Out of office - how remote or hybrid working arrangements can benefit your team
When the pandemic struck and lockdowns descended, many organisations and employees realised that it was possible to get just as much done from home as from the office. Stats NZ found that around 40% of New Zealanders completed at least some work from home during Level 3 and 4 lockdowns.
The pandemic is, largely, behind us now, but the desire for remote working (among employees at any rate) is still there. When we asked our LinkedIn audience what the best benefits an employer can offer were, remote working was the most popular of the four choices (remote working, flexible hours, professional development, additional leave), followed by flexible hours.
That backs up results from our jobseekers survey last year in which 53% preferred a hybrid approach and 25% preferred working primarily from home, and flexible working and remote-friendly roles were the top benefits they were looking for. Less than 10% wanted to work primarily from the office.
More recently though there’s been a push from employers to get employees back in the office and that’s led to tension.
So, offering remote or hybrid working could have benefits for your organisation. But there are pros and cons.
What are the benefits of remote working from an employer's point of view?
More productive staff - Staff who work from home for some or part of the week tend to be more productive. That’s partly because they value their time and work well during their working hours, and partly because they aren’t losing productivity through delays like commute times or the disruptions that can occur when you work in an office.
A happier workforce - In many surveys, employees who work from home report higher levels of happiness and satisfaction. Working from home gives them more flexibility to spend time with their families or pets, allows them to manage health or well-being in a better way, or simply balance their time better.
Ability to attract more diverse candidates - Offering remote work expands your candidate pool beyond your physical location. Plus it can open up opportunities for candidates who may have challenges such as health conditions that make it difficult for them to work in an office. It can also open your pool to freelance or contract candidates (especially if the role is part-time or fixed-term) who may be more likely to want to work remotely.
Reduced costs - With fewer people in the office full-time you may be able to reduce costs for utilities, or other costs such as equipment, stationary and sundry items. You might even be able to reduce rent by moving to a smaller premises.
Eco benefits - Reducing the number of staff who commute to work, or the amount of energy your office space uses could have a positive flow-on effect on the environment.
And what's not so great?
You need to trust your staff and the process - If you are used to managing staff in an office and being able to see what they are doing, getting used to remote workers can be a challenge. There is more trust involved and you may need to come up with different ways of monitoring productivity and success than simply clocking the amount of time they are at their desk.
It can be difficult to manage remote teams - Managing remote teams brings different challenges to managing people in-office particularly when it comes to things like team meetings. You might need to adjust your work processes. This can be even trickier if you have a team which has both in-office and remote employees. Sometimes work needs to be done face-to-face and that can lead to remote workers being left out.
You need to carefully consider the work-from-home setup - Depending on the role and what your employee already has at home you may need to make a financial investment to enable them to work remotely. You’ll also need to consider how to support the person working remotely, both in terms of ensuring the organisation’s information and data is secure and supporting the employee’s health and well-being.
Tension between staff members - Depending on their role within your organisation some employees may not be able to work remotely. A check-out worker at a supermarket for example would be able to work from home, but someone in the finance team for that same supermarket might be able to. That can cause tension between those who can and those who cannot.
Remote workers may also miss out on the chance to build connections with team members because they don't see them in person.
Hybrid working can be a good compromise
If you aren’t comfortable with offering or aren’t able to facilitate total remote working then hybrid working can be a good solution. There are several ways to approach this including:
Allowing employees to work from home fully but requiring them to attend an office or specified location at a set date/time for in-person meetings or events.
Flexible working that allows employees to choose the best place for them to work at any given time. That might be at home, in the office or on location.
Agreeing that an employee will work set days from home and set days in the office You can either make this office-focused - eg more days in the office than at home, or vice versa, remote-focused.
Allowing employees to vary their at-home and in-office days week by week but asking them to confirm that schedule and stick to it each week.
Giving employees the chance to flex throughout the year. For example, parents could choose to work from home more during the school holidays and attend the office more during term time.
Hybrid working does rely more on having employees who are local to your organisation's base. Although, you may choose to work with people in other locations and ask them to travel for meetings or special events.
If you choose to offer hybrid working models, put this on your job ad as it will likely attract more candidates. But be confident that you can follow through on your promise. Don’t say a job is remote or hybrid when it clearly isn’t when you read the detail.
Be prepared to talk to potential or current employees individually about hybrid options. What works for one might not work for another so it can help if you can be flexible within your hybrid policy. Once you have the details worked out make sure they are documented and that you have a process for reviewing it.
While it doesn’t work for all organisations, it’s definitely worth considering whether you can offer fully remote or hybrid work options to your staff and potential new employees. It’s an additional perk that can put your organisation above the rest when it comes to finding the right candidate.
