2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to dramatic changes in many areas of human life, including those related to his work. Remote and blended office models have become an important trend in business organization. Until recently, a massive transition to remote work was considered a temporary forced measure. However, nowadays no one doubts that this will last for a long time.
Content:
1. The benefits of remote work: what employees and employers think
2. How to transition your staff to remote work?
3. Blended work: what is it and what are its benefits?
4. Conclusion. Work of the Future
2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to dramatic changes in many areas of human life, including those related to his work. Remote and blended office models have become an important trend in business organization. Until recently, a massive transition to remote work was considered a temporary forced measure. However, nowadays no one doubts that this will last for a long time.
Experts believe that remote work will remain a key trend even after the pandemic is over, since most executives and managers have already appreciated all the benefits and prospects of this format. At the same time, ordinary employees also got used to remote and blended office models. Therefore, many of them do not consider the possibility of going back to the office even after all restrictions are lifted.
In this article, we want to tell you about the features of new employment trends and the attitude of staff and business management to them. You will also learn how to use these trends to optimize the workflow and increase productivity.
The benefits of remote work: what employees and employers think
In January 2021 Software Advice interviewed more than 900 employees of small business companies and found out that 37% of the respondents constantly work remotely. At first sight, this is not a sky-high number. However, this is 5 times more than it was before the pandemic (back then only 7% of the respondents worked remotely).
The same study revealed that more and more employees find remote work attractive. According to a survey of July 2020, 17% of remote workers would like to maintain such a work schedule after the pandemic ends. In January this year, the same indicator increased to 23%.
Although this is less than a quarter of the total number of the respondents, the upward trend is clearly noticeable. Moreover, almost 86% of the surveyed employees, working remotely expressed a desire to continue working like this at least as part-time.
At the same time, a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group and KRC Research showed that almost 95% of European company managers consider the change of the workflow format to be one of the most relevant business trends. If in 2019 only 14% of companies implemented remote work, then in 2020 their share increased to 75%. According to the survey conducted by Gartner, 82% of top managers approve of part-time working for their subordinates, while 47% are ready to transition their staff to remote work.
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At the same time, the management of companies is concerned about ensuring the efficiency and productivity of labor when switching to remote or part-time work. Among the main "challenges" in this area, they noted the transformation of management processes, setting tasks and monitoring results of the remote mode.
However, in the course of a study by the Boston Consulting Group and KRC Research, more than 80% of managers said that the productivity of their subordinates remained at the same level or even increased after switching to remote work. This view was shared by 75% of the employees.
How to transition your staff to remote work?
If you don’t want to make the transition from full-time job to remote too stressful for your employees and business, then you have to be prepared. You can take such measures:
- Interview your employees to find out what work format they prefer: remote or part-time. In the same survey, you can ask your subordinates about their preferences concerning the workplace, as well as what skills they would like to develop.
- Make sure all of your employees have the necessary technical equipment to work remotely. This includes not only the laptop and peripherals (such as headphones with a microphone), but also the software package. You can hardly work remotely without software or web services for video conferencing, collaboration platforms, project management, etc. Even if your employees work remotely from time to time, they should still have everything they need for full-fledged work and maximum productivity. You can ensure accuracy with their payments while considering using a paystub generator.
- In addition to software for working, it is worth paying attention to training programs or services. They help companies create their own training and professional development courses, as well as monitor the progress of their employees remotely. Certain types of software have built-in template libraries for corporate training courses. Thanks to this, you will be able to create the necessary training program without much effort or time. In addition, there are many different types of employee management software available, the goal of helping businesses to better manage their employees.
- Employee engagement software is considered very useful. It helps to set and monitor the achievement of personal and team goals, collect anonymous feedback, mark the over-fulfillment of goals and plans, as well as introduce gamification elements. With this software, you can reward employees and help them prevent burnout.
Blended work – what is it and what are its benefits?
Blended work is a combination of full-time and remote work, where employees work partly in the office, and part of the time remotely, from home or another convenient place. The main benefit of blended work is that it gives employees freedom of choice. That means they can independently make their work schedule and choose the optimal workspace, based on the specifics of their tasks.
As you know, some people work more productively in a team of like-minded people, while others need silence and privacy. Part-time is the most flexible work format, which makes it more and more in demand. It allows each employee to choose the most suitable work schedule for him, which will contribute to his maximum productivity.
If you want to effectively implement blended work in your business, then these recommendations will help you:
- Use new opportunities to optimize office space to make it as comfortable as possible for those employees who prefer to work full-time from time to time. For example, you can reduce the number of traditional workplaces by turning the vacant space into recreation areas.
- The facility management software will help you transform your office correctly. Using it, you will receive real-time reports describing the options and possibilities for changing your office space.
- Blended work will require the re-equipment of your office to meet new standards. For example, it is worth equipping it with virtual desktops, equipment for audio-video communication, as well as services for the remote exchange of documents and files.
Conclusion. Work of the Future
Over the past few years, remote and blended work has become one of the key trends for businesses around the world. According to studies a certain part of employees is attracted to working 100% remotely, while the majority would like to combine working in the office and remote work.
It is worth paying attention to a number of things to ensure an effective transition to remote or blended work. Starting from interviewing your employees on their preferred format and ending with technical equipment, the introduction of training programs and software for the competent transformation of office space.
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