Despite its many benefits, many of us are also discovering the downsides of remote working and being physically distant from colleagues.
Almost seven in ten workers feel they are either more productive or equally productive working from home, but many fear that their employers will probably want to return to the status quo once the pandemic is over.
As many managers are now discovering, traditional management isn’t designed for a remote workforce. Instead, we need to make a rapid shift from centralized command-and-control structures into highly adaptive distributed networks.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, working from home is now the new normal. But for managers unused to remote team working , this will pose some serious challenges.
With the global spread of Coronavirus, how can companies leverage the digital workplace to keep employees safe, limit the loss of productivity and adapt work practices successfully during the crisis?
Adopting remote teams might seem like a whole new ball game, but it’s the same game - just played on a slightly different field. The WHAT doesn’t really change, it's the HOW that's different.
Remote and virtual workers leave their jobs at a slightly higher rate than those who work in a fixed location. Are they simply ungrateful weasels, or can something else explain this increase in turnover?
Forget Gartner studies and erudite articles in HBR, the way we work remotely today has come about through guesswork and trial-and-error. It was never planned - which is why organizations have a hard time dealing with it.
Hybrid teams - some people working in the office, some at home or elsewhere - are increasingly common. But they pose unique challenges, so a wise leader needs to be aware of the dynamics that can make them work.
Technology is often used as an excuse for the poor management of remote teams. While it can certainly be a barrier, understanding team dynamics and offering training and resources can eliminate most of these. That just leaves the excuses.
The dynamics of working remotely are not the same as working face-to-face. So if you deal with a remote team in the same way as a co-located one, don't be surprised when the same leadership behaviors elicit different results.
With today's fluid working environment, team members often don't know the strengths and weaknesses of the people they work with. And paradoxically, the fact that we are all tethered together electronically can make it even harder to get to know them.
Far from being dominated by women juggling work and childcare, the ranks of remote workers in the US are overwhelmingly made up of men, a new survey has found.
Social interaction makes us happier and more productive. But that's a real issue when you're working remotely. So what can remote teams do to enhance interaction and create a good psychological environment to foster interaction and creativity?
There are three factors that make up a successful remote team. Each is equally important. And while a remote team won't function without technology, that's only one piece of the jigsaw.
How engaged in their work are the people in your team? How do you know? These questions are critical to all managers, whether they manage a team directly or have people spread across the planet over whom they don't have direct control.
This month, the old 'inputs vs outputs' question rears its head again in respect to flexible working. But as Chris Welford points out, it is delivery that counts, not the slavish adherence to a system or timetable.
Like it or not, trust is often a casualty of home working, with office-based workers liable to believe that their home-based colleagues aren't really working. So how can organisations overcome the challenges of working 'sight unseen'?
Do you want your people to be productive or do you prefer them to be creative? In a perfect world, of course, they'd be both. But the modern workplace - and short-sighted management - can make that an almost impossible goal.
It's pretty clear that remote working and collaboration can deliver significant cost savings. But top-line savings aren't the best way to assess whether something is working or not.
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