This article has been written by the teams at B&G HR and Octagon Technology
Remote working – work wherever you are, whenever you need
I’m positive that by now many businesses have at least heard of remote working, which in simple words means allowing employees to work from home or wherever they have remote access.
Changes in technology and employee attitudes are driving major transformation, “work is changing, from being binary – being tethered to one particular desk – to working anywhere at any time” (http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2015/01/05/what-will-the-workplace-of-tomorrow-look-like.aspx).
Research indicates that 25% of employees would choose flexible working over pay increase and currently 14% of people in employment are working from home. Some believe that “…people shouldn’t have to choose between family or career – it should be both, and both done well not compromised” (http://www.hrgrapevine.com/markets/hr/article/2015-01-23-25-would-choose-flexible-working-over-pay-increases#.VMIzFOFlj3k.twitter).
Here at Octagon Technology, we not only recognise the benefits of remote working but we are a “remote worker company”.
Here are eight top benefits from Octagon Technology of remote working:
1. Happy employees – job satisfaction increases when employees don’t feel micro-managed and feel that their employers care about them and value them as people. This contributes to them being happier, healthier and yet more productive. It’s simply, because employees also have their lives outside of work, they have interests and hobbies; they have children, families and/or pets to look after. Some of them have complicated personal lives and priorities. Therefore, less and less employees in today’s generation see or feel the need to work in a cubicle eight hours a day, five days a week.
2. Recruit the best talent – having a business office means you have to recruit workers from people already living in the area or those who are willing to relocate. The remote working and remote office environment means that you can recruit whoever best suits your business’s needs, no matter where they live.
3. Easy expansion – by utilising a remote office environment, you don’t have to limit your growth, in fact you can grow faster because you are not tying yourself to a ‘real’ office. With the right products, services and support you can expand where you wish to.
4. Flexibility – employees in the 21st century increasingly value flexibility, choice and freedom, this means that the traditional 40-hours week probably doesn’t exist anymore. A remote working allows increased flexibility which adds to business’s success. In today’s business cycle, you may need to work more hours from time to time or even take work home, you may want or need to conduct your tasks on the road, train or café. Sometimes, your important projects require peace and quiet; or work demand slows down to a few hours a day. No matter your needs, remote working allows you to match the business’s needs and requirements.
This was yesterday’s team meeting at a wifi café in Lincoln – although Conner is pouring the tea, Martin is on a support call for a client accessing their PC over the internet and Kamila is updating the company Twitter account. Clive had organised the meeting and shared the agenda (and subsequently the action plans) via OneNote and using the company calendar on our hosted exchange server.
5. Boost productivity – health and wellbeing of employees is critical to their productivity, the wrong kind of environment may damage their health, and staff illness may cost your business a lot of money. Employees who work from a home office environment often are less stressed and more productive as they can focus their attention on the tasks without the distractions that are common in an ordinary office environment.
6. Boost morale – employees find it easy to keep a good work/life balance when working flexible hours. High morale reduces staff turnover.
7. Stimulate creativity – when employees are focused on their work it increases their creativity.
8. Save money – utilising cloud computing and hosted services saves money. You will also save on office costs such as power, heat and supplies, although your café coffee bill may go up!
Here is Clive’s experience of remote working
Remote working as a business strategy
Remote working is an excellent way to grow and expand a business. With the right planning, organising, help with your people and IT support it has great benefits for both employer and employee.
So what do you need? Here are a few basics:
– PC, Laptop, tablet and/or smartphone
– Hosted Exchange Server form Octagon Technology
– Office 365 – including OneNote
– OneDrive
– Skype
– Quickbooks Online
– … and a willing employer and flexible employees.
Top eight tips for businesses on implementing remote working technology:
1. Cost-benefit analysis – consider specific benefits of cloud computing against costs. Your Hosted Exchange Server from Octagon Technology costs only £5 p/m per user, allowing increased efficiency and productivity for your business.
2. Staff consultation – when implementing remote working technology you should understand the needs and concerns of your employees.
3. Staff training – a well-structured training program should be designed to ensure all employees can use this technology appropriately and are aware of their responsibilities when working remotely.
4. Security and confidentiality – ensure that home / remote workers take responsibility for ensuring that the same standards of security of information and equipment that would apply in a real office are maintained. This may include locking devices for computer equipment and making arrangements for the disposal of confidential waste. Remote workers will need to ensure that documents are filed away securely at the end of each day. All confidential computer files need to be password protected and encrypted.
5. Absence – ensure that you have clear rules for notifying absence. For some remote positions it is even harder to provide replacement cover quickly, in which case the reporting of absence may need to be tighter. Ensure that incoming calls and emails to an unmanned location can be quickly diverted to an alternative point of contact within the company.
6. Health and safety – your responsibilities as an employer under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) includes your remote and home workers. A risk assessment should be carried out for each remote worker, taking into account any disability/health issues, location, etc. If any necessary equipment is installed this should be checked to ensure that the workspace complies with health and safety regulations.
7. Contracts of employment – check that the location clause of a remote or home worker’s contract of employment is flexible enough to allow you the option of bringing a remote team together if it isn’t working out working separately.
8. Flexible working – set out a clear procedure to enable employees who wish to make a flexible working or remote working request to do so and to enable you / your managers to handle such requests in a fair and consistent manner.
At B&G HR, we understand challenges involved in employing people. We’ll help you create a healthy workplace with happy employees so that you can benefit from increased employee engagement, reduced staff absence and sustained job performance, contributing to greater profits. For help and advice please contact us on 01522 583963 or drop us an email info@bg-hr.com.
If you would like to know more how we can help you improve efficiency and productivity of your business, please visit our website, give Kamila a call on 01522 797520 or drop her an email kamila@octagontech.com to see how our services can benefit your company.
Kamila keeping up with the calls to the office whilst at Octagon’s favourite wifi cafe
All photographs (c) www.clivecatton.co.uk.
