With business owners pushing their employees to get back into their fast-paced office environment, CEOs should be asking ‘why are we in a such a rush to get our employees back into the office?’. According to Alex Eartik & Co. since the UK has been in lock-down remote workers productivity and engagement have actually improved. Therefore, suggesting that if business owners were to open their premises again, it could potentially hinder the performance of employees as well as the overall business.
It’s vital that if business do decide to take the route of closing their offices for good and focusing on remote working, the necessity for a water proof remote-working strategy has never been more critical, or more in the spotlight than ever.
What would you like to achieve from implementing a remote workforce?
Whether it’s to provide support to employees with more flexible work arrangements or to beef up your business continuity strategy, it’s key to understand why building out remote working guidelines is worth your time and energy.
Here we look at two tried and tested justifications of any remote working policy, Employee Satisfaction and Disaster Recovery:
- Employee Satisfaction – It has been identified that employees who are engaged and motivated within their job role have higher employee satisfaction. A survey carried out by Leadership IQ identified that only 24% of office workers said they loved their jobs, compared to the 45% of remote workers who did. This higher rate of job satisfaction in remote workers can lead to improved productivity, increased profitability, reduced absenteeism, and increase employee loyalty. This can have a positive effect on overall company growth in the form of higher employee retention and lower turnover.Over the last year or so more organisations have had their eyes opened to mental health issues within the workplace, therefore it is crucial that organisations are providing their employees with opportunities to increase their job satisfaction. A study conducted by The Ohio State University revealed that there is a close relationship between mental well-being and job satisfaction – employees who are consistently reporting low employee satisfaction were at a higher risk of excessive worrying, depression, and sleep problems.
- Business Continuity – Most companies already have a disaster recovery plan (DRP) in place for their IT services. They make sure their data is backed up daily and have written up procedures in place to restore a failed piece of hardware should they ever need to. But what happens when their voice services are disrupted?Any number of events can occur to make an office voice services unusable – from builders accidentally cutting through cables during road works, to an epidemic that results in high staff absenteeism, or even a natural disaster that damages an office. When staff are unable to answer the phones, business grinds to a halt. If a company has already set up remote working arrangements with a well-developed infrastructure it is likely that business will be able to continue as normal, with no mishaps.
Reaping the benefits
A remote working policy underpinned with good technology can provide valuable opportunities and significant advantages for organisations:
- Higher productivity and responsiveness
- Increased employee morale and engagement
- Improved collaboration, enabling new ideas, and faster decisions
- Better customer experience, encouraging loyalty, and referrals
- Lower risks of security breaches and loss of valuable information
- Lower operational costs
By maintaining a focus on your objectives, you can craft a policy which not only delivers tangible business benefits but also create a workforce which can benefit from the freedom and flexibility associated with best in class remote work strategies.
