Why will companies that let employees keep working remotely full-time (or at least some of the time) be more successful than those that go back to the “in-office model”? Since remote workplace cannot rely on the physical interaction of an office, they must focus on culture, employee satisfaction, and communication practices in other ways to make it work. Many employees have discovered the benefits of remote work: they feel productive, have a better work-life balance. So much so that companies are starting to feel the effects of not offering a hybrid or remote work experience. Evidence of this fact can be seen in 10k filings of popular technology companies:
“In addition, changes we make to our current and future work environments may not meet the needs or expectations of our employees or may be perceived as less favorable compared to other companies’ policies, which could negatively impact our ability to hire and retain qualified personnel.”
“Competitors for technical talent increasingly seek to hire our employees, and the increased availability of work-from-home arrangements, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has both intensified and expanded competition.”
“The loss of the services of any of our key personnel, or our inability to attract, hire, develop, motivate and retain key and other highly qualified and diverse talent, whether in a remote or in-office environment, or address the safety, health and productivity of our workforce could harm our overall business and results of operations.”
The Return on Investment
Companies that embrace the Remote Transformation can expect valuable benefits in the form of talent. Remote work opens access to diverse and competitive talent profiles from anywhere versus limiting the hiring pool to one specific region. Remote work also increases access to flexible talent. In a remote setting, companies can be more open to part-time/contractor roles for specific or expert tasks vs. full-time roles. With a focus on asynchronous communication and culture building, it will be easier to onboard these skills experts. As an example, executives don’t want to hire a full-time assistant in their office but are open to part-time assistants working remotely.
Ask your team what they want, and then really listen to them, and build the future of your company alongside them. The full remote or hybrid model is achievable if you work toward it together.
Tools and Skills for Success
Companies that want to see their employees succeed in a remote work environment will provide them access to skills and tools they may not have had when they worked in the office. A recent report from Accenture emphasized that leadership should focus on providing training in the following three areas:
- How to work effectively while remote: This includes equipping people to know to take breaks, stay focused and avoid distractions, and plan for moments of connections vs. moments of focus.
- Tools to facilitate asynchronous communication: Examples include digital tools for team updates (to avoid ineffective recurring meetings), giving feedback, sending recognition, etc.
- Tools to facilitate relationship-building: Examples include tools to help team members engage in informal conversations, virtual offices, and frictionless video chats.
A tool that allows you to easily accomplish the three points made above is Intellective’s Employee Experience Pack. The tool allows you to bring information and data from multiple sources within your organization and deliver a unified, personalized, and engaging employee experience for on-site and remote employees. The Employee Experience Pack allows employees to have those “watercooler” conversations remotely, give team members kudos, find all the information they need to do their job in one place, and easily facilitate communication among team members.
Click here to learn more on how the employee experience pack can give your organization a competitive edge within this war on talent
