Remote working can be categorized into several types, for example:
1.Full time base at home but going to the office for state visits (important briefings). It has become an industry standard among digital workers.
2.A large group is offered the ability to work from home on a specific task, be it for a half day, or a week retaining the workplace as their regular headquarter.
3.Sales reps, bus drivers who operate from different locations
In February 2013 Marissa Mayer Yahoo CEO banned working remotely.
To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings… We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.
She found herself receiving dismissive replies from people, including the tweet of Richard Branson stating “Give people the freedom of where to work and they will excel” But do you think this is true?
In a recent survey done by IPSOS-MORI in the UK they found that 70% of those given the option to work remotely say they can get more done away from the office; and 38% think they are more creative. The reality is that remote working is not new, it has been around for around 20 years and UK employers have increased this option from a quarter in 2004 to 30% in 2011.
The key issue is trusting colleagues to get things done and not exercising the tangible control of having them in front of you. We need to talk about visual management, so rather than judging people on their outputs they want to see employees at their desks, making an effort. The challenge for many traditional managers is not thinking staff working from home spend their time watching TV or doing the laundry.
Managing by results means that you need to give clear goals and resources, an employee needs to earn that trust and the manager needs to leave that hands-on-control practice.
One example of what we mentioned above is Best Buy in US, they created ROWE-Results-Only Work Environment, their credo is to give people complete autonomy, to manage all their demands in their lives: treat them like adults and they will behave as adults.
How to make it work?
1.Use clear guidelines and objectives included in a company-wide policy
2. Run a small scale pilot for a set period of time and evaluate.
3.Support your people. Ensure managers have the resources and set expectations.
4.Trust is key. Engaged employees will instinctively use their time efficiently.
5.Use technology to keep in touch and encourage team spirit.
6. Measure productivity. Silence the critics by measuring output not just staff well-being.
Some benefits are that you can attract and retain people, you gain more productivity and you demonstrate trust. However there are challenges , for this the most important thing is to design a working policy that works for your company, study what is out there and try it. In my opinion the benefits of using remote working outweight the challenges that they create.
There are websites dedicated to offer this type of employment …might be not common in Spain but if you think that can be a good thing for you… don´t hesitate to start looking around…http://www.remoteemployment.com/global-jobs/
Information extracted from:
” When remote working really works ”People Management magazine May 2013 http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/
” The benefits and the challenges of remote working “http://boagworld.com/business-strategy/remote-working-2
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