home.

Plan out your day with all the things you want to do

After you’ve completed your morning routine, now it’s time to start planning what you’ll be working on today. Write a to-do list of all the things you want to achieve today in order from most important to least important and then create a schedule of how you will execute on those tasks.

Find your spot

Find a quiet and peaceful spot in your home where you can set up a workspace. Eliminate distractions and turn off your phone notifications while you are working so you can focus on the tasks at hand.

Prepare your meals in advance

Meal prep your lunch the night before so you don’t have to spend time in the middle of the day preparing your lunch. Make sure you choose healthy meals so you are fueling your body with all the nutrients it needs to be productive and successful.

Take microbreaks throughout the day

Throughout the day while working from home, it can be quite easy to get tired and your attention can drift. If you find this happening, try and set up some microbreaks during the day so you can reset and relax for 10 minutes. Make yourself a cup of tea, stretch your legs or go for a short walk. This can help you work from home successfully and stay motivated to complete all your tasks.

Keep your work and personal time separate

It can be tempting to complete life admin tasks while you are working from home, but it’s important that when you are working during the day, you are dedicating your time to completing your work and being productive.

Connect with your colleagues

You may be feeling a bit disconnected from your colleagues while you are working from home, but that’s why it’s so important to make an effort to reach out to them and communicate as much as possible. A quick video call can help you connect with your colleagues so you can collaborate on work tasks more effectively and just help you feel more connected.

Remember to clock out

At the end of the day, it is also important to clock out of work so that you can ensure you set boundaries between your work time and your personal time. This can help you avoid burning out and will help you ensure that tomorrow you are refreshed and ready to start the day off right.

How to manage your team while working from home

Communicate with your team regularly

During this period of uncertainty, it’s really important to make an effort with your team and communicate with them as much as possible with updates on the company.

Communicate goals and expectations with your team

Ensure that your team is across what their goals and expectations are by setting up regular meetings with them so that they are aware of what the team’s goals are. 

Daily standup meeting

To ensure that you are across what everyone in your team is working on each day, set up a regular daily standup meeting so everyone can go through what their tasks are for the day. If you’d like to learn more about how to structure your daily standup meeting and daily goals, download our daily work from home meeting guide here.

New work from home tax deductions Australia

Now that countless Australians are working from home to help flatten the curve of new COVID-19 cases, The Australian Taxation Office has made it easier to claim work from home tax deductions.

These changes will allow people to claim 80 cents per hour for all their home office expenses, instead of calculating costs for specific running expenses as taxpayers would under normal circumstances. You can learn more about the new home tax deduction rules here.

Maintain a sense of belonging with your community

With all the changes happening around Australia and the world it can be easy to feel disconnected from the world around us. Which is why it’s important to continually check in on our colleagues, partners, family and friends during this time so that we can maintain a sense of belonging and remind ourselves that we are not alone.

Coronavirus: How HR leaders from Apple, Google and Nike are responding

The Coronavirus has continued to spread worldwide at alarming numbers. During this time of uncertainty it’s more important than ever before that we get our communities, workplaces and ourselves prepared.

Companies are looking to HR and people leaders to plan and prepare for the change in work. HR plays a critical role in guiding employees and management teams to prepare, and help keep the calm with unprecedented new challenges arising.

HR teams from Apple, Google and more are sharing Coronavirus plans publicly

Some of the world’s biggest companies have joined together to crowdsource a collection of resources to help HR and business leaders inform their employees about their Coronavirus response plans.

Coronavirus HR Comms & Resources Guide
Source: Coronavirus HR Comms & Resources Guide


Here’s the link to find a curated collection of public Coronavirus response communications, templates, news, remote work, hiring impact, and resources. 


How to communicate Coronavirus information in your organisation

1. Build a Coronavirus response plan

A Coronavirus response plan is essential to help anticipate and develop solutions to the disruption it will cause to your business. The Coronavirus HR Communications & Resources gives you access to Playbooks, Responsive Plans, WFH policy templates from the global HR community.

2. Distribute your Coronavirus plan

Create an information hub where employees can find all the information they need. Consider a HR communications tool like Flare which can help you manage, distribute and amplify communications to employees easily and efficiently. You can schedule a free demo of Flare here.

3. Re-evaluate your work from home policy

Many of you will be making plans for some of your employees to start working from home. Some of you will already have started. Here is one of our favourite guides to managing remote work: 21 tips to remote working.

The Coronavirus has continued to spread worldwide at alarming numbers. During this time of uncertainty it’s more important than ever before that we get our communities, workplaces and ourselves prepared. Companies are looking to HR and people leaders to plan and prepare for the change in work. HR plays a critical role in guiding employees […]