The remote work realitypar David Carey, ACC
On February 27th 2020 the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Quebec. We didn’t know it then but Covid was about to completely overhaul our way of life and the way we would be doing business. Thinking back to those first uncertain days I remember that most people expected things would return to ‘’normal’’ after a few weeks, but as the weeks began to stretch into months our understanding of ‘’normal’’ was force shifted to include new concepts like mask wearing, social distancing, curfews and the need to work remotely.
This need for remote work hit most organizations hard, in many cases forcing them in days or weeks to develop new strategies for conducting business with and supervising a remote workforce. In many cases this required a reallocation of equipment and learning how to use and implement new technologies.
Many in those early days expressed real concerns over how this radical shift away from a shared, easily supervised office space would impact employee productivity and the company’s bottom lines. However, in most cases, after the initial challenges associated with the transition were complete, organizations were surprized to find that in most cases, working remotely had had little or no negative impact on their ability to meet their client’s expectations and deliver product. They were equally surprized to discover that working remotely had resulted in a marked increase in employee productivity and satisfaction.
Although this was an unexpected and positive outcome in the short term, it now means that as companies begin to consider and develop Covid 19 recovery strategies, it is essential for them to consider how dramatically the opportunity to work remotely has shifted the work expectancies of their employees. This report from the World Economic Forum shines some light on just how much things have changed. “An IPSO survey for the world economic forum among 12,500 employed people in 29 countries found that a majority want flexible working to be the norm. Almost a third (30%) said they would consider looking for another job if they were forced to go back to the office full time”.
So what do these statistic mean for companies and organizations? According to research conducted by PWC, it means that post pandemic, it is companies that develop and incorporate a hybrid work model that will have the competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent.
This means that as vaccination rates increase, things begin opening up and people find themselves with increased mobility, the same organizations who only a few months ago found themselves facing a rapid need to shift the bulk of their workforce to remote work, today find themselves facing a whole new set of questions and challenges around how to best to respond to their employees continued desire to work remotely. Challenges that will include developing workable hybrid work models, writing new policies and adjusting existing ones to fit a new reality. In addition many will face major considerations around what to do with existing but now empty office space.
If you believe the above statistics, it will be the companies that adapt quickly and develop strategies to maintain their remote work force, or satisfy employee needs with hybrid models that blend remote and on site work that will hold a competitive edge moving forward.
No matter which choices companies make, it is safe to say that the future work space will look very different than the traditional office and this will mean new challenges, continued uncertainty, and major changes in the way we think about and conduct business.
The new challenges around remote work that are facing companies today, represent big opportunities for professional coaches and the coaching profession. Like the companies and organizations we serve, we should be positioning ourselves now to step in and assist leaders as they work to develop return to work strategies and hybrid work models. If we recognize and seize this opportunity, our ability to ask the right questions and help leaders see past their blind spots may end up playing a vital role in shaping the workspace of the future.
