Organizations are encouraging remote working / WFH but are employees ready ? 'Remote working quotient' the need of the hour

I sincerely hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy as we navigate the COVID-19 crisis together. Taking care of your family, loved ones and needy are the most important things to do at this moment but work must not stop too.

COVID-19 crisis is shaping our world in the most unimaginable way. Almost everyone on planet earth has been affected by it directly or indirectly. Workforce management is all set to take a new course because of the same, infact COVID will be seen as major inflexion point in workforce management. 

Here’s what major companies are saying  

#WFH (work-from-home) is the new BAU (Business as Usual). COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the perception of companies towards '#workfromhome' to the extent that even traditional companies are experimenting with the idea. There has been some skepticism around WFH for years but now many case studies have revealed that it actually leads to increased productivity if not maintains the existing levels. One thing is clear that in a post COVID world, WFH culture is here to stay. Organizations who will quickly and efficiently adapt to this changing phenomenon will rise and take the lead in their respective sectors.

Work from home offers many #Advantages to employers and employee alike

Reduced infrastructure costs

Costs related to office infrastructure, electricity, air conditioning, office supplies etc. will go down.

Limits absenteeism

Multiple studies have confirmed that employees operating out of home are less likely to take a leave vis-à-vis employees operating out of office.

Enhances work life balance for the employee

Work life balance is the buzz word going around, there is no better way to address it than allowing employees to operate out of a place where they are mostly likely to be happy almost all the time.

Opportunity to attract best talent

Since sourcing in a WFH environment is not limited to a specific geographical area, employers have the unique advantage to attract the best talent available.

Reduced employee turnover rate

A recent Stanford study has confirmed that employees operating out of home have 50% less turnover rate and are 15 % more productive than those who operate out of office. Total win-win. 

 With all the benefits that WFH comes with there are many #challenges too

Right fit

Current disruption will reshape business models and practices, hence skills and competencies to deliver business productivity will also see a visible shift both for existing and incoming talent. With technology being ubiquitous, these skills and competencies will give companies competitive edge.

With a good possibility that you may never meet the candidate you are going to hire in person ever, it’s important to ensure that incoming talent & even the current workforce have right set of skills, aptitude and behavioral competencies for the new normal.

Communication

Most of managers would be managing a team remotely for the very first time in their careers. With no prior experience it can be a big challenge to coordinate with teams spread across different time zones. Right communication has to be top priority while managing a team remotely.

Tech familiarity

With no IT department to support them physically, employees have to manage any/all technical glitches they encounter on their own.

Company culture

Contrary to popular opinion, company culture is not just defined by company’s vision and mission statements. Small things like how you speak, listen, behave, interact with colleagues, even look at a problem, form large part of it. Remote workers have less opportunity to do all that. 

Here are some #solutions to the challenges stated above

Remote working quotient

#Remoteworking or work-from-home requires a set of skills and competencies for optimum productivity. Evaluate your existing workforce on these skills and competencies and put them on a learning and development journey for them to quickly become comfortable and productive.

Introduce or institutionalize use of Collaborative tools

Educate employees on collaborative tools available in the market like Trello, Slack, Microsoft team etc. Many studies have shown that these tools make organizations smarter, increase efficiency and make it easy to track progress on deadlines.     

Trouble shooting guide

Handy digital trouble shooting guides can be very helpful to deliver basic technical knowledge required to get their day-to-day job done. Small chunks of information in video format through a micro learning platform will be ideal.

Video conferencing

Take advantage of tools such as Zoom, Skype, google hangouts etc.

New paradigms in employee engagement

Try to create windows wherein employees can come to office once in a while. Give priority to group presentations, group meetings, mentorship, team projects. Make remote working fun by organizing trivia week, online yoga sessions, free e-learning opportunities etc. 

We are working on an interesting project!

After speaking with multiple CHROs in India and globally, we at InteliTix, have started work on developing a comprehensive assessment and development programme for employee ‘remote working readiness’. If you are an HR professional interested in contributing to this project and be an early adopter, we would love to discuss, get your views and collaborate. For more information on the project, please click here

Do comment on the post, we will reach out to you.

InteliTix is a technology services company offering gamified assessments, micro-learning web applications and innovative blockchain solutions in HR.