Remote working is coming…
No wait, it’s here now!
The remote working movement is happening right now and any switched on digital company should be thinking about how working life is changing. Digital centric companies such as GitHub https://github.com/about are one of the companies leading the way in this area.
In the presentation below, Coby Chapple of GitHub discuses how they operate as a business to ensure the remote working culture is managed and nurtured.
More on the subject can be read here: http://devslovebacon.com/conferences/bacon-2014/talks/remote-by-default-how-github-makes-working-remotely-not-suck
Why remote working makes sense
Embracing remote working can help to establish a culture and platform that creates the following benefits for your business and your staff:
- The world is your talent pool
If being in the same physical location as your team is not essential all day everyday, then your company can look to recruit and utilise talent from non-region specific locations. This means you no longer need to restrict your future hires to those who are in commutable distance of your office. - Travelling is a waste of time
Staff who have long commutes or with home based commitments have their work life impacted. Many employees often call out a long commute as a reason to leave a role due to the impact on their personal/family life. Offer real flexible working by accepting that individuals can work from home or a location that suits them and cut out long, unproductive and tiring journeys. - Companies are already multi-region
Many business operate with teams members across regional locations or even different time zones, so not being in the same location is not deemed a barrier in these occasions, so why should it be for an individual basis? If you create a solid and robust working practice for remote working than this could potentially help international growth and create the framework for cross office collaboration to succeed in and out of the office. - Square footage is expensive
Investing in office space can work out incredibly expensive in major cities. You should balance the needs for creating the optimum collaborative space with the needs to create the best set up for remote team collaboration. - Be around for the family
This could allow staff to have working weeks that split days in the office and days at home (or anywhere your staff choose to locate yourself with an internet connection). As being available to take children to school, visit elderly relatives or just generally being there to support your family is hard to do if you are not around. Why not give your staff the opportunity to strike a better work/life balance by allowing them to work in a more open and flexible manner?
To succeed you must set up a process
In order to ensure remote working is a viable option for your company and staff, you must remove the reliance on free, unreliable and flaky applications such as Skype/join.me/traditional conference lines etc. These services are not suitable for a company looking to establish a more robust way of working remotely.
An example of great collaboration tool that many remote teams utilise is PukkaTeam which enables team communication across locations https://www.pukkateam.com/
With such software as the above + acknowledging a potential new way of working can ensure your company is able to tick all of the relevant boxes for remote working to succeed. I truly believe that if a company invests in better remote working solutions, as opposed to just the standard office infrastructure, it can succeed.
Some other thoughts on the subject
I stumbled across a blog that shared some interesting thoughts on the subject, although I am not saying that I personally relate to the specific opening lines of the post, the content within is quite interesting and gives an honest view of someone who works remotely http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2016/04/07/that-remote-work-think-piece-has-some-glaring-omissions/
For me its the difference between “working from home” that seems to imply an ad-hoc arrangement Vs “remote working” that creates the environment for the company to deliver great work irrespective of the location the individual chooses to be in. As per the blog post it is important to balance remote working and being in the same physical location, as you cannot do everything alone, especially in collaborative aspects of projects.
It also does not necessarily have to be a permanent arrangement in all cases, as obviously teams need to work together in meetings, workshops, projects where being in the same room is the best option.
Switched on companies should be thinking about making their business a place that allows its staff to be connected. This requires a remote set up that is flexible and harvests a culture that allows individuals to work in a way that does not always rely on being in the same physical location as their colleagues, as that does not always ensure great outcomes…
Why work doesn’t happen at work
A TED talk from Jason Fried on the matter is an honest and true account on the assumed productivity of being in same location. I guarantee you will be nodding with agreement to the common scenarios discussed when working in an typical office environment.
And while I am on the subject
I even think that remote working is one of the key ways to take the load away from the UK transport infrastructure. Imagine if for just one day a week, those who have the capability to work remotely did not need to travel to the office and think how many less people would on public transport or on the roads. Surely this is something the government should be thinking about incentivising companies to invest in, rather than just prime location offices.
Food for thought…
