Remote Working: How Effective are Staff?

The business landscape is changing.

With advances in technology, more and more businesses are allowing their staff to work remotely.

There are many benefits to this however, there are also challenges that come with remote working.

In this blog post, we will explore these questions and look at ways you can use technology to improve the productivity of your remote workforce.

Is Remote Working an Effective Business Model?

There are many benefits to remote working. For businesses, it can lead to increased productivity and cost savings.

For employees, it can offer a better work-life balance and the ability to work from anywhere in the world. 82% of people feel that working remotely reduces stress, and companies that utilise remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than those that don’t.

However, these benefits are only seen when remote working is done properly.

Like many businesses, when it’s not done in the right way there are also challenges.

For example, many suffer from the inability to maintain confidentiality when remote working, which exposes businesses to security threats that could disrupt productivity and cost lots of money.

In hindsight, remote working is an effective business model when the right technology and processes are put in place, but can cause negative effects if it’s not enrolled properly.

How you Can Use an IT Strategy to Ensure Staff Working Remotely are Productive

In order to make sure that your staff are productive when working remotely, you can put an IT strategy in place.

An IT strategy is used to help you understand how technology can improve your business. It allows you to set an IT budget and work out how technology can help you reach your business goals.

Having an IT strategy provides a framework for you to plan the adoption of remote working and create processes that improve productivity and make sure your staff are working from home effectively.

Another way an IT strategy enhances productivity by ensuring that everyone has a clear understanding of what tasks need to be completed and when they need to be done by.

This is especially important when staff are not in the same office as each other and need to be able to collaborate effectively.

Technology that Can Enhance Remote Working

There are a number of different technologies that can be used to enhance productivity when working remotely.

One example is video conferencing, which can be used for team meetings, training sessions and one-to-one catch ups.

This software allows staff to see each other face-to-face, even when they are not in the same location, and helps to build relationships between team members.

Another software that can be used to improve the effectiveness of remote working is a CRM system, which can be used to track progress on tasks, assign deadlines and create To Do lists.

This type of software ensures that everyone knows what needs to be done.

A VoIP phone system is the perfect technological solution to enhance communication.

Since it connects calls over the internet, it allows staff to use their mobile phones, laptops, and/or tablets as their business phone, allowing them to work from anywhere.

A VoIP phone system such as Jera’s Phoenix Call also offers a wide range of calling features like video conferencing, CRM integration, and conference calling which all help improve productivity.

Providing the right hardware is extremely important as well.

A business should provide their remote working staff with a laptop, monitors, a good headset, and even an office desk and chair if their team don’t have a suitable environment to work from home.

Offering the right hardware can massively improve remote worker’s productivity.

What you Can do to Ensure your Staff are Effective when Remote Working

If you are unsure about how to effectively offer remote working to your staff or need the right technology to make sure you do it properly, get in touch today by filling out a form on the website or give us a call.