The virtual workspace: A growing trend

Allowing your staff to work remotely requires a good deal of up-front preparation and ongoing monitoring, but there are good reasons to invest time and energy into this increasingly popular option, increased job satisfaction and greater retention of emplo

THE NUMBER OF people who work remotely has been rising steadily, about four percent in the last four years, according to an American survey. There is increasing pressure on companies to provide this option to employees, even for as little as a day or two per week. More businesses in some industries have begun allowing people to work remotely, particularly within transportation, IT, design, entertainment and media, according to a Gallup survey earlier this year.

Remote workers enjoy the benefits of not having to deal with traffic, co-workers, or the boss in immediate proximity. The latter is what concerns most stakeholders: without direct supervision, can an employee be trusted to do their job? Other concerns include managing offlocation employees, data security, and a lack of communication and cohesion with the team.

As a result, there is a push-pull from both sides, and it can be hard to decide what is the best solution overall for the company.

THE MOST COMMON QUESTION

Studies have been conducted on whether or not employees are more productive when they work remotely, and only one thing is certain: the results are still inconclusive. Findings include that the more repetitive and systemised an employee's task is, the greater the benefits. One case study, for example, showed as much as a 35 percent increase. However some other studies have determined that some people are just incapable of working from home and remaining focused and productive.

Productivity lags if employees are spending 100 percent of their hours working remotely. Three to four days a week seems to be the point where productivity is highest. It is probably good practice for managers to assess and track each employee on an individual basis over a certain trial period first before committing to their virtual work on an ongoing basis.

In 2016, 91 percent of firms in Britain had one or more employees working from home, but merely 36 percent of them had any kind of established policy for them. An important requirement to successfully integrating a remote working system is to formalise it. Be sure to formalise: • Regular check-in calls. • The defined use of technology. • The setting up of firewalls for

protected services. • Document processes. • Expectations around work and personal time balance. If an employee is confident that they are being properly managed, whilst enjoying the benefits of being out of the office, productivity is likely to be highest.

If your company is suited to it, Agile Methodology is geared towards small teams and an occasional “keep in touch” check in system that may be a customised fit to suit your business' needs. This is especially true if the business is still in start-up phase.

The largest concern for most CTOs and network administrators is security. If not tightly controlling the environment and equipment, a business opens itself up to extra risks. By not controlling the location, for example, a remote employee could be leaving your trade secrets on a bar stool, as an Apple software engineer is reported to have done with a prototype iPhone, some years ago.

There are ways to protect your business in these situations. Part of your “use of technology” policy for working remotely could include mandatory encryption and remote-wipe applications. The remote-wipe tool, for example, protects the business in case of a lost laptop or in the case of an employee leaving the company.

By setting up VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), employees can work on their home computer in the same way as they do within the four walls of the company. This is done by “tunnelling” through the internet so that the data must go from one point to the other without being disturbed.

Whilst allowing remote working does requires a good deal of up-front preparation and ongoing monitoring, there are good reasons to invest time and energy into this increasingly popular option, increased job satisfaction and greater retention of employees being amongst them. Once set up and running efficiently, the leaders of the company are also able to take advantage of its benefits, and this modern work situation can become a win-win for all.