During COVID-19 businesses had to scramble to get their remote working strategy together. Short-term fixes were all many companies had time to create, and they have helped us move through one of the most difficult periods in business history.

However, with COVID-19 continuing to push us all towards remote working, it is now time for business owners and leadership teams to look at long term remote strategies. Now is the time when we can be deliberate and intentional with our remote working strategies to set ourselves up for success in the future.

Does your business have a long term remote working strategy? Here’s why it should.

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  Long term remote work is here to stay

Remote working is here to stay. Not only because COVID-19 is continuing to cause restrictions on work environments, but because we’ve seen some benefits of remote working that employers and employees want to hold onto. From flexibility to decreased office costs, remote working has benefits that will see it become a regular fixture of the future of work.

This means that businesses need to plan ahead for a hybrid work model whereby employees spend part-time in the office and part-time remotely, or even a remote first strategy. The earlier businesses set expectations, manage boundaries and guide employees into the remote work lifestyle, the better.

• Remote work is a success for the majority of businesses

As mentioned, another key reason to start creating a long term remote work strategy is that it could hugely benefit your business in the long run. As the world of work evolves, remote working is taking centre stage. Businesses who don’t evolve with these changes will fall behind.

Both employers and employees have suggested that remote working is favourable within their business, with 83% of employers saying that the shift to remote work has been successful according to a 2020 PwC study.

• There are lots of long term remote work options to consider 

The choice actually isn’t actually just about remote vs office work anymore. There is a whole array of work styles that fall in between, that should be considered thoroughly when planning a long term strategy.

Some questions you might want to ask when creating a long term strategy include: 

• Will your business offer a hybrid model? 
• Will you maintain an office ‘HQ’? Where will that be?
• Will remote work be totally flexible or will there be timetables, rules around time zones etc?
• Will people be able to work remotely from anywhere or will there be specific home office regulations?
• How will each team plan their schedules so that they can work cohesively?
• Will you be remote-first?

• You need to consider how you will engage talent

A long term strategy will allow you to plan how you will engage talent over a longer period of time. It’s really important that businesses plan out how they will retain workers and ensure that they are happy with their new remote work model.

According to studies, it is least experienced workers who are more likely to struggle when working from home, with 34% of people with 0-5 years experience feeling less productive. These team members are more likely to value meeting with managers and engaging in training, so a long term strategy will enable you to plan how you will do that.

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