How Can You Build an Effective Remote Work Strategy?

The “remote working” model, which technology giants and start-ups in Silicon Valley switched to years ago, became the mandatory choice of many businesses, large and small, during the pandemic. However, this model, also known as home-office or remote working, brought with it a discipline problem for workplaces and employees who were not used to this system. 

During this period, companies searched for the answer to the question “How can we make home-office work more productive?”. The remote working model, which started as a pleasure for employees to work in their pajamas, turned into a concern of “How can we create a more productive work environment?” Over time. So how can we make working from home more productive?

Remote working is becoming an increasingly preferred working model in the modern business world. Working style habits, technological advances, and globalization that have developed with the pandemic period increase the need for businesses to provide flexibility to their employees. 

All these steps lead to the spread of working opportunities. To adapt to the changing business world, employees are offered more suitable and productive working environments with flexible working solutions such as shared offices, private offices, and coworking spaces.

So, what should we pay attention to to increase work efficiency during remote working? What are the reliable statistics on this subject? Let’s discover it together.

What Are The Benefits of Remote Work For Businesses?

Remote work has various benefits in many areas. Moreover, these benefits can be determined not only through the employees but also through the companies themselves. When this created environment of freedom is managed properly, it can increase the efficiency at every stage of the work done.

The most important benefit that remote work provides to the company is that it increases the productivity of employees by turning the flexibility they gain thanks to remote work into efficiency. People who work remotely can spend more detailed time on the work they work on than they do at their workplaces and are more enthusiastic to produce a better job.

In this regard, while the majority of employees think that remote work increases their productivity, according to some published reports, a significant number of bosses also agree with employees on this issue.

In addition to increasing productivity, it is also a fact that remote work increases the motivation of employees. Many studies show that employees are very likely to leave their current jobs if they receive an offer from a company that offers remote work. In addition, it is stated that people who work remotely feel happier and more valued.

In addition to these positive motivational and productivity-oriented effects, the most important benefit of remote work for a boss is of course the savings it provides. The concept of remote work directly leads to a significant reduction in office expenses, which allows companies to experience a tremendous cost reduction per employee.

Of course, all of these situations occur thanks to the happiness and commitment of the employee. The first step to this happiness is that working from home offers a much more peaceful working environment than the stressful environment at work.

The freedom gained by eliminating the obligation to be in the office for a certain period allows the employee to be both happier and more successful at work, as they can provide this directly when they are tired or need to rest.

In addition, thanks to flexible working hours, employees who are parents and employees who are looking for ways to improve themselves by continuing their education benefit greatly from the concept of remote work. Instead of complying with strict time rules, employees can receive training or take care of their children before starting work or when they finish.

With all these advantages, the concept of remote working, which has become even more prevalent in our lives due to the pandemic, is now a much stronger option and there is no reason why it should not be preferred by companies that are suitable for working in this way.

How Can You Set Up a Remote Work Infrastructure?

So, whether you are at home, in your summer house, or an Airbnb house outside the city; create a study room or work area for yourself. This area allows you to draw the line between your private life and work during remote work. 

Whether you live with your family or your pet, or you are alone, there will be many distractions in your home office or remote work life. This area will be your secret corner that will protect you and increase your productivity during your home-office work.

If your home is suitable, it can be a room, if not, you can turn a corner of your living room into your office area. Creating a special area for remote work also balances the feeling of comfort that remote work brings.

You know that if you are sitting in that armchair or chair, you are actually at work and you need to work. Remote work is a working model that eliminates the necessity of doing many activities that need to be done in business life in a certain place.

In this working model, it is seen that working somewhere outside the office benefits both the employee and the employer. The remote working model, which is generally carried out from home, can be considered as a home office.

The employee’s activities away from the office will increase productivity as it will make work flexible. The office environment can stifle creativity and productivity. Individuals working remotely become more productive as they continue their activities with a calm mind and flexible schedule.

The remote model increases the productivity of the employer company’s employees while also allowing the company to save money. A company’s profit is one of the main goals of the company.

