Twenty years ago, it would have been difficult to predict the proliferation of home workers - two million in the UK alone - who now benefit from greater flexibility.
This fundamental shift has brought a host of challenges not just for business owners, who have to ensure a team performs across significant distances, but also for the remote worker who has to stay motivated while aiming to meet targets away from the hustle and bustle of an office.
In a climate of ever-developing connectivity, organisations the world over are keen to enhance their performance, increase competitiveness, and implement best practice in the shortest possible time. This brings challenges for any businesses, but for those looking to harness the benefits of remote working or operate across a wider geographical areas.
The basics
Everyone involved will judge the success of the new structure quickly so it's important to ensure the basics are in place as follows:
- Map out a clear and compelling vision that everyone buys into
- Clarify one another's expectations of this way of working
- Leadership should be more around coaching than instructing
- Recognise the importance of trust and that it is developed differently in remote working
- Reward and compensate in line with individual preferences
Although new legislation is expected to lead to an extra 4.5m people gaining the right to request flexible working arrangements, suitability remains a key question. One recent survey revealed that while 80% of employees would like the option of working from home occasionally, they would miss the camaraderie of the office environment too much to want to do it full time. This tells us that contact is a key factor in effective remote working and the following steps should be followed at the outset.
- As a team, develop and agree how to communicate, make decisions, resolve issues and deliver results
- Keep in touch using as many different media as possible: Regularly check in with members to monitor progress and provide necessary feedback. Keep members apprised of critical information and decisions
- Consider what communication tools will deliver the desired results. Audio and visual conferencing might suit the leader but not have the attention of the participants. The return on investment of face-to-face communication will always pay dividends so long as the agenda is "how?" not "what?"
As the research shows, remote working is not for everyone and a number of factors need to be borne in mind. Businesses should monitor performance and constantly evaluate the processes in place to maximise the benefits of remote working. If productivity and overheads do not show immediate improvements, it may be because you have failed to engage managers and employees in the new working arrangement.
Those managing remote workers should focus on these key issues to ensure maximum benefit is delivered:
- Challenge remote workers as to how suited and resilient they are
- Be proactive and take responsibility to lead and deliver results across the team
- Be open to diversity and recognise how everyone brings something to the party
- Avoid imposing your own values and outlook
- Ensure each employee's contribution to the team is more than just their expertise and positional power
- Measurements of pperformance should be based on results not activities. This permits some flexibility in how things are delivered and avoids unnecessary micro management
Many companies have been quick to recognise how remote working can develop their business in a positive way. Getting it right can act as a catalyst for your employee's talent, which can be harnessed to deliver higher levels of creativity and energy than possible in a static office environment.
This way of working is far from straightforward. For instance, the communication needs to be more frequent and specific. Working with people remotely or virtually might pose some challenges but, if approached properly and closely monitored, can deliver significant benefits.
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