Is Your Organization Ready for Permanent WFH?

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The epidemic has accelerated the adoption of remote work. Organisations are realizing that jobs that were assumed to be done on-site can easily be done remotely. Many companies are moving to make certain roles permanently remote. This may not work for everyone there are several advantages of making certain work permanently remote.

Hiring only from a local source can be restrictive. Hiring for a remote/ virtual location gives the choice of selecting candidates from a wider range at competitive rates.
Offering remote work options can help attract and retain competitive talent. Employees may accept a pay cut for an opportunity to work from home.
Working from home can save a lot of time. On average, employees spend at least 1-hour reaching office and another 1 hour returning home. Instead of commuting 2 hours every day, it can be better utilized in making productive use of this time to get important work done.

It will require a lot of planning and effort to transition the workforce. Consider the following steps in assessing opportunities for permanent remote positions

Map critical tasks and needed competencies

Do not analyse existing jobs as they are an aggregation of tasks being done at present.

Think of key tasks and responsibilities.
Do not limit your self to the current task, anticipate future requirements.
Determine what competencies you have and what are the gaps.
Consider client feedback, performance data, performance metrics.
Identify the ideal level of competency you would like for each task.
Once the competencies are short-listed, decide which can be sourced locally and which will need remote-friendly to attract more-elusive, competitive talent.

Assess the costs and benefits

Estimate costs of on-site versus remote work. Remember to take into account real estate costs. Remote work may require substantial costs in supporting technologies along with in-person meetings etc.,

Restructure jobs to work as remote positions over long-term

Most jobs are not optimised for remote work. In remote work, you have to rely on delayed communication. You lose the benefit of face-to-face communication and casual conversations in the office. In remote work, you miss the non-verbal clues and tone, pace, pitch makes working together difficult.

To overcome this, build clear hierarchies and formal processes. Sketch out detailed job descriptions and reporting lines along with clear instructions on how to get work done. Engage employees to capture their experience and create a shared responsibility. If possible, structure teams so that all are remote or on-site. Hybrid teams will have major challenges.

Encourage video meetings and short meetings to provide more social contact points and improve collaboration. Invest in software, to help your team meet the challenges of remote work.

Minimise unnecessary coordination among remote workers

Every organisation will have interdependencies between teams, where members depend on others to complete the work. How the task is assigned between teams will determine if the interdependencies increase or decrease. Some are unavoidable. Eliminate unwanted interdependencies, make remote work easier.

Some roles may be more difficult than others to transform into remote positions. How quickly and effectively the organisation embraces the new way of work will be critical to the success of this transition.