Remote Workers and an Increasingly Collaborative Workplace

Here’s what we know: Workplace flexibility is important to employees. Having the option of working from home makes them happy, more productive and more likely to stay in their jobs. Technology advances can keep them connected.

So, if it’s such a great perk with so much research to support it, why aren’t all companies jumping on board?

Is the growing trend toward workplace collaboration and the need to access specialized employee knowledge causing some organizations to pump the breaks on this flexibility? “How can we pull Tyler in on this latest crisis if he’s at home camped out on his couch?”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the number of remote workers has been on a plateau for the past ten years. In 2018, 23.7 percent of employed people in the U.S. worked remotely.  According to the BLS, occupational categories with the highest percentages of people working from home were professional and related with 32.4 percent; management, business, and financial operations with 33.6 percent; and sales and related with 27.4 percent. In an average workday, these three segments worked 3.16 hours away from the office.

How does that compare to previous years? In 2006, telecommuting was slightly lower than it is now with 21.1 percent of the workforce doing some or part of their work from home. The same three BLS occupational categories ranked highest, with only the sales and related jobs being significantly lower at 20.3 percent.

The number of remote workers reached today’s levels beginning in 2009 and has only fluctuated slightly over the past 10 years.

Despite advances in technology that make it easier to work remotely and studies that clearly indicate that remote work is incredibly valuable to employees — linking it to employee engagement, productivity and retention — organizations have been slow to loosen their grip and let employees work from home regularly, according to Kristen Senz for hbs.edu.

Let’s take a closer look at the value employees place on flexibility. One study showed that the average employee was willing to accept 8% less pay for the option to work from home. Senz also points to research by Prithwiraj Choudhury at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) showing a 4.4 percent productivity gain with the expansion of a “work from anywhere” arrangement for patent examiner employees.

But researchers acknowledge that some of this research and the potential gains don’t necessarily transfer to all work environments or jobs. The patent examiners in Choudhury’s study work independently and their jobs require minimal coordination.

Many jobs today require greater interaction and collaboration. And in a business world where products are increasingly complex, technology changes quickly and customers’ evolving demands must be met, collaboration has been touted as a key to being better able to meet unseen challenges by tapping the varied knowledge and experience of all workers.

Will these demands for collaboration and agility dampen work-from-home arrangements?

Are there ways organizations can structure collaboration to keep it from draining employees and still offer the flexibility they want?

Here are some suggestions for doing collaboration well (even when part of the team is working remotely):

1. The right tools – Equip all employees (including those working at home) with a phone and messaging tools. Train them on best practices.
2. Create communication protocol – Miscommunication happens easily with remote work, but if everyone knows and sticks to agreed upon processes and preferences, it helps ensure those working together know who’s responsible for which tasks.
3. Stick to a schedule – Show employees you prioritize and value them by creating a meeting schedule that everyone adheres to. Don’t let phone calls or other visitors interrupt.
4. Help employees understand all departments – When employees know how a decision will affect other departments or teams, they make better decisions. Rotate entry level employees through various parts of the organization.
5. Cross-departmental interactions - Create opportunities for members of various departments to get to know each other. These interactions can spark creativity as well as help build relationships that can be useful to all parties down the line.
6. Bring the team together periodically – Occasionally, remote workers need to be in the same room with colleagues. Plan celebrations or events to help employees get to know each other better.
7. Train employees to be strong team members – Working as part of a team doesn’t always come naturally. Take time to ensure that all employees involved are strong on skills needed to work remotely and collaborate.
8. Understand the FLSA wage and hour laws for your state – If your telecommuter is an hourly employee, you must have a system in place that allows employees to track time so they can be paid for overtime.

Although there are many advantages to allowing employees to work remotely, the need for collaboration can cause organizations to avoid the perk. Consider how to make remote collaboration stronger and more effective.

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