How to Plan for the Remote Workplace in the Next Normal

We’ve never had such a sudden and globally impactful event as COVID-19 in our lifetimes. Before the global health crisis, we already were seeing a digital revolution, globalization and disruptions to existing business models at an unprecedented pace and volume. Then came the pandemic, which swiftly sent most of the world’s office-based workers home, if they were lucky enough not to be laid off or furloughed.

As organizations begin opening back up, we face further unknowns regarding the necessary revisions to operating models. Will those who occasionally worked remotely before the pandemic increase working from home once allowed to return to the office? Will there be a surge in adoption for those who were new to remote work? How can those who will be working remotely long-term stay connected with their in-office colleagues and managers?

Although management experts have been telling us for decades about the benefits of remote work, lack of trust by managers has long been a roadblock in its adoption. While so much is unclear even in the near to mid-term, what we can be sure of is that our workforces will not look the same as they did before the pandemic. And, with some experts predicting a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall, businesses must prepare for living with change, ambiguity and agility as a constant.

Why remote work will be a hallmark of the next normal

In March and April, employers first scrambled to quickly scale remote operations to meet immediate social distancing requirements and safeguard employees from health risks. Now, as remote working becomes business as usual, companies realize its productivity, cultural and bottom-line benefits. Done right, making remote work an integral part of your business model will result in:

Improved corporate culture and employee wellbeing. By offering remote work, employers can deliver more working options to employees, empowering them to maintain a better balance and tune in to how they work best. According to Deloitte, employees value the flexibility of remote working, especially if they have responsibilities outside of work, such as caring for children and other loved ones – not to mention the ability to avoid stressful commutes to and from the office. 

After being forced to work from home, many companies intend to embrace remote work even after stay-at-home mandates lift. Organizations appreciate how this period has helped people reflect on how they work well, fostering empathy among teams. Moreover, if social distancing remains key to public health, business leaders wonder how they can safely ask all workers to come back. Companies such as Starbucks are leveraging technology to deliver mental health resources to their employees. The coffeehouse giant is offering free remote sessions with mental health professionals for all its employees to help them cope with the stress of COVID-19.

Increased productivity. After being forced to work from home en masse, many organizations have learned that productivity doesn’t take a nosedive when employees work from home. For example, a landmark Stanford study of call center employees who volunteered to work from home found that home-working led to a 13% performance increase. Home-workers also reported improved work satisfaction and experienced less turnover. And, with a reduction in distractions and the employees able to clock more hours by saving on lengthy commute times and lunches out, 60% of workers report either being as productive as or even more productive than when they were working from the office.  

Bottom-line results. There is a reason tech giants such as Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and Microsoft are embracing remote work. Challenger, Gray and Christmas recently issued a study indicating that 28% of HR managers from more than 300 companies across the United States will be moving at least some of their employees to permanent remote working arrangements. By enabling remote work, companies can reduce their presence – and the sky-high rents they require – in cities such as San Francisco and New York. And, with a reduction in distractions and the employees able to clock more hours by saving on lengthy commute times and lunches out, businesses have reported $2,000 more profit per employee at home.

 Three strategies to plan for and thrive in the next normal

With access to the right tools, companies quickly will realize the productivity, cultural and bottom-line benefits of working remotely. As trust builds, managers will learn to measure productivity by results rather than an office presence, and remote work will firmly take root in the next normal. Businesses can create a plan for the future that is focused on far more than mere survival. Instead, they can embrace this time and ensure success and growth via:

• Digitization of process affecting customers and workforce
• A more flexible workforce operating model
• Cultural change to support the new model

Below, I dive into the first of the three strategies. In an upcoming article, I’ll be providing insights into the second and third.

Digitizing processes that affect customers and workforce

Companies should start by considering all workforce processes that can affect customer outcomes, many of which can be digitized, such as:

• Regular review of progress and performance
• Clarification and work course-correction
• Alignment of work against key goals and objectives
• Team and customer feedback as a development tool for recognition, clarification, and course-correction
• Access to information and tools such as communities, articles, micro-learning, and learning management systems (LMS) to improve employees’ delivery of customer service
• Career path development as a retention tool, which is particularly impactful given the strong correlation between high staff turnover and low customer satisfaction

Choose platforms over solutions

Solution implementation is a great way to digitize aspects of the workforce or customer lifecycle, such as those detailed above. However, many off-the-shelf point solutions and even enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions lack the flexibility to expand in scope throughout an organization. As a result, businesses often invest in several solutions and then run into issues around the integration and automation of critical information among them.

Keep in mind that many solutions are good at digitizing aspects of workforce processes only within the confines of the system. Platforms have pre-baked relationships among different solutions providers. Solutions do not. While solutions focus on one particular feature or department, companies can use platforms to build and deliver numerous solutions across the enterprise. To remove any boundaries among processes, focus not on solutions, but on overarching platforms that include native capabilities and prearranged integration points with other solution providers, allowing for seamless expansion and information sharing across your organization.

When choosing digital workforce platforms, look for solutions that support communication across your organization so that users can collaborate, learn and improve quickly. For example, the Salesforce platform enables digital process expansion into finance, professional services and customer support, as well as traditional sales and marketing. And, MHR recently launched People First Connect a cloud-based platform that enables organizational connection in a physically distant and disrupted workplace, ensuring that employees stay connected, contribute and collaborate – no matter where they are located.

Key considerations when choosing and implementing a digital workforce platform

Questions to ask platform providers include: How do they support easy integration and operation with other solutions? What solutions do they offer as part of their ecosystem? How easy is it to align the workforce performance with customer outcomes? How intuitive is the platform to adopt and effectively be operated by the entire workforce?

Implementing digital processes through a platform has the added advantage of enabling access to tools that can provide data and insights to create a cycle of continuous process improvements. Many platforms leverage machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify how employees and customers interact with the organization to ensure constant development of all aspects of their experience.

With ML and AI, organizations can quickly uncover new patterns of questions and underserviced requirements from employees and customers – all of which can be reviewed, improved and implemented at pace. 

Intuitive platform design will help ensure adoption is as streamlined and straightforward as possible for managers and your entire workforce. Additionally, it will offer an ability to learn early insights and gather quick feedback, resulting in a more effective rollout. For example, Salesforce has Salesforce Chatter that allows employees to connect and collaborate. Similarly, with People First Connect, users can set up communities among their teams and across the organization. These allow teams to collaborate, establish networks, share files and deliver status updates.

With the right tools, your organization can reap the benefits of the next normal of remote work. If you’d like to speak more about how digital platforms can support customer and workforce processes, please reach out to me at [email protected]. Stay tuned for my next article, when I’ll delve into creating a more flexible workforce operation model and creating the cultural change to support that new model.