Invest in your employees to get the maximum benefits from remote working

Today’s workforce aspires to remote work and a flexible working pattern. So, is your business ready to offer a remote or hybrid working strategy?

Remote work has become an increasingly popular way of working in recent years. Many companies now offer their employees the ability to work from home or other external locations. This is a giant shift for many companies and their workforces – so, to get the best from remote working its worthwhile reassessing your people strategy.

Investing in your people and your remote strategy
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Maximising this new remote-working strategy can lead to increased employee engagement, as well as a reduced spend on rent, building management and all the other costs associated with running a traditional 9-5 office space.

To make remote working deliver on these benefits:
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• Offer the best remote-working tools – provide your people with the tools and resources they need to be successful and productive when working remotely. This could mean buying suitable desks, comfortable office chairs and headsets for your remote workers. You’ll also need team software, such as Microsoft Teams, to stay connected.
• Focus on creating a team spirit – Make sure everyone in your team feels connected, in the loop and able to contribute. Having a regular online ‘team huddle’ each week, or even every morning, helps to build bonds and nurture a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Make sure remote staff feel included – It’s very easy for an 'us and them' dynamic to appear between your remote staff and office-based staff, which can be extremely destructive. A clear flexible-working policy or hybrid work strategy can help, as well as bringing everyone into the office at some point, so you maintain relationships and get some face-to-face time.
• Track performance data for your remote workers – remote workers have the potential to be more productive than office workers. But there’s also the possibility for some workers to lag behind and become demotivated. By tracking performance and productivity, you can see how well remote staff are actually working – and where there may be a need to offer incentives, bonuses and benefits to boost productivity.
• Cut costs and boost performance – with the right investment and strategy, embracing remote and hybrid working can transform the future of your business. Not only can you engage more closely with the needs of your staff, you can also boost performance while also reducing your spend on office space and provisions.

Today’s workforce is a mix of different generations, with some workers that love the structure of a 9-5 office day, and some who yearn for a more flexible remote-working lifestyle. Keeping your people happy, while also embracing a remote strategy, is a key challenge for today’s business owners.