Data-driven Decisions for the New Way of Working
Your company was compelled to adopt remote working practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
82% of U.S. office workers say they want to continue to work from home, at least part-time, after the pandemic ends [1]. What can you do to make remote working successful for your business and employees in the long term? Gathering and analyzing data can enable your business to make informed data-driven decisions in these uncertain times and in the future.
Employee health is the most critical benefit of remote working during COVID-19, however, there are other key benefits for businesses.
Employee retention improves when remote working is an option. “54% of employees say they would change jobs for one that offered them more flexibility, which results in an average of 12% turnover reduction after a remote work agreement is offered [2].” Improved profitability due to remote working can assist businesses in weather economic downturn. An employer can save an average of $11,000 per half-time remote worker per year [3]. The savings are the result of increased productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and better disaster preparedness [3].” A business can improve its sustainability rating through encouraging remote work. Reducing commuter travel is an easy way for a company or individual to reduce their carbon footprint. Employees will benefit from shorter or no commutes, which can in turn yield benefits for the employer due to lower employee stress levels and better employee health.
What are employer concerns surrounding work-from-home?
Trust and communication are key aspects of a successful business and are even more critical to a remote-working solution. Employers may feel that remote workers are not as productive as in-office employees. A change in management practices and productivity tracking can move “managing by results” to the forefront of a business’s policy. Another common concern is that remote workers have the ability to switch jobs more frequently compared to in-office employees. While opportunities are no longer restricted by geography in a remote-working world, studies show that the benefits of remote-working increase employee retention.
Data Science solutions can allay concerns and track benefits.
Analyzing a business and employees through the lens of data can provide a framework for successful decision making. One way to leverage existing technology is to collect data on employee work habits from common tools like calendars, email, and project trackers. Create automated reports and review at a regular cadence. Automated dashboards can reduce the friction of monitoring data and communicating trends to leaders. A starting point is to compare data from before and after the change to remote work. How do employee patterns and metrics change? Find your success stories (and places for improvement) within your data. Overall trends in activity levels can provide insight into employee engagement. For example, what is the normal level of chat activity on a given Wednesday before and after starting remote work? How many emails are sent per day in your business? What other metrics might be key indicators of company health and productivity? Some data science-focused companies are even providing remote-work targeted data products to businesses. For example, Remote Work Insights from Splunk [4] helps IT and security teams monitor and understand activity on systems that employees rely upon while working remotely. Slalom data scientists can help you pinpoint solutions that match your business concerns in this new age of remote working.
Join Slalom and industry leaders for a roundtable discussion on Tuesday, September 29th at Noon. What concerns do you have about remote work and your business? What are your data science needs in this time of COVID-19 and remote work?
Contact: sarah.braden@slalom.com
Sources
[1] https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/global-work-from-home-experience-survey
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2020/02/12/top-5-benefits-of-remote-work-for-companies/
[3] https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics
