The Current State of Today’s Remote Work

What's the Current State of Today’s Remote Workforce

Ultimately, it turns out that remote work is effective. In the past, people who work from home have had a questionable reputation. It gave the notion before that they’d get easily distracted at home where managers cannot keep a direct visual of their work progress.

Only very few people were into remote work a decade ago. To be able to work from home was only made available at a special arrangement to accommodate families in specific cases. But the coming of teleconferencing, telework technology, and customizable network IT infrastructure has advanced to the point where businesses actually thrive with a completely remote workforce. In fact, it is no longer surprising for companies to allow their staff to work from home once or twice a week.

Now with the threat of the COVID19 pandemic, businesses are torn between keeping productivity and protecting public health—both of which can be answered by transitioning to a remote workforce. The outbreak prompted many companies to shift to a remote work model for their staff in an effort to limit the spread of the virus. It’s fortunate for today’s workforce because of the rise of communication technology, productivity tools, and fiber optic GPON internet access.

Locations

The idea doesn’t only pertain to a home or house literally. Remote teams turn to coffee shops or co-working spaces, and some even travel while maintaining the same level of productivity. The modern workforce is becoming mobile and collaborative, staying connected while on the job. In a survey conducted by buffer.com, 80% work from home literally in the confines of their houses; 7% in co-working spaces; 3% in coffee shops; and 0.5% in libraries.

Policies

While the desire to work remotely spikes up every year, companies are only slowly adopting remote-friendly policies. Adopting or coming up with such policies saves companies the expenses of overhead costs. The need for a remote workforce at this time of pandemic pushes companies to improve their remote work policies and capabilities instead of resisting the change. If your company is worried about productivity and performance, it is advisable to create your own standard key performance indicators or KPIs for both management and employees. In this manner, remote teams are made aware of expectations and progress can be monitored.

Staying safe and sane.

While this doesn’t come as a shock to many people, it is still an important note for many to start acknowledging mental conditions from hereon. On top of the productivity and communication tools for a remote workforce, every employee should consider allocating time for their own mental health whether that may be in short exercise, a brief reading, or fun cooking in between duty hours.

The Future of Remote Work

Many IT experts predict that remote work software such as mobile work tools and virtual reality conferencing will be the preferred form of communicating with teammates—over a face to face meetings. AI or Artificial Intelligence will likely play a significant role in managing remote staff. These innovations should put more businesses at ease amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The transition to a remote workforce may be long and daunting but with the right managed services IT support, it can be a seamless transition. In the long run, resisting the need to work remotely might do more harm than good.