6 Common Concerns of Remote Working: An Overview
While in our recent blogs we have been quick to dismiss the concerns of remote working, here we hope to properly address six common concerns on the subject in greater detail. This will serve as an overview of the topic itself due to its ever-increasing popularity and relevancy.
6 Common Concerns of Remote Working
Work has already been gradually transitioning into a model that would incorporate remote workers in various full or hybrid forms. COVID-19 merely accelerated this process. Prodoscore had an article about common myths of remote working, in a similar theme, we decided to cover the six most common concerns you and your business may have of remote working.
#1: Remote Workers Are Lazier and Less Productive
Managers fear that if they send their employees home, they will have all new temptations to be lazy. Though this is a legitimate fear, the data shows that the opposite is true in terms of employee productivity.
A study done by Airtasker found that on average, remote employees worked 16.8 days more, every year, than their office worker counterparts. Furthermore, remote employees are more focused, losing only 27 minutes to distractions compared to office workers losing 37 minutes to distractions each workday.
Another survey and study, conducted by GitLab, discovered that 52% of remote workers found themselves more productive.
#2: Remote Work Makes Communication Difficult
The idea that remote work makes communication difficult is not necessarily true as data shows that employees are just as distracted at the office as they are at home. Gallup reports that only one-third of American employees are engaged while at their jobs, whether they are working from home or the office.
There is plenty of excellent technology that can facilitate streamlined communication between employees and managers. Applications like Skype, Slack, Teams, and tools such as UCaaS, CCaaS, DaaS, Office 365, and G-Suite to name a few.
Miscommunication really comes down to any business, remote or otherwise, not prioritizing the engagement of their employees by means of distributing proper information and task assignment.
#3: Your Company’s Data is Not Secure
This concern of data security is the most legitimate of all the concerns thus far. However, the issue here is more of a situation of your business’s data being vulnerable only if you have not taken proper precautions. There exist sufficient security measures you can deploy to ensure your remote workforce is more secure.
Being susceptible to cyber threats is still a problem for an office workforce as well. An employee who is not following best security practices can still jeopardize a business in the office as much as they could from home.
We have written extensively on the subject of security and remote work. Using stronger passwords, employing two-step verification, and using penetration tests are all effective ways you can protect your business. You can find our top ten cybersecurity suggests for remote workers here and here.
#4: Managers Can’t Manage Remote Workers
The assumption that managers will be unable to manage their remote workers is probably the least troubling concern on this entire list. As stated earlier, there is ample technology available for managers to effectively communicate with their employees. If they are having problems handling remote workers, then perhaps their managerial skills may need improvement.
Managing a remote workforce is nothing new either. Even before the pandemic, GitLab found that nearly 90% of the workers they surveyed were satisfied with the existing tools that enabled communication. Moreover, 84% of those surveyed said that they were able to accomplish all of their tasks remotely.
Managers, unless dealing with a power outage or horrendous Wi-Fi, should have the means to continue working remotely.
#5: Some Employees Don’t Want to Work Remotely
Though this may be the case for the older generations, Millennials on average prefer to work from home as they will even take less pay for the chance to work remotely. With Gen Z slowly entering the workforce, you can bet they too will prefer the chance to work from home over the dreaded cubicles that their ancestors have bemoaned.
There is data that suggests that the majority of workers have said openly, or at least demonstrated through their actions, that they prefer remote work. GitLab’s study revealed that 62% of workers would consider leaving their co-located company for a remote role.
Additionally, 1 in 4 people have quit a job at some point due to the commute. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that remote employees saved over $4,500 per year on fuel. Due to the combined decrease in hours commuting, remote workers accumulated 408 hours or 17 days of free time compared to office workers.
#6: There is Too Much Technology to Choose From
Having the right technology and hardware in place is the cornerstone of remote work. If you cannot virtually and securely connect and collaborate with your employees than remote work is impossible.
There is a vast amount of collaborative technology and platforms out there for you to choose from, perhaps overwhelmingly so. This is not even including all of the awesome and unique providers and suppliers of said technology.
RingCentral, Masergy, Intelisys, ScanSource, Effortless Office, RapidScale, CloudGenix, the list goes on and on of capable options. The difficulty comes from figuring out which one is the best fit for your company.
Conectrix can bridge the gap for you and serve as the liaison between your business and the tech industry. If you have any questions regarding collaborative technology and working remotely, please feel free to contact us.