Hate it or love it, remote working is going to be around for a while with the influence of the COVID19 pandemic.
The COVID pandemic surged remote working across the globe. But luckily for us, advancing technology has provided us with the opportunity to be able to work from home.
With the new norm of remote working, how many companies are still implementing remote working? Does it affect their productivity?
This is where I did my part by collating statistics that will provide an understanding of how companies are adapting. This will also help you to validate your own planning for dealing with remote working.
We collected over 250 results from HR professionals across the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Thank you everyone who participated in the survey, enjoy the results below:
1. What level of remote working does your company plan on encouraging over the next 6 -12 months?
While people are returning back to the office, many still experience the option of remote working. Partial remote working came at a definite high at 63.64%. Flextime working came second at 16.88%. Partial remote working provides a work life balance, on a structured schedule decided by HR professionals. This is unlike flextime working as employees get to choose their schedule instead. With Partial remote working, HR professionals can keep track of people coming in and out of the office. This people management enables them to plan be proactive for future events such as social events to improve corporate culture.
2. Which items does your company offer to support remote working employees?
A computer device is the most popular item at 48.92%. Offices tend to provide their employees with a computer device each in their office. Taking an office device home provides separation between personal life and work.
Work computers enable technological functions such as access to softwares to track productivity. Providing standardised devices allows employees to all have an equal platform to work on. This allows for equal opportunity to work from home if the individual was unable to obtain a laptop previously. We found that the rest of the options greatly varied depending on the employee’s home office needs. Allowances were quite commonly offered across the options.
3. What remote working challenges has your company faced
Remote working challenge answers were quite evenly distributed. The highest selected was a lack of corporate culture and communication. This is due to the fact that remote working isolates employees and creates barriers with communication. For example, in the office you can walk up casually to your manager for feedback. In remote working you would need to book a zoom call meeting just to exchange any information. These extra steps can defer from efficient communication and thereby decreases social interaction. Lack of corporate culture and communication did rank the highest but not by a great vote. The even spread of the rest of the options makes it appear that remote working challenges are unique and differ greatly per company. There was no clear winner for a standout remote working challenge.
4. Which activities has your company implemented in order to maintain a sense of workplace during remote working?
As the previous question’s winner of remote working challenges was lack of corporate culture and communication, it was appropriate to analyse what activities were implemented to combat this. Virtual team catch ups were an all time high at 59.74%. With all the online meetings it would be the norm to communicate via video call. Technological features such as breakout rooms and reactions allows for more participation and social interaction even with large groups. With virtual meetings more participants can join as it can be scheduled on a time that suits them. With no commute, there are no excuses not to be there.
5. How has remote working influenced tracking employee productivity
The influence of remote working on employee productivity was found to be neutral. Remote working also enables more flexibility which allows time to be delegated appropriately towards tasks. Finding no benefit or disadvantage may be influenced by the increase of productivity tracking softwares. Utilising softwares to manage time and tracking how workers spend their time allows you to maximize: resources, employee performance, and monitor time management.
We hope you enjoyed the rare insights on remote working for 2021. It doesn’t stop here !
We heard your voice, we saw your answers and we are going to help you out !
Next week we’ll be releasing an in-depth evaluation based on the report to address your challenges with the remote working space and support your strategic planning for the rest of 2021.
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