{"id":2361,"date":"2020-04-06T04:40:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T01:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kusuaks7\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2023-12-20T13:05:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T13:05:33","slug":"if-remote-companies-are-the-future-of-work-what-does-that-mean-for-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/future-of-work\/if-remote-companies-are-the-future-of-work-what-does-that-mean-for-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"If Remote Companies Are The Future Of Work, What Does That Mean For Leaders?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Remote working is the future\u00a0GETTY<\/small><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRemote working is nothing new. Plenty of us have been doing it for years \u2013 for at least one or two days a week, if not the entire time. Nevertheless, although many companies have long had the available technology to switch their entire workforces over to remote working, they have often been reluctant to do so in practice.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe\u00a02018 Global State of Remote Work<\/em><\/a>\u00a0report by videoconferencing provider\u00a0Owl Labs<\/a>, found that 44% of companies globally did not allow remote working at all. Furthermore, just 16% of companies were fully remote, having no headquarters and with employees either working from home or in another location of their choosing.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s inevitable that the largescale shift to remote working that we have seen over the past couple of weeks is going to completely shake up this state of affairs. Soon companies around the world may no longer be asking whether they should allow remote working. Instead, they are more likely to be asking whether they should allow people to work in the office, or whether they even need office space at all \u2013 especially if they operate in knowledge-based industries.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Paradigm shift<\/strong><\/h3><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cI think we will see a fairly major paradigm shift once the virus is under control,\u201d says Dessalen Wood, chief people officer at community intelligence platform\u00a0Thoughtexchange<\/a>. Even before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the vast majority of Thoughtexchange\u2019s staff worked remotely, with its workforce spread across four different countries and over a dozen cities.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWood says that prior to the crisis, many leaders were fixated on the outdated idea that \u2018only certain roles\u2019 could be done remotely. These same leaders tended to perceive people who wanted to work from home as being \u2018driven by a need for balance\u2019. As a result, remote workers were seen as lazy while more ambitious workers were \u2018present and accounted for\u2019.\n

\u00a0\u201cWith this sudden and complete shift to remote work for almost all workers, leaders will be faced with a new data set from their own experience,\u201d says Wood. \u201cIt is one that demonstrates that many roles \u2013 including their own \u2013 can be done successfully remotely, and that remote work doesn\u2019t mean less work, or less important work.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Managing a remote team<\/strong><\/h3><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNaturally, there are challenges with running a remote company \u2013 the most obvious one relating to the creation of a collegiate and collaborative culture. How do you make new staff members feel part of the team and how do you manage and motivate teams to be successful without the natural human bonds that form when people sit side-by-side each day?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWe\u2019d always encourage virtual companies to have a structure for welcoming new staff into the team,\u201d says Jonny Edser, founder and managing director of\u00a0Wildgoose<\/a>, a provider of team-building events. \u201cSo much of a good welcome is about face-to-face interaction, so you should try and replicate this via other means as much as possible.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdser suggests that companies that operate remotely should produce digital welcome packs for new joiners and set up conference calls with each department head so that the joiners become acquainted with their new team members and get a sense of the company. Team building among a virtual workforce can be facilitated by remote daily kick-off meetings, remote quizzes and virtual away days.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cCompanies that have moved towards virtual working, even before the coronavirus outbreak, tended to devote time and resources to encouraging employee communication through meet-up activities and online \u2018virtual experiences\u2019,\u201d Edser says.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Collaborate and learn<\/strong><\/h3><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRick Brownlow is CEO of\u00a0Geektastic<\/a>, a technical assessment platform for coders, which has a remote team of around 150, based all over the world. He emphasizes the importance of remote teams making use of technological tools<\/a> such as the online collaboration platform Slack and the video conferencing tool Zoom. \u201cI know a lot of virtual companies organize annual gatherings where everyone gets to meet each other face\u00a0to face,\u201d he explains.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrownlow says he makes a remote company work by giving team members flexibility around their working hours while monitoring outputs to make sure everyone is delivering what is expected. \u201cI often hear of managers worrying that if they were to move to a virtual team then productivity would dip because they can’t \u2018see\u2019 what\u00a0everyone is doing,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you are building a virtual team, you need to hire people who you can trust to deliver.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHe also highlights the importance of time zones, saying: \u201cWe make sure that our core development team have plenty of time zone overlap so that we don’t waste time waiting for our counterparts on the other side of the world to wake up.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs well as working, remote employees should also be able to devote part of their time to training and self-development. This will benefit companies by supporting staff retention.\u00a0Research by e-learning company GoodHabitz<\/a>\u00a0has shown that employees really value the chance to develop their skills. \u201cIn just 30 minutes a day, people could be learning how to become more assertive or how to increase their creativity and innovation levels,\u201d says Stephen Humphreys, U.K. country director at GoodHabitz.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

What next?<\/strong><\/h3><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tToday, many businesses have been forced to become remote companies simply because they have no other choice. But will they choose to go back to their old ways of working once they realize how much they could potentially save on office space and how much more productive their employees are when they operate in virtual teams? According to the\u00a02018 Global State of Remote Work<\/em><\/a>\u00a0report, increased productivity\/better focus was the number one reason why people choose to work remotely \u2013 above considerations such as no commute and a better work\/life balance.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVemun Waksvik, senior vice president of marketing at business meetings software provider\u00a0Synergy SKY<\/a>, expects to see a dramatic change. \u201cVideo conferencing tools have been around and widely available to most organizations for the last decade,\u201d he says, \u201cbut people have preferred to sit in traffic, or on busy trains, for hours every day to physically attend meetings.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHe concludes: \u201cThis outbreak, though devastating, may be the push we needed to stop polluting the environment and wasting time and money.\u00a0Perhaps the legacy of coronavirus will be that the world has been forced to rethink how it functions and does business, making changes for the better. Now, with social distancing, everything has become virtual, from yoga classes and dance lessons, to schools and industry conferences \u2013 and it is working. People have been forced to rethink how they view virtual interactions and are seeing the potential.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis\u00a0article first appeared on Forbes<\/a>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remote working is nothing new. Plenty of us have been doing it for years \u2013 for at least one or two days a week, if not the entire time. Nevertheless, although many companies have long had the available technology to switch their entire workforces over to remote working, they have often been reluctant to do so in practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":762,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[108],"ppma_author":[3617],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work","tag-future-of-work"],"authors":[{"term_id":3617,"user_id":762,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sally-truman-percy","display_name":"Sally Percy","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Percy","first_name":"Sally","job_title":"","description":"Sally Percy, the founder of a financial content agency called Love Letters,  is a freelance journalist, editor, and copywriter covering the business, finance, banking, treasury, and accountancy sectors. She is editor of Edge, the official magazine of the Institute of Leadership & Management, and a contributor to Forbes<\/a>. She is the author of the definitive career guide for finance professionals – Reach The Top in Finance: The Ambitious Accountant’s Guide to Career Success<\/a>. She is also a former editor of The Treasurer, the award-winning official magazine of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and a former editor of Accountancy magazine when it was the official journal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35075,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions\/35075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}