Don’t Fall on Your Face - How to Win the Race to Remote Working in Your Business

According to the latest research,?9 in 10 people?say that they want to keep working from home after the COVID-19 pandemic. But a far smaller percentage of business owners grasp the impact of remote working on their company, both positive and negative.

To make remote working successful for both employees and your company, you need a complete understanding of how it works…including its hidden pitfalls.

What Is Remote Working?

Remote working is when employers let employees do their job from whatever location they would like, rather than in a central office. Employees might work in their homes, but others might work in a private office, a co-working space, or on the go.

While this was popular before COVID-19, the pandemic sent many people to work from home for safety concerns. Now that most of the workforce has had a taste of it, many employees don't want to come back to the office.

Employers are now stuck between deciding whether to bring employees back to the office, offer a hybrid solution, or let employees work fully remotely.

Technology

For starters, you need a strong IT department to help manage all of the technology, security, software, and support that employees need in order to keep working each day.

If you don't have an internal IT team, then you might want to outsource all of this work. If you don't have the right IT team, then your employees won't be able to work seamlessly and be productive.

You'll also want to have protocols for your technology that will help protect people and all of their data. It'll also protect the data of your organization so that your information remains secure.

These protocols will be different compared to your?cybersecurity protocols. Your technology protocols will include making sure all of your applications are in the cloud. This way, everyone can access all of the documentation and apps without needing to be in the office.

You'll also want to invest in technology that lets your workers collaborate with each other. This will ensure that your team can communicate easily and be productive.

You'll also want to enable two-factor authentication for important apps and accounts, like email and Slack. You'll also want to have protocols for all of your passwords and sensitive data.

Communication

You'll find that the communication style will also change when you have your teams working remotely. You'll need to have two-way communication during crises like a pandemic.

Your employees will also expect leadership and senior management to communicate openly and honestly. Managers should have communication channels open so that employees can conveniently contact them since it won't be as easy to just walk into their office.

Technology has also really changed the way employees communicate with their coworkers, but there are many challenges that they'll face as well. Instead of meeting in an office room, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become the main way for remote employees to see their employees' faces.

Overhead Requirements

Your workplace needs will evolve as remote working becomes more popular. Without having employees in the office, you won't have as much of a need for office space, which will also help your budget.

You won't have to worry about paying commercial rent, office supplies, utilities like water and electricity, or having security or janitorial staff. Even if your team is hybrid (only coming into the office a few days a week), then this will reduce your budget as well.

However, in place of all of these, you'll also need a cybersecurity system and perhaps more technology upgrades.

Team Morale and Culture

Having a strong company culture will be essential for remote working to pay off. It is likely that you’ll need to find new and innovative ways to strengthen your company’s culture so employees feel like they're a part of your business.

Many employees see remote working as a benefit, and it can actually increase company productivity.

However, engagement could take a dip when you have employees separated into different corners of the globe. That's why you'll need to focus on creating a good remote work policy. You want everyone to feel like you care about them.

You may need to create happy hour Zoom calls, trivia days, or even host in-person company conferences that employees can attend.?That said, having a strong company culture is not based on trivia, it’s part of the fabric of how you do things, your mission, visions, values, and the ways top leadership acts.?This is the real glue that binds all workers together to deliver high productivity with minimal issues.

Fraud

When you're completely remote, your company is also at more risk for fraud. While the chance of employee fraud while working remotely is not very high, it is still a concern that companies need to address.

You want to make sure that you have a formal ethics policy about where your company will stand on fraud. You should lay out what you expect from each remote employee and also list how you will punish fraud.

In addition to creating your policy, make sure that you also highlight areas where your company is at risk for fraud and have a plan for mitigating any fraud that does occur.

Retention

There are so many remote working benefits that you'll end up having higher employee retention and less turnover.?Employees enjoy the flexibility and control over their complicated lives remote working brings.

Although it’s obvious, it needs to be said: If you're an innovative organization that lets employees work remotely, you won't have to worry about employees leaving because they want to work for a company that allows remote work.

Employees will also feel like their company trusts them more, and this can help reduce turnover and improve your company culture. When you can reduce your turnover, you'll save money on hiring, especially when it costs an?average of $4,700?to hire a new employee.

In general, remote companies are also more diverse since they can hire employees from all over the world rather than within a certain demographic area. So, if companies are looking for a way to naturally make their business more diverse, remote workers offer a great solution.

Management

You may also have to make some changes to management when you have a remote workforce. Managers won't be able to walk around the office and see who's physically at a desk working.

If you have managers who like to micromanage, it will be difficult for them. Expect that your leaders and managers will need to learn new leadership and management skills to handle these challenges. However, this doesn't mean that it's impossible to manage a remote team.

Instead, managers and leaders will need to be prepared to make some changes in planning. You'll need to plan to invest in training programs for your leaders and managers on more effective ways to?communicate to their employees.?You’ll also want to have some online programs to help give your employees training on effective communications so they can communicate with each other and managers more effectively and productively.

Some managers will want to invest in software that can manage different projects and track the progress of the different teams. You may also need to invest in software that will track the productivity of remote employees.

There are also some collaboration tools that will help managers see all of the progress, communicate with employees about tasks, and even assign different action items.

Security

While security is important for any business, it's even more important for businesses that are entirely remote and have everything in cloud applications. Remote workers may also not have the protection and security that a business might have on its office network or Wi-Fi.

With remote working becoming more popular, cybercriminals are attacking businesses even more. Many IT professionals are worried about remote workers being hacked or getting exposed to cyber hacks.

Remote technology can be vulnerable, and a cyberattack could be devastating for a company. That's why companies need to have cybersecurity regulations in place before they send employees to work remotely.

You also have to ensure that your employees understand how important cybersecurity is. You should offer training for them, so they understand the issues and how to avoid compromising your business.

Improved Employer Branding

When you announce that you're offering remote positions, you'll get a boost in your employer branding as well. While remote working is becoming more popular, there is not yet a majority of companies offering fully remote positions. The holdouts still cling to the old factory notion that if managers aren’t watching, workers are slacking off.

Take a lesson from?Star Wars?when Princess Leia says, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” If your leadership is doing the right things and you have a strong company culture, you’ll find that 98 percent of employees will over-deliver because they are as invested in your company’s success as you are.

That means that if you're one of the companies that are actually offering remote positions, then you will have better employer branding. When you have better employer branding, you're more likely to get a larger batch of candidates applying for your positions.

When you have more people applying for your job openings, it will be easier for you to recruit and hire talent. You'll have more qualified candidates to choose from, and this will ensure that you have the best chance of actually hiring a successful candidate.

In addition, you show that you care about offering flexible solutions to your employees. Your customers will take note and they may be more inclined to purchase products from your company. They may see you as a more progressive, employee-first company; many customers want to support companies that share their?values.

Discover More About the Impact Remote Working Can Have on Your Company

These are only a few impacts that remote working will have on your company; you may find that there are other problems that your company wasn't prepared for.

If you want your company to successfully navigate through the remote working trend, talk with an executive business coach and trainer about best practices.