Employees are arguably working longer hours than ever before, commuting costs soared in the first half of the year with fuel for cars reaching £1.40 a litre in the UK in the summer of 2008 up from around £1 six months prior (although fuel prices have now decreased again), and IT managers feel pressured to reduce the carbon footprints of their company (according to publichtechnology.net, 61 per cent feel they should reduce their energy use and 60 per cent intend to reduce their carbon emissions over the next 18 months).
In addition to reducing commuting costs for employees and reducing the carbon footprint and energy bills of the company, remote working brings about reduced office operation costs and improved productivity. A study conducted by City & Guilds and the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) (The ‘Tomorrow’s Leaders’ study) reports that while nearly 75% of managers believe remote workers are more productive, and 90% say they trust their remote employees.
Yet there still seems to remain a reluctance from many organisations to allow employees to work remotely.
What’s more as I discussed in one of my earlier posts, we have been empowered with a plethora of technologies that close the gap between remote workers and the office, including broadband, mobile broadband, instant messaging software, Twitter, and Skype. In an article on Channelweb.com, Adrian Burholt, CEO of The Key Revolution, points to cloud computing as assisting companies with remote working. Cloud computing has gained widespread press coverage recently due to the level of interest being paid to it by major IT players – Google, Amazon, and tech giant Dell, who even patented the domain name “cloudcomputing.com”.
Why then is there still such resistance from companies to a truly mobile workforce?
I worked remotely for an extended period over the past couple of years in the UK, I am very comfortable doing so and fully appreciate the benefits that come with remote working.
Enabling employees to better manage their work-life balance through mobility
While the very cool Telepresence service from Cisco might be beyond the reach of the home office and many small businesses at this point, teleconferencing, Webex and even videocalls are not. Never before have we been so connected.
By embracing the multitude of communications platforms and technologies, it is easier than ever to work remotely. At the same time, people are expected to commit significantly more to their job than ever before, particularly in terms of time. It is increasingly important to help employees manage their work-life balance more easily.
The cost of laptop computers has dropped significantly, as has the cost and prevalence of not only broadband but ‘anywhere broadband’. So putting these technologies into play and allowing working mothers to take their child to school, pick them up from school and then carry on working later into the evening brings about a better result for all parties. The employee gets to spend more time with their family when it matters, and the company gets a committed and happy worker that is willing to put the extra hours in during the evening.
Measuring on deliverables and results rather than process
It seems to me that in order to become comfortable with remote working, companies need to readdress how they measure employees. As I have said in another previous post, the key is for managers to look at the work that is achieved rather than the ‘process’ of having them attend the office from nine to five.
Today’s professionals do not mind putting in the extra hours providing there is a level of flexibility and freedom as well.
The economic downturn is beginning to drive many companies in the UK to encourage staff to work from home in an effort to weather the storm, it has been claimed, according to an article on Businessstrata.com. Research commissioned by web conferencing provider Yuuguu found that 43 per cent of growing businesses are planning to employ such tactics
Progressive companies that expect a good return on their ‘human capital’ must give employees freedom and a degree of mobility in order to attract and retain the best talent.
So – if you want to be more green, reduce operating costs and have happy productive employees – embrace remote working!
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Filed under: General ponderings.., Technology | Tagged: cloud computing, cost reduction, LinkedIN, remote working, telepresence
I’m pretty lucky to work for a company that embraces all the good things that you’re talking about – sitting here in my home office, just now waiting for my US west coast colleagues to come online, wondering whether they’ll ping me via Skype, MSN, OCS or perhaps call me on the Cisco voIP phone they provided me with.
I’d go so far as to say that I could NOT do my job without all these real time tools – and from a personal perspective, working from home, I’m pretty resistant to scraping the ice off the windows to drive 90 miles to the office..