Author
Lumin Team
Published
Apr 2, 2022
Categories
Productivity
Read time
5 min read
If the beginning of 2020 taught us anything, it is that flexible working conditions are not a luxury or an advantage that, in principle, you can do without. For everyone who works with digital technology, remote work is what awaits us in the future, not only in the United States but all around the world. While working remotely in many industries has been swiftly introduced due to security measures in various countries, The Guardian and other sources have predicted a "permanent shift" towards working from home. This view is strengthened by the results of multiple surveys and studies that have shown that the upward spike and growing popularity of remote work is a trend that did not emerge yesterday.
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Companies that have invested in infrastructure to work remotely have a unique opportunity to cope with challenges and risks, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, which Time magazine recently called "the world's largest work-from-home-experiment.”
The successful collaboration between team members working both inside and outside of the office is becoming the norm for many companies. That said, there is plenty of compelling data highlighting dramatic changes in hiring practices, satisfaction, and the productivity of remote workers. This article provides statistical information about remote work that may surprise you.
With increased internet speed, the advent of more reliable cloud solutions, and a shift in attitudes towards work-life balance and health, remote work has become an increasingly attractive option for employees. As Forbes notes — “remote work is no longer seen as a privilege”. Increasingly, employees are interested not only in the size of their salary but also in the sense of freedom remote work instills, including work-life balance, flexible hours, and working conditions. Check out some of these interesting facts surrounding remote work:
What do these statistics tell us about the future of the labor market? Firstly, they show that flexible working conditions will continue to be the most crucial factor in attracting talent. PwC's international cross-generational survey found that many young employees view "work as a phenomenon, not a location." The cloud-based digital workspace reinforces this belief and aspires to bring flexibility and transparency to day-to-day processes.
The term "remote work" is quite controversial. Modern technology is blurring the boundaries caused by distance and time zones, and is instead opening up more business opportunities. Digital communication has become so commonplace that people in the same room often prefer it over face to face. Let's take a look at the main benefits of remote work for developing your project:
However, remote collaboration isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. Like anything, it carries various risks, some of them including:
Cloud and digital tools are becoming highly simplified, making it more natural to adapt to different work styles. Remote workers are reporting a drop in email volume and, as a result, spend less time searching for the information they need.
Of course employees say flexible work conditions improve their health and satisfaction, how could it be otherwise? Telecommuters spend less time on public transport, spend more time with their families, and even take less sick leave than their office counterparts. Remote work is the future. Statistics clearly show that the modern working environment is changing, and flexibility is becoming a critical factor for employees planning their career paths. Based on projections, businesses will see further growth in the popularity of remote work as many employees abandon traditional ideas about the need to travel to the office and back every day.
Collaboration and communication within a team can quickly go wrong if managers do not carefully monitor it. Be sure to follow Agile and Scrum techniques, which are very helpful in managing large teams to achieve the most effective work results. Our company has a strict and understandable system that coordinates the work process. Each sprint ends with a flashback meeting to summarize the results of the previous sprint. Participants analyze past achievements and failures. Based on this experience, new tasks are planned. It is essential to have all the tools to support remote workers before you switch.
Communication: When working remotely, teams need a tool to communicate with each other indefinitely. Email is not always a good option, so you should choose a means of communication for a faster response. The following are a few services that can be used to conduct online rallies:
File sharing: Chaos in working materials takes up the time of the performers and sometimes leads to errors, for example—old banners can be launched into new advertising campaigns. Choose a cloud-based file storage system so that they can be accessed from any device, wherever team members are. When organizing remote work, all participants must have access to the current and updated files that they need. Consider a file organization and folder hierarchy. For example, data can be organized by the client (everything related to a project) or by task type (banners for social networks for all projects in one place, illustrations for content in communities in another). And make sure that all employees strictly comply with the system. Several good reasons to use LUMIN PDF include:
Productivity: How do managers know if their remote employees are working? Currently, most remote teams rate their employees based on the number of tasks completed and whether they are meeting their goals, rather than the number of hours spent. However, it can still be difficult to track everyone's performance. If productivity starts to slow down, time tracking tools like Toggl, Tick, and Timesheets can be used to monitor projects or simply measure how long it takes to make improvements to track our performance and control our work.
Safety: Remote work means many team members will connect to WiFi networks in cafes, coworking centers, libraries, and other public places to get their jobs done. Therefore, it is vital to have an information security policy before moving to remote work. Remote teams must create secure passwords and update them regularly. Sensitive information should be stored on a secure cloud platform, and it is recommended to use a VPN or Proxy when connecting to public networks.
Create a set of rules and guidelines for employees. Psychologists advise creating morning rituals to tune into work, being mindful to not overwork, and communicating with colleagues via video calls. Here are a few other examples that help: participate in the morning meeting via video link, this way you can be sure that all employees are tuned in to work, and not daydreaming with the microphone turned off; share the plan for the day with the entire department as it is best for everyone to personally voice their ideas at a scheduled video meeting so that others will know exactly what their colleagues are doing — at the end of the day or the next morning meeting, you can voice the results.
If your employees are formalized, you need to take care of legal delays. An employee writes a statement. In the application, you need to indicate something like: "Please transfer me to remote work in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic." If an employee does not want to write an application, transfer it to a remote location yourself under article 74 of the Labor Code. You are drawing up a supplementary agreement to the employment contract. According to the Labor Code, if an employee will work from his computer, you need to pay him extra for it. Pay as before. Transfer to a remote location cannot be a reason for a decrease in wages, and you need to pay money in the same way as indicated in the employment contract. Taxes and contributions are paid in the same amount.
For an employee to not just sit at the computer at your expense, you need to know what he is doing. There are two options to monitor this:
An open and understandable task control system "heals" procrastinators and reminds us that working from home is just work, not a vacation. The transition to the new format will require new regulations. For example, you will have to answer the questions: "Is it tactful to call a colleague in broad daylight?", "How to correspond so as not to annoy anyone?" "What to do if I cannot complete the task?" It is better to put the answers in a separate document as soon as these questions arise. As a result, you will get a real FAQ that will help employees work effectively.
After transferring a company to remote work, you need to monitor how work processes are progressing, and ensure that tasks are completed. The manager must always be in touch and make it clear that the company is not dying, but is merely using a new format of work. There are different points of view about the transition to remote work. For example, a Gallup study claims that a remote worker can do as much in 5 days as an office worker in 6 days. But some remote employees are climbing up the wall and waiting to return to the office. We can only wish such people patience and perseverance, because the end date of the pandemic is unknown, not to mention the fact that some companies are not going to return to the office at all. Lack of experience in remote work is not a reason to give it up. Regulate remote work, make a clear list of rules, and convey to employees the importance of its implementation.
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