Traditional approaches to working practices are constantly being revised and eroded as cultural and technological change evolve and the need to be 'anchored' to a desk starts to disappear. While this has already happened to a large extent at a managerial and business professional level, it is only just becoming possible at the general office employee level. This paper explores the cultural, organisational, personal and technology implications of this emerging trend towards remote working and attempts to outline some of the pros and cons of introducing this capability to your workforce.
"I'm working from home on Friday." This phrase still seems to conjure up a range of emotions, from an assumption that the individual will be on the golf course all day, through to an acknowledgement that the individual will probably be 50% more productive when freed from the distractions of the office. Yet, when it comes to transaction processing and call centre staff, a number of other factors come into play and often a natural suspicion and distrust on the part of the supervisory staff becomes the dominant emotion.
However, modern process management technology means it is perfectly possible to monitor exactly what remote workers are doing over the course of their day, and to assess their productivity and output in a far more efficient and factual manner than if they were just being 'observed' at their desk in a traditional office-based environment. Working remotely is now a much more realistic possibility than it used to be in the past. So what are the consequences of that, and what does an organisation need to do and change in order to respond effectively to the new possibilities that this opens up?
Download the full white paper: Can remote working redefine the workplace?
Share