Markus Gschwari | Talent, Organisation and Human Potential Lead | Accenture Africa | mail me |
Levers that will make your permanent shift to remote working successful.
COVID-19 continues to re-define the way we live and work. Over the past few months, organisations have had to re-imagine the way they work and embrace a fundamentally different approach to operating in this ‘new normal’.
Remote working at the current scale became a necessity, and for the most part, it has worked. Now that working remotely has become the new way of working for many organisations, what should we do next to equip our people with the means to maintain their productivity, keep them engaged and also mentally and physically well?
Employers need to avoid the pitfalls inherent in shifting to remote. It is important to reconnect with your people, re-imagine their experience, and evolve your institutional culture to make these new ways of working stick.
Maintaining a balanced work-life
The prospects of maintaining a balanced work-life while working remotely hold value for both employer and employee.
As we move out of a global recession caused by the pandemic, managing employee trust and confidence in their organisations will be critical to ensuring productivity across business verticals.
Our research shows that 88% of global office employees were working from home when the pandemic hit. Of these, 76% want to continue to work from home post-COVID-19. This is not only appealing for employees but also employers who could potentially save up to $11,000 for every person that works remotely half of the time.
More organisations are finding benefits in allowing their people to work from home going forward, citing benefits from cost savings, employee productivity, and less travel. Happier employees will benefit from the flexibility and increased satisfaction in productivity.
However, since roles and individual needs vary, remote working might not be for everyone – at least not yet. Organisations need to realise that not all individuals enjoy working remotely, not all jobs can be performed remotely and employees still need their employers to support them, regardless of desired work location.
Employee support
There is a dual need for both a greater connection to, and separation from work. Seemingly overnight, all human-to-human connections have paused and the normal day-to-day experiences that create culture – from whiteboard sessions to coffee breaks and lunch table get-togethers – have disappeared.
Without the physical separation between the home and the work office, workers no longer have natural mental breaks built into their workdays. With limited guidelines on how to make it work, gaps in physical, mental, and relational needs are beginning to emerge and employees are looking at employers for support.
The question is, how might we enable a seamless remote working experience, that’s omnichannel and supports employees to balance work and life?
About 56% of workers in our study say their employers supply devices for remote work, but this still lacks the human-to-human connection component. Some organisations have thus turned to online digital platforms for Friday night get-togethers and others have even arranged online team quiz nights.
As those working from home find it harder to take breaks whilst feeling the pressure to be ‘always on’, it is critical for managers to get the trust equation right. About 71% of employees working from home are more focused on self-care and mental health.
Not all jobs can be performed by working remotely
Our research shows that not all roles may be fit for remote working yet. Some levels may be impacted more than others, and data and analytics are key to understanding where the pain points lie – there may not be a one size fits all answer.
Organisations need to enable the right remote working strategy that unlocks value for the entire organisation and people.
Generally, financial, professional services and IT firms rank high for remote working. Out of 36 core roles we identified for a healthcare client, we found only seven could make the shift to working 100% remotely. Enabling technology such as cloud tools could extend remote working for other roles.
Impact also varies by seniority. We found that senior managers are carrying a load of buffering employees during the pandemic and they are collaborating more than eight hours per week (Microsoft).
The study shows that contact centres, education, sales representatives, and several customer-facing roles rank higher for remote work enablement. Trust is one of the top issues when it comes to working well remotely.
Some individuals are thriving in remote working, whereas others not so much. Are people, who work more remotely than others, better or worse off?
Not all individuals enjoy working remotely
Individual resilience varies and not all individuals may be better off working remotely. Digital adoption also varies, and digital natives may enjoy the experience more.
Organisations need to realise that remote working aspirations vary across different employees and that resilience varies as well as practicalities for different individuals working from home.
Our study revealed that 57% of workers found it difficult to switch off. Adoption varies for different employees; 70% of digital transformation fails due to resistance from employees and 47% of workers working from home want coaching or support to use new digital tools.
Just a fraction of employees are receiving support from their employers and this includes access to remote working guidelines and tools.
It is important to step over the potholes. Employers need to reconnect with their people, re-imagine their experience and fundamentally disrupt the institutional culture for new ways of working.
Interconnected areas to focus on
Make working from home work for you and your employees with five interconnected areas to focus on when thinking about taking the plunge.
We have identified five interconnected areas to focus on for organisations that are considering remote working as permanent:
- Create a fact base of what is going on with your people: review what has worked, what hasn’t, and determine what your teams need.
- Define your remote working strategy and operating model: Be deliberate when you define this – you can’t simply extend the emergency. Choose your Work from Anywhere Model across options fit for your organisation.
- Align key processes and policies to support your model: Enable new ways of working by rethinking rewards, performance, wellbeing and engagement to build trust.
- Make it easy for your people and protect your organisation: Setting up the most productive workstation at home gives the employee the opportunity to separate their work life from their home life.
- Evolve your culture and experience to make remote working thrive: Treat this like you would every other large change and make sure to improve over time!
In conclusion
Even before COVID-19 research shows that being ‘always on’ and accessible by technology while working remotely leads to blurring of work and non-work boundaries.
The second biggest issue was ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ – those who worked from home were more likely to feel left out and mistreated. Yet, we have both extremes – organisations that tried work-from-home but didn’t succeed and those working 100% remotely.
Underpinning some of the successful and not so successful experiments in remote working are lessons in leadership and culture.
Building one culture, that allows both remote and onsite employees to thrive needs deliberate intervention. Enable your new ways of working – rethink rewards, performance, wellbeing and engagement, focus on building trust.
