Kent Business Solutions

Want to Significantly Improve Your Work-From-Home Strategy?

2/9/2021

By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions

Are you wondering where remote working is heading into the future?

Trying to figure out the right balance of Work from Home (WFM) days vs. office days for your employees?

You’re not alone in your questions! That’s why I’d like to dive into recent trends and then give you some ideas on how to determine the best balance of hybrid (remote vs. in-office) work for your organization.

First, let’s look into the current mindset of executives in the US. PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted a survey across six areas. Let’s look into four of them:

1. Remote Work Has Been an Overwhelming Success

The shift to remote work has been a success, according to 83% of employers, and it’s here to stay. Employees agree (79%). The big takeaway is that companies are seeing the need to invest in technology to support this trend. According to 60% of those executives, they are expected to raise spending on virtual tools to support more effective WFH strategies.

2. The Office is Here to Stay

A large majority (87%) of employees say that the office is very important for building relationships and collaborating with teams. A small mount (13%) of executives want to let go of the office for good while 80% are trying to figure out a hybrid model.

3. Employees Want to Return to the Office More Slowly Than Employers

Most executives (75%) believe that at least half of their employees will return by mid-year; 61% of employees believe that is the case.

4. There’s No Consensus on the Optimal Hybrid Model

Over half (55%) of employees want to work from home after pandemic concerns lessen, while 68% of executives believe the same. According to Gallup, 100% remote workers are the least engaged of any worker, but the same is true for 100% of office workers. So, a balance between the two is optimal.

With all this in mind, what’s a leader to do? What are the best paths forward to striking this balance?

I think one of the most important things to consider is that remote work is here to stay. So, companies that embrace this mindset will be ahead of the game.

With that in mind, here are several things you can do to help your company determine the right hybrid model. The idea is to experiment with these suggestions so you can discover what hybrid model works best for your organization.

1. Ask Your Employees What Their Ideal WFM Model Would Be

An essential first step is to have in-depth conversations around their ideal WFM experience. For instance, they may want to work from home, but they don’t have the right office set-up or equipment. Or, they may have children at home that are distracting their work. Carry this feedback into the next three steps.

2. Level the Playing Field

Many remote workers often feel excluded and disconnected from their in-office counterparts. To combat that, here are a few ideas:

Think about requiring all team meetings be remote
Create policies and benefits that are geared towards both WFH and office employees
Look into trying out asynchronous communication options. Here’s a great article on that.
Allow employees to be off-camera during meetings

3. Provide Technology to Enable Greater Efficiencies and Connectivity

This can’t be overstated. Providing digital systems to enable remote working is proven to increase employee satisfaction and production.

A great example is the Accelerate platform. It works superbly for improving the WFH experience. It allows for greater team cohesiveness, connects siloed systems into one application and increases productivity. Many Accelerate clients have increased their productivity by over 200%!

4. Experiment With a Range of Solutions

Here are a couple of examples:

For those who don’t have ideal WFH office setups, consider what the software company, Buffer, does…they offer employees $500 to set up their home offices.

For childcare challenges, consider subsidizing daycare costs.

You can also try out some employee engagement strategies to help with team building. Download my free cheat sheet, Fun Ideas to Help Your Remote Work Teams Enjoy Their Jobs, which includes ways to increase remote worker engagement and satisfaction.

These suggestions are a great start to helping you develop the right hybrid model for your organization. It may take some experimentation, but your due diligence should pay off!

Interested in learning more about ways to use technology to improve WFM strategies? My strategic partner, Michael Cantu’ of Accelerate, and I would love to talk with you.

Click the button below to schedule a chat!