Making remote work work: leveraging technology and culture
Remote work seemed novel when it became a necessity practically overnight during the pandemic. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, hundreds or thousands of workers coming together in central locations seemed like the status quo and a fundamental aspect of work. However, during the pandemic, organizations realized that the tools necessary to disengage from this central workplace idea have been in place for a while. As a result, even after pandemic restrictions were lifted in most corners of the globe, companies continued to be open to the idea of decentralized work and extending remote work options to their employees. But whether you're a remote-first company or a remote-friendly company, you need to get a few things right in order to keep your business running smoothly.
Monitor morale
What's the morale of your teams like? It's hard to gauge when your team is distributed across the country (or even the world) but it's vital to keep a tab on this more than ever when you're remote. The truth is that burnout can creep in very easily in a fully remote mode of work. Let's consider all the factors that lead to this:
1. To begin with, a remote work style offers employees no spatial contrast between their place of work and their place of living. It blurs the boundaries between both worlds. This may not seem like a big deal but spatial contrast translates into psychological contrast. Remember the saying 'variety is the spice of life'?
2. Without the need to pack up and commute along with other employees as they wrap up work, employees at home may feel the tendency to stay logged in a little longer and finish up work. Often, this culture permeates entire teams and builds up to a silent expectation, especially when ineffective managers are involved. At home, employees often tend to work far more continuously and over uninterrupted stretches than at office. This translates into a situation where office work leads to the pressure to optimize work and to leave at a healthy time, while remote work leads to the pressure to be available at all times.
3. The long workdays in the above scenario is in stark contrast to office days which not only end sooner but are sprinkled with small talk and casual chit-chat. An added advantage to these spontaneous conversations are that they are social rather than transactional in nature and help individuals relax, and aid team bonding. In the fully remote mode, most employees are often deprived of these opportunities for socialization and relaxation that are built into the workday at office.
At the office, you might subconsciously pick up on non-verbal cues if a person is demotivated or demoralized. But this is harder to do online. Managers need to be more vigilant than ever about their team's well-being when dealing with remote employees.
A few measures that can help prevent burnout:
Emphasize the importance of rest.
Stop encouraging employees who work long hours. In fact, actively discourage this.
Help employees prioritize their work.
Hold weekly or biweekly calls so scheduling work is easy.
Leverage organizational culture
Organizational culture is the connective tissue that holds everyone together. It influences employee morale and motivation, and it creates a shared set of common values for all employees to believe in. It's easily enforced when everyone is in the office but it's tricky when employees are simply tiles on a screen. What happens when the common backdrop of the physical office vanishes with its familiar habits and corridors, and its watercooler conversations? How does organizational culture make itself felt then?
You can begin by ensuring that remote employees are frequently updated about company news, and are made aware of the status of company initiatives, new projects, and so on. These types of information help keep employees invested in the company and connected to a sense of purpose. It's also great to offer employees avenues to share personal experiences, stories about their triumphs and failures, and tips on topics such as handling remote work.
When major decisions are made public, don't just communicate the 'what' but also the 'why'. This helps reduce cognitive dissonance for employees. Lighter team-building activities will counter feelings of isolation that may develop over time, and deepen the sense of understanding between members of teams further.
Communication from the company leadership — in the form of virtual openhouses and posts on company forums — can be invaluable as they serve to anchor teams and keep them aligned with the company's strategic goals. They are effective tools for indirectly reinforcing the company's vision and mission.
Figure out the right level of communication
No manager wants to admit to being a micromanager but if there's one place where this approach to management does not work, it is in remote and hybrid work.
When managing remote employees, it's all the more important for managers to act more like coaches. They need to trust their employees and be happy about delegating work rather than being insistent on having their fingerprints over everything. They need to hold back from providing inputs on every task, and must prioritize projects so that they are involved only in the things that matter. The alternative is exponentially more back-and-forth with endless mails and online meetings which would drain everyone and end up in far more communication than completed tasks. They need to play a role that revolves more around guiding their people and supporting them in their missions than being helicopter managers.
On the other hand, it may be wise to encourage junior employees to overcommunicate with other stakeholders on projects until they are comfortable enough to scale it back. It's easy to bring up a project or task when you bump into someone in the office but when that opportunity never arises, the project can fade from people's memories and be forgotten. While seasoned employees have a good sense of how to adjust for the lack of in-office face-to-face communication, junior employees might lack this instinct. They may also feel nervous about reminding senior colleagues about tasks. Encouraging a little over-communication here and there from less experienced colleagues may help to prevent missed deadlines due to these factors.
Having face-to-face meet-ups once in a while can boost the efficiency of team communication online. It helps members connect on a deeper level and share ideas that they may find difficult to share on virtual meetings. Physical meetups help develop bonds between employees and understand each other. It is possible sometimes for miscommunication to arise when dealing with someone remotely. But knowing what they are like in person adds context to their communications.
Leverage the cloud to lighten the load on your teams
Investing in cloud-powered work and collaboration platforms will make all the difference when you are working in a remote or hybrid environment. When the in-person dynamic and face-to-face communication is taken out of the equation, the amount of time spent on calls, messages, and back-and-forth can increase quickly. In some roles, it might start to feel like all you're doing is getting in touch with people, clearing doubts, and talking about work rather than actually having the time to do any of the work. In such a scenario, an effective suite of cloud-powered collaboration tools is absolutely crucial.
Why cloud-powered?
The ability for multiple stakeholders to work on a file simultaneously means that the time wasted on back-and-forth is minimal.
Version control confusion can skyrocket when people are working remotely. This problem is eliminated instantly with the cloud thanks to the fact that files are stored on the web rather than multiple copies across several people's systems.
A lot of high-end security features are baked into cloud-based applications.
It's impossible to overstate the power of cloud-based collaboration in streamlining remote work. It's because we had complete confidence in the cloud that in the beginning of the pandemic, we were able to make the decision to shift from WFO to WFH (ahead of lockdowns and WFH declarations by other companies). Our cloud suite of applications enabled the shift with 8000 employees distributed across 12 offices in just 3 days. Despite the fact that there was no blueprint for such a move, it was not only possible but relatively seamless given the scale of the challenge.
Striking a balance
When done right, remote work can be a great way to improve employee loyalty and retention. Employees are grateful for the flexibility that it offers as long as the trade-off doesn't equate to drastic increases in workloads. Remote work calls for adjustments in management styles that are more supportive and accommodative. Employees too must take care to find the right balance between overworking and the impulse to hardly work. Taking the right steps will enable businesses to transform themselves into a more effective version of themselves and to empower employees.
