A new way of looking at it
The actual tools for successful remote working have been around for some time now, with most organisations having teams spread across multiple locations adopting it to some degree. With this in mind and considering the technology to enable remote working has also been available for so long, one might naturally ask why it has not been utilised on a wider scale, whether that is for a 100%-remote workforce, or a distributed one, where remote and office-based working is utilised on a flexible basis.
In simple terms, the question is a cultural one. There are two elements to this. First of all, many organisations have been strongly attached to the traditional office environment and concerned about the effect large-scale remote working would have on their overall productivity. We’ve seen this across the public sector, along with other sectors like legal and finance that are traditionally slow to adopt new systems and processes, due to both compliance issues and the time and expense involved in modernising legacy systems.
However, the answers have recently begun to reveal themselves out of pure necessity. COVID-19 has forced organisations all over the world to implement remote working at scale and a speed that would have been previously unprecedented. As a result, these organisations’ cultural apprehensions have had to be put to one side. While this crisis has forced us to adopt a reactive approach, the lessons learnt have been important ones, including the shift we have seen from short-term survival to identifying opportunities for medium- to long-term business growth.
This means that organisations must begin thinking beyond the tools, systems and processes involved, as these are now well-established. We must further ensure that the ‘new normal’ is sustainable, scalable and able to quickly adapt to the unexpected, should we encounter another event of the scale of COVID-19. This points towards a fully optimised distributed workforce, properly supported by their organisations and able to quickly rise to whatever challenges the future may hold.
Before commencing any large-scale implementation, it’s both natural and intelligent for the key stakeholders within an organisation to demand an indication of the expected ROI. In other words, although the move towards large-scale remote working was necessary due to COVID-19, it was still important to have
a methodology in place for tracking and reporting. Our employee survey was key here, allowing us to not only track the cost savings and process improvements, but also the shifts in company culture, as our teams grew accustomed to operating as part of a distributed workforce.
While teams who were already used to remote collaboration and working with Unified Communications (UC) solutions had no problem continuing to work this way, those who only used this technology sporadically took more time to adjust. Furthermore, we have found that many team members miss the social aspects of their roles – both daily face-to-face conversation and close collaboration on projects. However, this can be remedied by managers and team leaders taking a proactive approach to the issue, holding regular team calls, encouraging their teams to take full advantage of the collaborative tools on offer, such as video-calling, and hosting regular social calls.
At this point in time, there’s no doubt that remote working is very much here to stay and will remain an intrinsic part of our professional lives well beyond the end of the current pandemic. But what is that likely to mean in practical terms?
Firstly, we expect this to have a major impact on the way organisations expand their workforces in the future. Attracting and retaining talent has always been a key business objective for many organisations, and while certain sectors may have been traditionally slow in embracing remote working, the same goes for different demographics. Some older team members with well-established work routines may not be as receptive to remote working as a younger demographic, who may consider the option of remote working highly attractive when applying for jobs.
What’s more, with a shift in the monitoring of performance to a purely outcome-focused approach, and less emphasis on day-to-day working practices, the location of employees becomes much less important. Flexibility when recruiting is therefore key. With a distributed workforce, this combination of office-based or remote working provides options for staff, recruiters and job applicants alike.
We have already seen this have a highly positive effect on staff’s overall morale. Without the extended daily commute, we found that team members of all levels are greatly appreciative of both saving money and the overall reduction in stress. This, in turn, has led to a significant improvement in productivity and job satisfaction, while sickness rates have dropped - especially striking when we consider the early concerns about the effects a distributed workforce would have on these areas.
Even the sectors that have previously been apprehensive towards a distributed workforce have seen considerable successes following the implementation of the right solutions. For example, GPs around the UK have successfully utilised UC solutions to continue tending to patients while adhering to social distancing measures and maintaining the healthcare sector’s usual rigorous standards of data protection where the likes of Electronic Patient Records (EPRs) are concerned.
In light of all this, many organisations are reconsidering the amount of physical office space they will need going forward. When one considers the cost of office space in prime locations, this represents a serious cost saving that can be channelled into other areas of an organisation, helping enhance business growth and resiliency. But to put all these concepts into practice, it’s still important to consider the practicalities and enablers of this approach, starting with the overall strength of an organisation’s infrastructure.
