Remote working is here to stay and 2020 events have proven it. If you’re physically located in the same office, you may send your co-worker an instant message instead of walking over to their desk. Update a project’s status in a spreadsheet. Give feedback in a comment. Put your ideas on a virtual sticky note. You’re practicing “remote collaboration” even when you're in the office.
We at Savincom believe employees don’t need to be in the same location to produce their best work together, and we live our truth every day with our own locally distributed teams. Even a lot of our customers have teams spread internationally and they work virtually with utmost ease with the help of VoIP.
There are a lot of negative stories that claim how the businesses get adversely affected by remote working. But we would like to reiterate that the virtual working norm is here to stay. We would say instead, remote environment can scale your team to success. It’s true that some teams never manage to thrive in this environment, and that’s how myths get started. Here are some common remote-work myths that we keep hearing. We have ended these by our own experience.
- Remote workers are lonely and unhappy: If you are using the right tools for working remotely that ensures continued communication, your staff will never feel lonely or unhappy while working remotely. A lot of people choose remote work because they believe that it makes their quality of life better and allows them to feel like a better parent, friend, or partner. Lack of interactions is something that needs to be worked upon.
According to a study, “the top four reported reasons people seek flexible work are work-life balance (75%), family (45%), time savings (42%), and reducing commute stress (41%). People feel happier and more productive when they have control over their schedules and their lives”.
- Quality of work diminishes through remote working: There is a popular belief that to be successful, teams need a lot of facetime together and they can’t move as fast in a remote environment. While in reality, this is far from being true. Contemporary tools like messengers, task trackers, cloud documentation, video conferencing, collaboration software, etc. allow you to create collaboration hubs that keep track of all your team’s projects and interactions.
- Virtual meetings are not as effective as face to face meetings: A lot of businesses complain that for a meeting to be really fruitful. With our experience, we differ on this view. Remote meetings often require more planning in advance. Inviting the right people, creating an agenda, and asking people to do homework gives attendees the opportunity to be well-prepared and action-oriented during the meeting.
Remote meetings create a sense of urgency. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time if your teammate is eleven hours away and calling you late at night or early in the morning, so coming up with a clear plan and a list of action items after each meeting is a must. - Business productivity decreases with more remote workers: It usually considered that the productivity of the individual is higher when they are working in the office. But we at Savincom can say this with experience that remote workers are equally productive as their office working colleagues.
Studies claim that almost 65% people feel they are more productive with the work remotely or a work from home environment.
- A lot of people feel that they feel less distracted at home and hence remote working works best for them. Being able to work from home often helps focus as well as communication—people feel empowered to speak what they think and can create a bond with their co-workers.We know that virtual meetings and remote working is here to stay.
If you are ready to move to remote working, download our FREE checklist by clicking on the below button. It is an ultimate guide for remote workers.
