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Not that we needed confirmation, but this recent International Workplace Group report confirms that over half of global employees work outside of their main office headquarters at least twicee each week, which is continuing evidence that the “remote revolution” is in full swing. As travel becomes more affordable, devices more powerful and production becomes less mechanical, any work typically produced on an office computer is now portable. Consequently, any business using virtual communications is now remote friendly, whether they like it or not.
However, lists of employers that hire remote employees (both crowdsourced and private) only indicate a few hundred businesses with flexible work models. This suggests that businesses are hesitant to publicly support remote work. What’s holding them back? One word: Yahoo.
In 2013, CEO Marissa Mayer infamously eliminated Yahoo’s telecommuting policy and required all offsite employees to relocated to company facilities. And Yahoo isn’t the only one. Other prestigious brands like IBM and Hewlett-Packard have also called their remote employees back into the office, all citing an increase in productivity and innovation since the changes.
Thankfully, we have thought leaders who prove that successful and sustainable virtual operational models are not only possible, but they are also thriving. Amazon, Dell, Apple, Microsoft, and Hilton are all proudly employing virtual workers in various departments. Even more impressive are companies like Automattic and InVision that both have over 700 employees, $1 billion value (each), nearly-perfect employer ratings, and zero offices.
What’s the difference between IBM and InVision when it comes to company policy and worker flexibility? How are these companies operating differently such that one workforce thrives virtually and the other is required to work in cubicles? More importantly, how can you ensure that your inevitably-remote team ends up like the latter and not the former?
By evaluating these case studies, it’s easy to see that there are both right and wrong ways to offer flexible working. Unfortunately, the right way is not instinctual, nor is it easy, and here’s why: Quick operational updates only adjust an existing practice. Converting to true virtual operations requires a fresh start in how productivity is measured and results are managed. If a company isn’t fully invested in or intentional enough to make this fresh start, remote work killers like micromanagement, isolation, miscommunication, and burnout are imminent.
Business leaders: Whether you’re going remote intentionally, or are already remote-friendly by accident, ensure that your operational model isn’t founded on the following mistakes that can lead to distributed workforce failure:
Mistake #1: No Remote Work Policy
Many companies are hesitant to go remote due to fear that their brand will lose credibility as employees arrive in virtual meetings from a noisy coffee shop and wearing casual clothes. Remote work advocates are expected to say that these fears aren’t valid or relevant. However, the response is usually the opposite: not only are they valid, but they are also unavoidable. Without outlining expectations for the environment, behavior, schedule and accessibility, the representation of your brand will quickly become as flexible as the environments of your workers. It is crucial to the success of your remote initiatives to create and distribute an offsite standard operating procedure which includes best practices and guidance on the standardization of both internal and external interactions with your company.
Remote Mistake #2: 100% Autonomy
Many distributed teams operate on results-based operational models. In these infrastructures, workers need more trust, asynchronous communication and automated workflows to be effective. However, many leaders misinterpret this advice and provide too much independence by allowing team members to work completely independently. While results are prioritized in remote work, the results are still produced by humans and it is essential to value the people behind the effort. If collaboration is siloed, dehumanized or infrequent, team members can feel isolated and undervalued. To solve this, empower individual contributors to set their own goals and schedules while keeping them connected both socially and informationally with the rest of the staff.
Mistake #3: Preserving On-Site Operations
Keeping things “business as usual” for in-office workers while letting other workers “escape” with remote work can create a drastic imbalance of accessibility, opportunity and loyalty between onsite and offsite workers, and contributes to the high failure rate of hybrid teams. Be creative in your approach to equalizing the work experiences for both worker types in meetings and resources. Digitizing all paperwork and hard-copy materials and centralizing all communication on a platform like Slack are a few ways to modernize processes in a remote-friendly way. Using equalizing tools (like Meeting Owl) or scheduling swap weeks for remote workers to work from the office and allow onsite workers to work remotely are creative ways to create connection for all of your workers.
If your leadership team is guilty of any of these virtual operations mistakes, don’t worry—it’s not too late. Find a virtual operations consultant or remote work policy designer to start fresh and evaluate your current virtual operations model. Look for an expert who has at least 10 years of experience managing an online team of your size to help you uncover any red flags that may be limiting your virtual ops program’s success. A quick update to your infrastructure could save the reputation and flexibility of your business in the future.
