What are the benefits and challenges of a remote or hybrid work strategy?
What are the benefits and challenges of a remote or hybrid work strategy?
The landscape of Australian workplaces has changed significantly over the past 2 years due to the emergence of COVID-19. The seriousness of this worldwide pandemic has put the focus on businesses looking at business and workforce contingency planning, where historically they may not have had these at the top of their priority lists.
Australia was lagging the rest of the world with work from home opportunities prior to the pandemic in 2020, with surveys showing that around 4.3 million people in the USA already work from home at least 50% of the time (Global Workplace Analytics). Small companies were also twice as likely to hire full time remote workers (Owl Labs) and in the past decade, the number of people that work from home has increased by 140% (Global Workplace Analytics) with this statistic jumping considerably in March 2020, and increasing steadily over the past 2 years.
What are the benefits and challenges of remote working arrangements?
Benefits of a remote but engaged workforce can include:
- Higher job satisfaction
- Higher productivity and efficiency
- Lower overheads (need less office space / equipment)
- Higher flexibility in your workforce
- Higher staff engagement and retention rates
What are the concerns with remote working arrangements?
When asked, some of the major factors that were stopping managers/businesses allowing their staff to work remotely were:
- Technology;
- Knowledge/understanding of working remotely or with hybrid teams;
- How to ensure your employees are productive when working remotely: and
- How do we trust our employees to do their work when working remotely.
Technology is no longer an issue we have internet, NBN, video conferencing (skype, zoom, Microsoft Teams etc.), hardware from surface pro’s to laptops are amazingly affordable and portable options, as it the ability to use low cost VPN connections and unlimited internet plans to ensure that staff can access work files and servers from their own home. Knowledge/understanding of the options is easily accessible from online articles, internal IT staff or external consultants who can have someone set up for remote working generally within an hour or two.
Out of these the biggest issue identified by managers, when asked about the above, is how can they be sure that the person is working and not watching tv, surfing the internet or taking extended lunch break. Interestingly most managers that originally raised these concerns, had never managed anyone working remotely prior to the pandemic, so the question managers really should be asking themselves, especially 2 years after the pandemic is; how do you plan for success when allowing employees to work from home?
See our article outlining the 'Top 10 Tips for implementing a successful remote working strategy' for further information, or reach out to us if you need support with creating a bespoke strategy for you team.
Notes
This article was first written on LinkedIn back in March 2020, when the COVID pandemic hit, however it is still relevant today, with a few updates. Note the statistics used were as at the original posting date.
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