Using remote employees : the new reality
The concept of remote work is certainly not new in the corporate world. Companies are known to hire employees whom they expect to work from their homes, or any place that is not the designated office space, for some time now. More often, it is part-time home and part-time office, a few days in a month or a week that the employees are asked to work remotely. But there are full time remote employees too. The idea of remote work especially gained traction when companies, especially small and medium enterprises, decided to hop on the offshoring bandwagon. The whole concept is about working remotely in another country for your companies.
But mostly, even today, this idea has not been completely incorporated by the business world. There is still hesitation on the part of companies to accept it. Remote work, despite its many advantages, is still shrouded in a negative image. The plausibility of the whole idea is questioned. Employers, more than anything, fear that without proper monitoring, their employees might lack the incentive to work. They feel it may impact work and cost the company. But these fears are mostly unfounded for there have been various studies over the years by reputed sources which claim that remote employees are more productive than their office counterparts. However, right now, the employers no longer may have a choice but to go remote.
While remote work until now was considered a luxury available only to some, the novel coronavirus outbreak has forced the companies to adopt this method. As more and more countries go under lockdown, the employees around the world are being asked to work from their homes. An idea that was considered impractical is now being imposed and accepted by both the employees and employers without any prior training. Without any specific end in sight for this unprecedented situation, the companies may have to keep relying on remote work for some time. New ways are being found to deal with the challenges this sudden change has brought to make working remotely a success. This begs the question of whether this pandemic may change the way business companies operate where their employees are concerned because they are making it work without prior instructions or knowledge.
The companies will be emerging from this trial with new-found knowledge. Employees will realize that it is possible to work remotely, and the employers would know that their team can be managed without the requirement of their physical presence. It may not have been an easy experience and may even have been interspersed with complications, but it is important to remember that this was all accomplished with zero to little preparations. The employees did not have the proper equipment or tools needed to work to achieve their best, and the employers had to scramble to come up with ways to get the work done without having the team in their vicinity. The same arrangement done with proper planning and guidance may well be highly beneficial to the companies. In fact, this forced remote work may even lead to the development of new technology to assist the remote employees in the coming months and years. Some ways that remote work can be set up successfully-
- Installation of required software and hardware for employees
- Installation of high-speed internet
- Installation of proper tools needed for communication
- Shifting the focus to result-based productivity
- A training program aimed to guide employees about remote work
With a proper plan in place, remote work can be highly productive. Of course, such a model cannot be applied to all industries and services in the business sector. But companies and jobs that mostly require working through their computers can undoubtedly make this transition. It is a method that is beneficial to both employees and employers. The employees enjoy more flexibility, save time and energy wasted on commuting to offices, and without the persistent distractions that are seen in an office environment, they achieve better productivity. Whereas the employers save big on costs by forgoing office space overheads, have access to a larger pool of talent from all over the world (who even cost less!), and overall have happier employees on their hands which helps them to retain them longer.
COVID-19 might very well be leading the business world towards a new reality where hiring remote employees becomes the norm and not the exception. The advantages of remote work cannot be ignored, and it is high time the companies get ready and take on this new challenge for this change seems inevitable.