If ever there was a light at the end of the COVID tunnel, it may be at its brightest today, however, the topic of broad-based remote employees becoming a permanent way of life has been discussed for a while now. Do you find your business in the middle of this challenging issue or is your company fully reliant on in-person employment to operate
Businesses involved in markets such as manufacturing, packaging, and logistics will always need certain employees on the “factory floor”, while service providers such as advertising agencies and accounting firms are finding it easier to allow a majority of their workers to have the option for remote or home offices, either part or full time. So many things we used to do in person can now be conducted remotely and virtually.
The fact is that the in-office, in-person dynamic is becoming a thing of the past, and while many employers are compelled to increase full-time remote workers, there are many challenges for both business owners and employees with this shift in the workplace.
From personal experience, I can confidently say that, for some people, it takes a long time to effectively and efficiently work from home, or in a remote office setting, with no hands-on supervision. There are dozens of ways to waste time and become distracted by influences completely outside of your job responsibilities. Working remotely can also hinder the ability to develop the kind of camaraderie many office environments afforded people in the past, which can be beneficial to creating a team dynamic and improving the business social skills of your employees.
That said, this shifting workforce dynamic is now considered the new normal and will continue to trend this way for many businesses in the foreseeable future. Employers will need to be more diligent in their hiring practices and employees should consider ways to eliminate distractions and develop habits which to balance home office work with some level of in-person company interaction.
Many business experts believe employees have all the leverage in the current market and that likely holds true for certain qualified skilled candidates. Most employers however are not naïve or desperate enough to allow their new hires to call all the shots. Career success inevitably comes down to overall work ethic, open-mindedness, and the ability to develop leadership skills while working in a team environment and ultimately becoming more effective than your peers. Employers now more than ever, should look to hire those with strong social skills, work ethic, and flexibility to go along with the technical skills necessary to do the work.
It will be interesting to see how the remote office shift in the workforce further evolves and how employers and their staff continue to adjust without sacrificing quality and efficiency and avoid a loss in overall business value.