Mask mandates are relaxing, people are being vaccinated, businesses are reopening or back to maximum indoor seating, and folks are returning to work on-site. There are even scattered reports of people hugging each other!
We should remember, though, that although the virus will certainly fade, its impact will be felt for years to come. The pandemic forced many of us to come up with new ways of doing things, changing habits, developing workarounds, and rethinking the old ways of doing things. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.
Many Workplaces Will Never Be the Same Again, But That’s Most Likely a Good Thing A perk sometimes offered to employees pre-COVID may become commonplace in the pandemic’s aftermath.
But of all the changes that the new normal has wrought in all aspects of our lives, none are as profound and far-reaching as the changes in how we do our jobs. Yes, people are returning to work, but many of them now have a hybrid schedule, working a few days on-site and the rest of the time working from home.
As companies have sent out the “all clear” call to their shelter-in-place employees, something unexpected has happened. So many people don’t want to go back! For instance, a Harvard Business School survey showed that a whopping 81% of people interviewed either don’t want to return or want a hybrid arrangement.
Some of that reluctance comes from people who finally had the time to question why they were in their old jobs, and realizing that no, they don’t want that old job anymore. It’s time to move on, perhaps take some classes, and get a new career. For others, it was the realization that they were perfectly capable of fulfilling all their position’s duties and responsibilities without ever leaving the house, and why on Earth couldn’t that be a permanent thing?
It’s as if people discovered that there’s a viable, productive alternative to the confining drudgery of the office. Who knew?
Do You Want to Attract New Talent? Offer the Work-From-Home Benefit! Now that many people had the chance to experience the convenience of working from home, they don’t want to give it up.
Tech-related companies were among the first to close when the pandemic ramped up, which is hardly surprising. After all, many IT and tech-related positions are desk jobs (white-collar work). So it really doesn’t matter where that desk is located if everyone has fast, reliable access to the company’s IT infrastructure.
But many employees of those same big tech companies that invented ways for people to work remotely now don’t want to go back, preferring to work from home. That may qualify as irony!
Whatever you call it, this trend means that more professionals either don't want to return to their old grind and instead look for a new job or are okay with going back, but on more favorable terms.
Companies facing this 21st-century “workers’ revolution” have two options. They can accommodate their employees or take a risk by letting those people go and recruiting replacements. No matter which option a company chooses, though, it’s going to mean inevitably dealing with a remote office strategy.
Here’s why. If a company plans to accommodate a work from home model indefinitely, they need to make sure they have the means to pull it off. If a company calls their employees’ bluffs and lets them go, they will need to offer some attractive benefits to lure in good talent. Judging by the mood in the white-collar world, especially in the tech industry, that means companies better offer remote work or risk having prospective candidates not even consider interviewing with them.
Remote office technology has progressed to such a level that working from home is easier than ever. Thanks to a dizzying selection of software applications, employees can effortlessly log on to their company's IT resources, hold meetings, collaborate on projects, and access data. In addition, managers can use various HR and timesheet apps to track how many hours their subordinates have put in and the work they’ve done.
The genie is out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in. There is no good reason why a tech company (or any predominantly white-collar business) can’t implement a suitable work-from-home environment.
Well, there's maybe one reason: the business isn't sure how to implement this strategy. Let’s address that.
How Do You Implement a Remote Office Environment? Sometimes, having too many options is just as challenging as not having enough of them!
If your responsible for your company’s work-from-home implementation, then congratulations! You have a crucial task, essential for any business to survive our new post-COVID landscape!
However, you now have a daunting task. First, you need to ensure the company has all the resources necessary for implementing a remote office. Those resources fall into three distinct categories: The right hardware A fair and coherent set of employee guidelines and procedures Software applications Regarding hardware, this involves things like enough networking resources to allow fast, reliable, and continuous Internet access for all remote employees. These resources may also include company-assigned mobile devices used exclusively for remote desktop use, such as tablets or laptops.
Guidelines and procedures cover concepts such as login security, remote access protocols, access to the proper files and applications, login times, hours worked, and other minutiae.
Software applications are the most challenging of the three categories because there are so many work-from-home applications out there. The selection is mind-boggling! Take video conferencing software, for example. There’s Webex by Cisco, Zoom Meetings, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoho Meeting, LogMeIn by GoToMeeting, Skype, Jabber, LiveStorm, and Adobe Connect. And this is just one aspect of working remotely!
There’s also the matter of data storage, which leans these days towards the cloud. In fact, many cloud-oriented services lend themselves well to remote work, such as Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). How much of your company’s remote desktop strategy relies on cloud-based services? Which services does the business need? What’s the best provider?
As you can see by the topics we’ve just covered, there’s a lot that goes into implementing a solid, workable work-from-home policy. Yet this is a project that must not only be done promptly but correctly. If a company doesn’t have the experience or skillset to pull off a smooth remote work transition, there is still hope.
Getting Outside Experienced Help Consider leveraging a consultant’s professional experience to handle hybrid workplace challenges.
If a company doesn’t have the proper personnel to develop and launch a remote workspace environment, it has two options. First, the company can launch a job search for the needed professionals, which involves posting the job, interviews, overhead, etc. Second, the company can hire consultants who possess the required experience.
Work-from-home implementation requires significant preparatory work. The workload then levels off to more of a maintenance role once everything is up and running. However, it’s that ramping up and launching that becomes problematic, and it’s important to get it right the first time.
That’s why using an outside consultant such as Remote Cloud Consulting makes sense. Consultants with cloud-based experienced helps companies set up the remote network that suits them the best, including all the needed cloud resources.
The more businesses, especially tech-oriented companies, rely on remote working, the more we realize how valuable the cloud is for the work-at-home model. So, if working from home is becoming the standard way of doing things, and the cloud best facilitates this new paradigm, it stands to reason that a consultant well-versed in cloud computing is your best choice for smooth remote office implementation.
COVID was a game-changer. And now that many professionals have gotten a taste of remote work, they don’t want to go back. Fortunately, a consultant resource like Remote Cloud Consulting can help your business successfully navigate these unexplored waters, creating a solid company that can adapt to change and retain its competitive edge.