Working remotely

?Is working remotely good for employees?

Remote work isn’t just good for employers, but can also improve employees’ quality of life.Remote work offers an employee the flexibility to complete daily chores while still being productive. As workers can organize their time the way they want, they can make sure that they have time for work as well as for other things, such as housework or family time.

Moreover, not everyone works efficiently at the same time. Some people are energetic in the morning, while others prefer working in the late afternoon or even the evening. Unconstrained by traditional working hours, remote work allows you to work whenever you’re most productive

This is especially important for people involved in creative projects. It is almost impossible to force inspiration just because the “official” work day has begun! If you’re trying to develop a cure for cancer, you can’t guarantee that your muse will be ready to go exactly between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Why do employers don’t prefer the idea of working remotely?

Employers might be wary to introduce remote work as they might think that allowing employees to work outside the office would encourage them to be lazy.

Think again! In fact, working in an office can be far less productive than working remotely.When you work in an office, you are surrounded by other people. Distractions are rife – a coffee break here, a little chat there, and soon enough half of your work day is already squandered.

Of course, if you work remotely from home or at a coffee shop there are bound to be interruptions and distractions as well. The difference is that you can better control such disruptions.

Many managers judge the value of an employee based on secondary factors, such as how often a worker takes breaks, how often he is late, or how nice they are to other colleagues, and so on.If an employee works remotely, an employer can evaluate that employee solely based on the actual quality of his work. Think about it: What does it matter if someone starts their work day half an hour later, if the work they submit on time is impeccable?

Simply saying no to remote work without giving it a chance is foolish.

How to implement the working remotely concept?

it doesn’t matter whether you manage employees at a start-up or at a multimillion-dollar established corporation: you can always introduce remote work into your normal work flow.

“Going remote” simply means that your employees aren’t chained daily to their desks at the company office. It doesn’t mean, however, they can’t be there at all.Working remotely isn’t an all-or-nothing commitment. You might first test the waters by offering a few employees the opportunity to work remotely for a few days per week, for example

This way, you can see for yourself whether remote work is a good option for your company and can get an idea of what you’ll need to pay particular attention to, before allowing more employees to work remotely for a longer period of time

But whatever you do, don’t jump to make a decision. If you want to introduce remote work, don’t base your final judgment on one single employee who has worked at home for just one week.Instead, have an entire team work remotely for a few days a week over a couple of months to get a better sense of whether the concept works for everyone, you and your employees.

Interestingly, you probably use remote work already without even thinking about it. It’s quite common for companies to outsource certain tasks to third parties, such as lawyers or accountants, advertising agencies, and so on. This is actually much riskier than allowing employees to work from home!

As many companies already entrust work to professionals outside the company, it shouldn’t be so hard to imagine allowing your own employees to work outside company headquarters.

How to ensure effective communication while working remotely?

Most work projects involve some sort of collaboration. Designers need to talk to web programmers, project managers reach out to clients. So how do you make sure employees are collaborating effectively while working remotely?

One way or another, you’ll have to ensure that your teams can communicate with each other. These lines of communication don’t need to be open around the clock, but there must be at least some effective and consistent flow of information between remote workers and the home office

This way, each employee had a half-day to work however he or she wanted, but also had at least four hours to discuss topics of concern to the whole team.

You can also make collaboration easier by making company information, aside from company secrets, open and easily accessible online or in some shared space. One way successfully you can do this is by creating a shared calendar, so that everyone knows who’s available and when.

Importantly, you and your employees will have to be available for clients, who might be uneasy about dealing with remote workers. It’s understandable: building trust is just that much more difficult when a client can’t shake your hand or come visit an office to see your progress in person.

How to enrich the personal relationships while working remotely?

https://remote.co/connect-with-colleagues-when-work-remotely/

It’s a fact that no one can work 24/7 without having some sort of social interaction, and remote workers especially so. We all need to unwind from time to time, and it’s ideal when employees can do so with other colleagues to build and maintain a sense of team spirit.Of course, remote workers can just go for a walk if they’re feeling stressed. 

Nonetheless, it’s important for workers to get to know each other on a more personal level.To do this, 37signals created an online chat room for remote employees where they could spend breaks, just as an in-office team would in the coffee room or lunch room.

Furthermore, remote workers and their employers need to be sensitive to how remote work can affect personal relationships. For instance, when you can’t see the other person’s smile or body language across the table, it’s easy to misinterpret just their words. From this, negative relationships can develop.Remote workers thus must be extra careful about the way they communicate with each other. Managers too must pay close attention to employees’ communications and encourage a friendly atmosphere.

How to prevent burn out during working remotely?

For starters, remote workers run the risk of becoming lost in their work. While some people believe that these employees don’t do as much work as office employees, in fact, there is a real danger that remote workers actually do too much.

Because they aren’t bound to normal office hours, remote workers might feel tempted to do a little extra here and there, and because of this, can eventually burn out.

Be extra careful not to encourage this kind of behavior. After all, you can’t see burnout symptoms in front of you as you would if your employee was working in the office with you.

To help avoid burnout, you might consider offering remote workers an extra day off 

After all, you want your employees to be happy and productive; to ensure this, you don’t want them spending all day in their home office. Working out, meeting new people and other leisure activities might fall by the wayside if an employee lacks the social contacts that come with working in an office.

Managers, therefore, have the responsibility to encourage remote employees to live a healthy and diverse lifestyle. For example, remote employees may receive help in paying for health club memberships as well as get extra money to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for healthier meals.

Employees are also supported by the company in their pursuit of hobbies outside work, as company holiday gifts help bankroll travel, as one example.

Finally, you have to recognize that technology simply isn’t a perfect substitute for real-life interactions. You’ll have to make sure there’s some socializing in the “real world,” too.

While there are countless tools that make virtual collaboration possible, people still need to connect an online name with a face at some point. It doesn’t have to happen every day or even every month, but it does need to happen eventually to build trusting, loyal relationships

inviting the entire company to meet monthly, even when there is no particular project to discuss. By doing so, employees feel more connected, and the company as a whole is better united.

Conclusion

Modern technology means that employers and employees can easily benefit from remote work. However, the dynamics created by remote work are different than the normal office routine, so managers need to rethink how they manage remote workers to keep everybody happy and productive.

source : Remote book by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson and www.blinkist.com