Various arrangements are made in the office to ensure this. In the remote working model, since employees continue their activities from home, it allows the company to avoid expenses such as rent, office furniture, and other expenses.

Working in an office environment can tire employees too much. Situations such as shortening the adaptation period and spending the whole day at the company will first negatively affect the employee and then the company.

In companies that allow or switch to the remote working model, the employee’s loyalty to the company increases. Trust in companies that help employees take time for themselves and adapt increases.

What Tools And Technologies Are Essential For Remote Work?

The concept of remote work is a working model adopted by most companies today. Even in large companies, the necessity of coming to the office is almost gone. Due to the development of technology and the transfer of work to artificial intelligence devices, it has become possible to work without going to the workplace.

The remote working model must be done with certain materials. In this working model, where technological devices are used and a suitable working environment is required, it is important to increase efficiency. You should be able to use the efficiency gained at work at home, in a cafe, or wherever you work remotely.

The most important item to be acquired for the remote working model is computers. You should acquire any computer, whether it is a desktop or a laptop. In addition, a quality internet connection connected to your computer is required for important meetings you will have.

Your connection needs to be good so that communication is not interrupted during the meeting and your work is not interrupted. There may be technological accessories you need to use other than the computer.

You must have a camera that you will use in the meetings, a headset to increase the sound quality, a printer, and a scanner to sign or read important documents. These items make remote working easier and enable you to adapt to your work by turning the working environment into an office environment.

The office environment can be overwhelming for employees due to crowds and pressure. Working in an environment where office workers feel comfortable, such as at home, will increase productivity.

How Can You Manage Remote Teams Effectively?

Applications that support the remote work model help businesses manage their daily workflows with artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies. Thanks to online tools developed in line with the latest technologies, it becomes possible to perform many different tasks flexibly, from time management to project management, from data sharing to video conference calls. In this way, it becomes easier to overcome possible problems in the daily workflow and take the necessary action against sudden problems.

Time management is one of the most challenging issues for more efficient remote work. If the freedom brought by working from home is not balanced with the discipline of using time correctly, the productivity of employees will be negatively affected. 

Choosing the hours when you work most efficiently, choosing the start and end times for yourself every day, and establishing this in a routine will increase your productivity. Plan your break times and meal breaks daily or weekly, just as if you were working in the office.

Decide how you want to divide your time, according to the hours when you are most productive and your biological clocks. You can turn this flexibility of remote work to your advantage with disciplined planning and work more efficiently.

Why Is Communication Important In Remote Work?

One of the biggest problems when team members start working remotely is meeting. People on the same team need to be able to communicate remotely. No matter what field you work in, communication is very important.

Since working remotely means you won’t be passing your colleagues in the hallway or dropping by each other’s desks for small talk, you need to find another way to stay in touch every day. At this stage, communication platforms should be used for teams to communicate better.

Your team members will trust you more when they see that you are truly interested in the employee, curious about all aspects of their life, and ready to support them in these meetings.

When employees work much more than their normal working hours from home, this affects not only them but also their environment and family. This negative effect can eventually lead to negative work performance and friction and arguments in internal company communication.

How Can You Maintain Employee Engagement In a Remote Work Environment?

Don’t hesitate to plan a meeting where you will allocate time for each team member individually. This can be weekly or biweekly depending on the situation. Listen to the employee in this meeting, get their complaints if any, and allow them to express their feelings.

Ask them how they see their extra working hours, their personal and work-life balance, and how they are experiencing this new situation. Actively listen with an approach similar to coaching, try to hear what they are saying, and develop the dialogue with clear and powerful questions.

Having to work from home does not mean that the employee is obliged to work “all the time”. In this regard, try to learn about your employee’s situation with open communication in your one-on-one meetings.

Make an effort to establish a more equitable order regarding working hours. For example, it is unfair to expect an immediate response to an email sent at 10 pm after the pandemic, for a job that did not require an answer to emails after 7 pm before the pandemic, and if such a situation occurs, it will show itself in the decrease of employee loyalty and performance.

What Are The Legal And Compliance Considerations For Remote Work?

