Since the mid-70’s, the remote working concept has been evolving and improving along with technological advancements. Today, most employees work on some type of computer or smart device in the traditional 9 to 5 office setting or remote work setting at banks, schools, stores, warehouses, hospitals, and other workplaces. However, nowadays, remote working benefits have become a topic of conversation and proven to be more efficient and resulting in higher productivity and success rates for businesses throughout the world.
Remote Working Teams have become more effective, both in productivity and cost efficiency. Using modern communication technologies, workdays are more engaging and productive, for both in-office and remote workers. Organizations pay attention to the convenience, ease, and flexibility of their digital employee experiences. The cost efficiency for both the worker and the company is worth considering remote working teams.
According to current employees, the HR Department, and IT decision-makers surveyed by VMware and Vanson Bourne, “Respondents consider remote work capabilities one of the top five most important aspects of the overall digital employee experience. After all, about half of employees worldwide work outside the office each week, by some estimates” (Radius, 2019).
Upwork’s Future Workforce 2019 Report shared, “By 2028, 73% of all departments will have remote workers.” With the significant improvements in communication capabilities, the remote work concept has increasingly appealed to both smaller and larger businesses. Notably successful corporations like AT&T, Amazon, and Twitter have been redesigning their company structures to include some or fully remote working opportunities. These larger corporations have seen the countless benefits and cost efficiency of remote work and have willingly been transitioning into a remote working plan prior to the push many have experienced with the impacts from Covid-19.
In 2019, some of the top companies with remote job opportunities were Appen, Williams-Sonoma, Kelly Services, VIPKID, Amazon, Achieve Test Prep, World Travel Holdings, Hilton, Dell, American Express, Humana, and CVS Health (Talty, 2020). However, remote working options are increasing daily as businesses see the productivity, health, and savings for their teams.
Top 3 Ways to Create Interactive and Inspiring Remote Working Team Experiences:
- Make communication and collaboration easily accessible and fun with apps like Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Twist, and Whatsapp. Open communications allow for more productivity among remote working teams especially. Be sure to train your team on how to properly utilize these technologies to avoid team frustrations from technological confusion.
- Be clear and concise when deciding on remote working guidelines and protocol. Put it on paper to be sure there is no confusion about what expectations are from all parties. This also goes back to number one…COMMUNICATION!
- Be organized and establish routines with a generally consistent workday structure. While remote workers have a more flexible schedule not bound by the traditional laws of the 9 to 5 careers, boundaries must still exist for optimal success rates.
With the many benefits of remote working and the apparent beneficial impacts on the environment from lack of constant commuting of the masses to and from the office, remote work has proven to be more beneficial than the traditional 9 to 5 causing more of an appeal to companies…even more so now with the recent impacts of the pandemic. Remote Work has a future within the workplace and multitudinous benefits for the worker, the employer, the environment, and the business as a whole.
Video link:
https://www.vmware.com/
Resources:
Evans, Katie. 2019. Third-Annual Future Workforce Report. Upwork Press. https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/third-annual-future-workforce-report.
Radius Staff. 2019. An Accidentally Remote Workforce Puts Business at Risk. Radius. https://www.vmware.com/radius/accidentally-remote-work-risk/#:~:text=Put%20a%20Remote%20Work%20Policy%20on%20Paper.&text=Employees%20discretely%20working%20off%20site,security%20requirements%20for%20customer%20data.
https://www.vmware.com/.
Talty, Alexandra. (2020). Work From Home 2020: The Top 100 Companies For Remote Jobs. Forbes.https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2020/01/14/work-from-home-2020-the-top-100-companies-for-remote-jobs/.
