Written by: Brian John Caddy, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused a change in the way that the world’s workforce approached working in an office environment, and caused organisations to change, in some cases quickly, to support this change in culture. As we move into 2023, is this change here to stay, or do companies want to start having full-time onsite employees again?
Remote working has always been possible.
However, it has not necessarily been encouraged or fully supported, as it was seen to be a way that workers would be out of sight, with no way of showing that they were achieving their goals.
The pandemic started to change this view, with productivity being maintained or even improved away from the normal distractions of an office environment, with more trust having to be placed in employees to carry out their duties. But what of the other benefits?
Everyone hears about work-life balance, and looking after yourself, but is this possible if you spend time commuting to and from an office and end up with your working day being a couple of hours longer?
Flexibility to achieve work-life balance
Remote working allows you to collaborate with team members; it does remove the ability to go and talk to someone directly or work on a whiteboard to go through ideas and problems, but collaboration is still possible. It does give you flexibility and allows you to achieve a better work-life balance, and maybe even live in a more remote area with green space or beaches.
More time for family, hobbies, or volunteering
It gives you more time to spend with your family, hobbies, or volunteering. The time you spend commuting might allow you to work a longer day, and a shorter week, or it might allow you to do the school run or take the kids to an afterschool club or other activity. It might allow you to coach your local sports team once a week, teach a volunteer class, or learn a new skill. It allows you to be at home for the workman appointment or the need to go to a hospital appointment and it provides you the chance to structure your day while still performing your work duties.
Permanent culture change - workers need to feel appreciated
However, for remote working to be a success there needs to be a permanent culture change. The current expectation that people will work long hours, with little or no holiday doesn’t get the best out of the workers and may not get you the best workers. To get the best out of workers they need to be happy and feel appreciated and feel that they can switch off and relax.
The best workers may not be local to your company, but by enabling them to work remotely, they may become part of your company without the need to relocate themselves and their families.
Working from home policies may also allow you to employ workers who may otherwise be unable to contribute because of health conditions that prevent them from working long hours or make it difficult to work in an office environment.
Cost-effective for businesses
Allowing remote working may allow you as a company to reduce overheads by reducing the office space needed. If you have a remote worker, do they need a permanent desk space, chair, monitor, lighting, heating, etc. Each desk in an office has an associated overhead cost ‒ and you may even be able to expand your workforce without having to expand your real estate while keeping your overhead costs down, including the use of contractors or contingent workers.
Despite the overhead saving on office space, it may be cost-effective for businesses to offer home and remote workers office equipment such as desks, chairs, and IT equipment.
Crosswires Consultancy Ltd. fully embraces remote working as the best way to provide its services to clients. For more information about how we can support you and the services we offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Brian John Caddy, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Brian Caddy, a graduate of Swansea University, began his career in 1997 when he worked for an independent telecommunication company with whom he had collaborated for his university project for an ISDN (precursor to ADSL) router that won a technology award. Shifting to the defence industry he extended his skill set and became a computer systems engineer specialising in system integration requirements. As an IT Consultant Brian now provides Software and Systems Engineering Consultancy Services where he specialises in system design for constrained environments utilising traditional and agile approaches.
