Remote working: the future is now

Remote working: the future is now

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a need for social distancing with it, and a drastic rise in remote working globally as a result.

The massive demand for working from home is unprecedented. The massive demand for working from home is unprecedented.

In 2015, an IDC report forecasted that 72 per cent of US workers will be working remotely by 2020, while a 2016 survey by McKinsey found that 45 per cent of respondents felt that social technologies were very or extremely integrated into day-to-day work at their companies.

This year, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may have increased those figures, as companies around the world have switched the office-based work model to a working from home (WFH) structure.

RMIT University (Vietnam) School of Business & Management Senior Lecturer Dr Pham Cong Hiep said many businesses are responding to COVID-19 by shifting their services online and creating a WFH arrangement for their employees.

“We’ve already seen Vietnamese e-commerce powerhouse Tiki create remote working policies for thousands of its employees, and ride-hailing firm BE GROUP follow a day later with similar measures,” Dr Hiep said.

“In Australia, a sudden rush to set up WFH offices has caused many stores to run out of stock for office desks, chairs and computer equipment. Though working remotely is not new, such a massive scale of WFH demand is unprecedented.”

According to Dr Hiep, the WFH model provides many benefits to organisations, not just in terms of increasing productivity, reducing business costs, and minimising business disruption, but also making a positive impact on the environment, societal wellbeing and the welfare of the workers.

“There’s more work-life balance and fewer traffic accidents for example, and the structure can reduce traffic congestion and fuel emissions due to less commuting, while lessening the burden on public transport,” Dr Hiep said.

Working from home can provide productivity and cost benefits to organisations, and contributes towards the welfare of their employees, the society and the environment. Working from home can provide productivity and cost benefits to organisations, and contributes towards the welfare of their employees, the society and the environment.

Despite the comprehensive benefits of WFH, most businesses currently view it as a temporary arrangement in response to unavoidable circumstances, not a viable long-term option. Dr Hiep said this was due to several concerns, including the unproven effectiveness of WFH, lack of staff monitoring, poor community of practice, low human interactions with colleagues and customers, low productivity and reliability, and poor communication due to distractions and abundant information streams.

Making WFH a long-term option

While remote working still poses many challenges to traditional business operations, business leaders should examine its strategic implications and consider it as part of their long-term strategic business model.

Cloud-based IT infrastructure and digital readiness of employees are among the key success factors for working from home. Cloud-based IT infrastructure and digital readiness of employees are among the key success factors for working from home.

Dr Hiep recommends the following steps to make WFH a more successfully integrated working model.

  • Change leadership mindset: Management needs to shift its focus from relying on staff members’ physical presence at work as an indicator of performance to enabling them to work from anywhere while still meeting set goals. Micro-management can be counter-productive and cause staff to be less innovative.
  • Use effective yet disruption-free communication: Communication among teams and between staff and their manager should not be overused since it could lead to information overload and constant disruption.
  • Offer reliable technologies for remote teamwork and collaboration: With the abundance of collaboration software on the market, many factors need to be considered to ensure that new virtual software integrates well with the existing platforms and performs well, especially for large-scale teleconferencing and teamwork.
  • Establish trust and provide coaching: Adopting WFH on a large scale means that management relies on their team’s self-discipline and routine. But not everyone prefers WFH (which requires a great deal of self-discipline and self-organisation), which may make the transition difficult. Those workers may require more guidance and support from the organisation for them to be reliable and productive.
  • Enhance digital awareness of employees: WFH requires staff to have basic computer skills and be able to handle various telecommunication technologies. Juggling constant work requirements, virtual team software and technical compliexities can be demanding for some staff. The organisation can help by providing training on digital literacy and timely IT support.
  • Managing costs: WFH requires more upfront IT investment from both the employees and the company. Staff need to be equipped with a computer, required software, a camera and fast internet connection at a minimum. Organisations may need to pay additional licence fees for virtual work collaboration software and extra security measures to ensure staff can securely access online resources and prevent risks from both accidental and intentional misuse of organisational resources.

“Overall, working from home calls for redefined business objectives, cloud-based IT infrastructure, digital readiness and self-administered accountability of employees, together with careful planning and an agile organisational culture,” Dr Hiep said. “Ensuring these factors exist will pave the way for business resilience amid disruptions.”

Story: Ngoc Hoang

08 April 2020

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