Remote Work: Is It Here To Stay?

So many of us have been forced to work from home for the past two months and have been surprised and delighted to see that our work is getting done (even with distractions such as taking care of children).  In three weeks, the percentage of employees working from home doubled, from 31% to 62% according to Gallup.  Some jobs were already set up to work from home, others were configured to work from remote environments part of the time, and still others had to transition quickly and completely from 0% to 100% remote.

More than half of these workers say they would prefer to continue to work from home as much as possible when restrictions are lifted; however, not everyone can or wants to work remotely and at the same time employers are proceeding with caution to reopen safely.

So  Is there a way to determine which positions are best suited for remote work?  What challenges remain for the remote workforce and how many days of remote work are optimal in terms of employee engagement?

Remote work can work well in certain situations.  For example, according to Gallup, these three conditions create an optimal situation for remote work:

• Employees can perform their duties outside of an on-site workplace

• Most of the role’s tasks and processes are well-defined

• The role does not require highly interdependent work for success

When considering each of these situations, the organization must decide what makes the most sense for their business.  Some companies have had to make quick changes to their model or services to adjust to demand and their customers. Challenges such as the ability to maintain the mission, vision and values of the company as well as encouraging creativity and innovation must be addressed and monitored.  

There will be hybrid situations where you have employees who will return to a physical location, work remotely and do a combination of both.  The optimal engagement boost occurs when employees spend 60% to 80% of their time working off-site or three to four days in a five-day workweek (Is Working Remotely Effective?). This simply means that leaders will have to fine tune their people skills.  Managers are accountable for up to 70% of the variance in their employees' engagement, and employees want coaches, not bosses.