Now that in my country and many others, drastic measures are being imposed to curb COVID-19, many employees are being forced to work from home for the first time in their lives. Some will be terrified (not by the virus, but by working from home), while others will feel they are facing a great opportunity.
Far from what it may seem, teleworking can be a real challenge, not only because of reconciling family and professional life: teleworking is much more than simply changing the place where you carry out your tasks for your company.
I have been working remotely several days a week for years, since the moment I realized that my work responsibilities were perfectly compatible without needing to be physically in an office. So far, I can say it has been one of the best decisions of my life. However, I must recognize the profound changes that this way of approaching work has on how it is organized (for me and for the rest of my colleagues).
I can affirm that in my case I am more productive, I feel just as comfortable in my office, and the fact that I am not necessarily tied to a schedule allows me to place tasks in a more agile and efficient way in my day-to-day work. But for that to happen, it is a real challenge to disconnect, while a great deal of self-discipline is needed.
It may be that now many companies will discover that offering this option to their employees saves costs. On their part, workers may also discover that they can save on commuting, work better, and even be more productive, etc. But the opposite may also happen.
Teleworking is not easy, it is not for everyone (nor for all companies, obviously, even if the work is done through a computer).
Working remotely involves using a different work (and mental) paradigm, as well as a self-discipline that must be developed and that not everyone is willing to pay the price to acquire.
Teleworking also means organizing work differently, which implies changes in the behavior of managers and team leaders, as well as in the work teams themselves.
This way of approaching work is incompatible with profiles that need to be told what to do at all times, or who work and become more involved when the “boss” is present; in other words, remote work does not work with people who:
- Do not know how to organize their workday for themselves, continuously asking: what do I do now?
- Do not feel involved in the organization they work for.
- Do the minimum to get by (and curiously, they do more when there is more pressure on them).
Similarly, if a company (and I am talking about technology companies) thinks that its activity can be broken down into a series of tasks that are performed one after another by someone, it may be in for a big disappointment.
Remote work is for companies that trust responsible people and employees who promote the proper completion of tasks. Working remotely has nothing to do with the traditional scheme of “the boss says what to do, and the employee does it and that’s it.”
More and more, the companies that are most successful are those that trust their employees: to create new products, propose improvements in any area of the organization, and always do what needs to be done at the right time. And from the other side too: responsible and proactive employees involved in the project that the organization they work for represents.
That is: working remotely requires a work paradigm that most people (and companies) are not prepared for yet.
I am not talking about having the right conditions at home to be able to work, but about a mental attitude that is difficult to find in a working culture where many look at the clock hoping to leave the office because they lack motivation (or because they consider work a simple way to earn a living, which is often called a “nutritional job”).
Sending people home in such a rush (as has happened in recent days) without preparing them to work remotely and without even establishing the necessary methodology to handle group tasks in a non-face-to-face setting may come as a big surprise to many.
Others, like me a few years ago, will be delighted to discover that this option offers a series of advantages that are hard to imagine.
If you manage your time…, you manage your life. That is what remote work is really about, but for that, your level of involvement in your company must be very high.
Many of the work tasks we carry out as IT professionals can be done at any time of the day. So why stick to a strict schedule? This happens because until very recently, the only way to structure work was (and still is) like that.
Tasks that require creativity and a high degree of concentration, such as developing software, designing, writing, etc., cannot be tied to a strict schedule; this goes against their nature. They could be done better, and with better results, if we do them at the time of day when it is most appropriate for us. This is not about doing them whenever we feel like it, but being self-responsible and doing them anyway, not necessarily when someone else imposes it.
I maintain that remote work has not become more common until there was trust between managers and teams, and I also maintain that the companies that overcome that barrier are the most successful, because it means they integrate more motivated and self-responsible people into their activities. This responsibility means that the manager knows that the team takes responsibility for its work and does not need to act as a supervisor: the results speak for themselves.
I remember Parkinson’s law: a task expands to the time available for its completion. That is why a remote worker needs to be responsible, because the manager’s job is not to monitor a schoolyard, but to verify that things are done well, with quality and on time.
It is a question of attitude and motivation: the attitudes of someone who “works for money” (perfectly legitimate) have nothing to do with those of someone who feels meaning in the hours they spend serving their organization. The former will look at the clock, do the minimum; the latter will be proactive, and their work will be of higher quality.
I have never been responsible for human resources, but I have seen that the best professionals I have met speak about their companies with pride; the same is true for those who, if they have to work a weekend punctually, do not complain because they know they are supporting not just a job, but a cause they feel committed to and proud of.
The challenge, therefore, is not for the employee who suddenly has to learn to work remotely, but for the company that has to create a long-term motivating project that makes people give their best.
And the best is not endless working hours; on the contrary, it is producing value, maintaining trust, taking care of the team, and putting quality above physical presence.