How Your Organization Can Effectively Navigate the Remote Work Era
While COVID-19 cases seem to be trending downward, remote work is still at an all-time high. Many organizations have permanently transitioned in-office workers to work-from-home positions, while others have given their workers total flexibility over when they come into the office.
Remote work offers many advantages for employees and organizations, but navigating this process effectively is essential. Read on to learn our tips for how your organization can best manage and benefit from remote work. Then contact our team at BEMA to learn how we can help.
Remote Work: Why is it Important & Is It Here to Stay?
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations viewed remote work as a temporary solution to keep their businesses running while employees quarantined. However, since then, numerous companies are continuing to maintain a remote work strategy or have made a permanent switch.
Offering remote working opportunities to your employees is beneficial for several reasons. One of the most significant is employee satisfaction.
According to a State of Remote Work survey from GoodHire, 68% of Americans prefer remote work over in-office work. In an age where employee shortages abound, offering remote work opportunities can aid your organization’s retention and keep employees happy.
However, remote working also offers several benefits for your company — if you do it right.
Offering remote work opportunities can:
- Improve employee productivity
- Lower staff absences
- Allow for more flexible work hours
- Reduce equipment costs
- Save your company money
Many employees across the U.S. hope that remote working is here to stay. If your company can implement a successful long-term remote work strategy, you serve to gain these benefits continually.
Common Remote Workforce Challenges to Consider
There’s a reason most organizations across the U.S. kept their employees in-house pre-pandemic. While remote employment has its benefits, it also presents several challenges to your organization’s productivity, efficiency, profitability, and growth.
Primarily, telework presents these challenges:
- Reliable forms of communication: How can your remote workers continue to communicate internally and externally with the same quality and efficiency as you can in-house?
- Prioritization and project management: How can you track employee productivity to ensure that remote employees are accomplishing just as much at home as in the office?
- Technology and security: How can your company ensure that remote teams have access to the high-speed internet and secure technology systems that are the standard in traditional offices?
- Consistency: How can you maintain consistency in policies, procedures, workflows, and compliance without being able to monitor your office employees in person?
How to Overcome Those Challenges & Successfully Manage a Remote Workforce
Strategic Planning
Sending your employees home and hoping they’ll remain productive isn’t enough to ensure a successful remote workforce arrangement. Instead, you’ll need to first strategically plan for remote work, then continually review your strategies to ensure their success.
Modern Communication Systems
Some companies have found that communication and collaboration suffer when employees work remotely. However, your organization can overcome this challenge by implementing modern communication technology.
You can find a wide range of programs and technologies across the market that allow your employees to communicate in real time through video chat, phone calls, and instant messaging.
Reliable Technology
Your employees also need access to reliable technology that keeps them connected to your systems, customers, and other employees while working. Providing employees with reliable laptops, internet routers, headsets, and monitors can give them access to the tools they once used to work productively in the office.
A Partnership with Experienced Managed IT Services
Finally, partnering with an experienced managed IT service can help you implement the best solutions and avoid downtime by keeping your systems and technologies fully functioning at all times.
Partner with an Experienced Managed Service Provider
At BEMA, we offer managed IT services to help organizations gain the most benefits from telework without sacrificing efficiency or productivity.
We’d be happy to help your company implement remote work technology solutions that help your employees best utilize their flexible work arrangements.
Contact our team today at 713-586-6430 to learn more!