In the remote working model, it is possible and legal to monitor any transaction made on the computer provided and allocated by the employer using any technological means. However, the fact that the monitoring is being done and will be done must be notified to the employee at the beginning of the employment relationship and/or at the stage when remote working is started.

The notification does not need to be detailed and the monitoring methods to be explained in detail. It is sufficient to inform the employer that the content of the computer and any transaction made on the computer can be monitored by any method deemed appropriate by the employer.

Within the scope of monitoring the activities performed on the computer; it is possible for the employer to monitor e-mails, monitor the time the computer is logged on, monitor the duration of active use of the computer, monitor keyboard or mouse movements, and monitor meetings attended through calls made via the computer. 

It is also possible to monitor whether the employee who participates in meetings held using various programs (Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc.) actively participates. In this sense, there is no legal obstacle to resorting to various methods made possible by technology, such as requiring video conferencing in the meeting or monitoring the screen using the features of the program.

What Are Some Case Studies of Successful Remote Work Strategies?

We can remember ING, a popular and successful bank, among the businesses that successfully implement remote work. Operating in the banking sector, ING Bank offers its employees flexibility in many applications such as workplace hours, career goals, and fringe benefits with the FlexING program.

Employees can do their jobs at the hours they determine, and they can freely choose their working hours without getting stuck in traffic or sacrificing their morning sleep. Offering 100% remote work with Flexi 365, ING supports employees to develop themselves in different areas during the time they would use to come to the office or to become ING employees without leaving the city they are in.

With 1 Week a Month Flexi, ING employees can work remotely for a certain week of each month regardless of their working model. With Flexi Summer, employees have the chance to spend 8 weeks between June and September working wherever they want.

Thus, they can enjoy the sea, sun, and sand. In addition, with the Orange Break working style, ING employees with at least 5 years of experience are allowed to take a paid break of 3 to 6 months to improve themselves.

How Can You Measure The Productivity of Remote Workers?

At its most basic level, productivity means output per unit of time. You can add metrics specific to your field, such as customer satisfaction, sales growth, or website visitors, to your productivity measurement.

So the first step to measuring productivity is to create a policy that clearly defines how you will do it. This first step will help you implement the right tools and processes. Employees will know exactly how you are measuring them with this policy, and this transparency will help build employee loyalty and trust between employees.

Every role and task in a company has different characteristics. Therefore, success should be measured differently. A call center agent and a copywriter or a software developer in an IT department cannot be evaluated according to the same performance indicators. 

These are completely different areas of work where control and performance metrics work differently. For example, a call center operator should respect pre-planned working hours and breaks.

Therefore, a tool that can track the hours an employee is logged in and active time is sufficient when performing productivity checks. In addition, metrics such as meeting demand and ensuring customer satisfaction should be used. For project-based employees, setting deadlines and targets for completing tasks will be the simplest way to measure productivity.

What Are The Future Trends In Remote Work?

First of all, remote work is not going away as we move towards a new lifestyle post-pandemic. It will continue to be a widespread and popular work arrangement, though not at the same levels as it was during the height of the pandemic.

This will be driven by employees as much as employers. As employees reassess what they want from their careers and look for new jobs, we will see an increasingly candidate-driven marketplace where companies must highlight their advantages and culture to attract the best talent. Part of this cultural shift means encouraging flexible and remote work arrangements.

A survey by Prudential found that one-third of employees would not want to work for an employer that required them to be on-site full-time. The same survey found that three-quarters of employees would consider an employer’s approach to remote work as a factor in their decision to stay in or leave a position. What’s more, job search site Indeed reports that remote work is on the rise on the platform.

In short, companies looking to attract and retain top talent will need to emphasize remote work, and other employers will then have to follow suit to stay competitive. This doesn’t mean that companies will abandon office spaces entirely and operate solely through remote work.

While many tech companies are embracing this trend,³ employers are likely to instead adopt a more flexible approach, also known as a hybrid model.

Instead of forcing employees to choose whether to work remotely or in an office, a hybrid approach gives employees the autonomy to decide which workspace works best for them. Employees can choose to work from the office occasionally or from home a few days a week.

See you in the next post,

Anil UZUN