Will Our New Working Environment Be Virtual Forever?

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are my own and do not represent the opinion of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now or will be affiliated.

Most knowledge workers across the globe have been affected by the Covid-19 lockdown of their states, countries, or companies. For the first time, many of them found that they had to work from home for a continuous period. All of a sudden, many employees had, for the first time, to organize their working day from home, finding space and a quiet environment. They had to stay in touch with co-workers through virtual means instead of coffee-corner meetings or lunch together. On top of this all, mothers, fathers, and others with caretaking responsibilities had to organize their family duties along with work. 

During the lockdown (which is still very much in force in many parts of the world but is behind us in some Asian countries already), one could nevertheless observe a certain excitement with the new work situation. While he stress levels of many employees, particularly those who had caretaking responsibilities, went up, so did the overall satisfaction with work and engagement levels.

The increase in engagement also reflected for most companies in a higher or at least stable productivity. In June, a survey run by Moteva.com with 1000+ employees who are new working from home revealed that 75% of employees felt that working from home did not change or had even increased their productivity, whereas only 25% felt it decreased productivity levels (see here at metova.com). A majority of respondents said that they would prefer to work from home in the future. Similarly, research by wakefieldresearch.com and the security provider Sectigo, including 500 IT professionals from the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, found that 49% of respondents said that their productivity had increased, whereas only 16% said it decreased. Also, in this survey, the majority (59%) expect that after the Covid-19 lockdowns, there will be more working from home. For the US respondents, this number even stands at 72% (See here at sectigo.com).

These sentiments may also be confirmed by in-house surveys many large companies did during the last months. Company CEOs of major IT players, like Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter and Square), went ahead to announce that work from home will be possible in both companies permanently if employees wish so, even once offices begin to reopen. He quoted the same reasons as Adam D’Angelo from Quora in his recent announcement of the new "Remote First" policy at Quora. Productivity may be better in a virtual environment; companies could include many people in their workforce who do not want to move towards the pricy Bay Area. Even for those living there, the daily office shuttle is just a waste of time. On top of this, the CFOs of companies will be happy if they can reduce the enormous checks for office rents in prime locations in the future, creating cost savings as expensive long-term leases for office space may no longer be needed.

So this is a win-win for all then?

Not so fast. Working continuously from home also means that everyone works per default in a virtual team with her or his peers. While many professionals and leaders may work in a virtual environment for the first time, this is all but new for others. Given the vast distribution of engineering work, specifically in the IT sector across continents, for some professionals and managers, keeping a virtual team (VT) together has already become a routine. And those knowledge workers also know where the pitfalls lie in VT set-ups, which are probably not so obvious if one has been working in a virtual environment for only a few weeks of months. The first months are still "honeymoon time," when we all bank on relationships and social connections built before we started working from home. And thus, many of the task-oriented processes and socio-economic processes would still work, banking on relationships and credits of trust we built before the shut-down.

Going forward, at least with the next re-organization, a new team that is built or new members that need to be included, many professionals will come across the following significant challenges VTs do face if they work together over a prolonged period.

Team Design

To set-up a team completely virtually if the members have not been working together before is not easy. A best practice in VT set-up has been to meet at least once in person to build connection, trust, understanding, and get to know one another. If that cannot happen, one needs to re-think the whole team set-up process. On top of this, a VT should ideally share a common language, common goal, and knowledge. Specifically, the last point is not "given" if the team members were used to sharing crucial information before just across the desk or visiting each other for a minute or two in the next cubicle or office. The team design for a virtual team need to make-up for knowledge loss and communication gaps by building shared knowledge bases early on.

Technical Expertise and Tools

While there are many VT meeting tools out there and some, like MS Teams or Zoom, are really booming, it also requires time and dedication to understand the usage, possibilities, and best-fit scenarios of the different tools. It is great that there is Mural, a software application for brainstorming and design thinking together virtually, but how many of us do really know that it exists, leave alone how to use it effectively? VTs also need rules to be established for their usage, like chat rooms, shared folders, video usage, at least for the person who is speaking, and so on.

Relationship Building and Cohesion

Humans build relationships in many ways, and one of the best ways is probably to meet physically. If relationships need to be built in a virtual set-up, it is essential to focus the initial meetings on only that: strengthening relationships. Also, regular chat sessions outside of the agenda-driven meetings can be helpful. A VT must have a high focus on cohesion over time.

Trust

Probably most importantly, building trust in a virtual team is more demanding than in a co-located setup. As said above, if I am part of a team that knows each other well and now the office is closed and we work virtually, the trust levels should (hopefully) not change. But what if the team is new and from day one operates in a virtual manner? Just saying "we are on the same boat" and aligning everyone behind the same goals will probably have short-lived results. It is crucial to find mechanisms to build interpersonal trust between remote team members and managers by being predictable, approachable, and spending more time than usual talking to one another.

Communication

Another challenge for VTs is to communicate consistently, frequently, and openly. Many factors can negatively impact communication in VTs, like the absence of non-verbal communication, the time delay in answers, differences in perception, cultural misunderstandings, and so on. In co-located teams, many smaller communication issues can be sorted out in a quick chat or by just asking a peer who sits next to you. In a VT, a small communication misunderstanding can lead to large escalations, disappointment, and erosion of trust. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that communication in VTs happens in a planned and structured way. It is inclusive of all that a shared language is used frequently and predictably.

Conclusion

While it is not unthinkable that virtual teams perform together as good as or better than co-located teams, even over a prolonged period, it requires processes, tools, skills, and a change in leadership techniques. Arguing from the point of view of initial survey results during the Covid-19 lockdown is undoubtedly falling short of addressing the complexities of a completely virtual world. While it is essential to focus on the productivity and work–life balance of today's employees in the future of work, we also need to keep in mind how adversely the overall innovation performance of a firm may be impacted in the long run by a complete virtual work environment. This possible outcome has, to my knowledge, not yet been fully researched. Finally, we should also not forget all those who are still at University and want to join a great company. How do we bring these young people into the corporate culture of their teams, and how do they develop the same pride we felt when we walked through the doors of the wonderful company we chose on day 1 of our work life? It is a very different experience if you join a company "at home" and meet your teammates only through your webcam. Work-from-home is here to stay, but we need to find smart and intelligent ways to include it in the future's work concepts. The decision to work from home "forever" or "not at all" is not a black-or-white decision for companies or individuals but a process that has many influencers, ranging from the type of work, the complexity of tasks, the geography of team members, the culture, and the skills, to the personal needs for human interaction.

I believe no one has yet found the silver bullet for the new virtual world, but we will all learn along the way and adapt the way we work to find the best solution for employees health, engagement and the firm’s innovation performance.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this blog and on this site are my own and do not represent the opinion of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now or will be affiliated.