37% of workers work remotely at least some of the time. Is your company making productivity simple in this new age of business?
During the pandemic, remote work became all but required for many industries outside of essential operations. Remote work has proven its value and staying power – by Gallup’s estimates 37% of workers work remotely at least some of the time.
While remote work’s value to the employee is all about flexibility, it can present challenges to employers. As an employer, you have to trust that your employees will work as productively in the home (or wherever “remote” means to them) as in the workplace.
With change comes inevitable growing pains and processes required to nurture future success come into focus, many of which are headed by your information technology department. Ensuring swift, accurate communication and sharing of information across different workspaces without the option of walking down the hall for an office pop-in.
We’ll cover three aspects of today’s business environment that directly affect the success of a remote or hybrid workforce. First, we’ll examine the productivity of remote workers and how key performance indicators can be tracked remotely. Then, we’ll look at opportunities in moving away from paper products and hard copy signature requirements. And finally, how switching to a remote workforce can be a boon in the face of a shrinking workforce.
One of the most common misconceptions about remote workers is that they will slack off during the day and not stay focused on work. A 2-Year study from Stanford showed an incredible BOOST in productivity for remote workers, citing factors such as working a full “true shift” versus leaving early or arriving late a few times a week, and a less distracting work environment.
There are other ways to increase productivity on top of the remote work setting. A well organized and communicated workflow management system, like CommonThread from IdeaWeavers, allows for data management all in one place – reducing wasted time double entering data across multiple platforms.
To meet the needs of the flexible remote workforce, you’ll want to ensure the workflow management system you choose is responsive across all devices, allowing workers to work from anywhere without missing a beat. With a clean, intuitive user interface and a flexible data model that integrates your legacy systems into one easily accessible cloud based account, the connectivity and workflow of your team can flourish.
Another positive to an integrated digital system is trackability. Managers within the system can see communications with clients, status of projects and available opportunities all within one dashboard. So you know if deadlines are being met and promised communications are happening in real time. It’s not enough for a study to show success in remote work, you want to see it for yourself.
When confronted with the realities of a remote or even hybrid workforce, one of the first hurdles many business operations have to overcome is the paper-based signature. Like QR code menus and the remote workforce itself, digital signatures have become not only accepted, but commonplace in the business world.
Relying on paper-based signatures to keep your operations moving can result in a slower pace of business and higher costs. Many businesses are signing on paper, then scanning into a digital environment for record keeping – a second step that takes time out of each employee’s day and does not reflect the need for a more efficient workforce. Not to mention, research by Photizo Group estimated an average printing cost of around $725 annually per employee. And that estimate was made in 2012. Prices have only risen since.
By employing a digital signature solution, such as the one offered in the CommonThread platform, managers can track signatures the moment they are made and avoid any confusion on lost paperwork or misorganized documents. Having a system in place that sends documents electronically to the customer for their signature, then auto-attaches to that customer’s record within the system can eliminate time wasted hunting down those all-important signatures. Plus, you’ll be saving money on printing, and giving some benefit to the environment too.
There always seems to be a caveat, doesn’t there? After the boom of remote work during the pandemic, there was a massive shrinkage in the workforce creating additional stressors on recruiting teams across the country.
Allowing for your hiring team to target remote workers could help you hire more easily and retain your current employees longer. A recent McKinsey & Company study found that among employees given the option to work remotely, 87% take their employer up on the offer. And, the same study found a flexible working environment to be a top three motivator for finding a new job, behind only greater pay and hours or better career opportunities.
Another solution? A more efficient workflow that allows a smaller workforce to get the same amount of work accomplished.
Not only does increased efficiency allow for a more streamlined workforce, it helps to manage costs and deliver performance at a higher rate than ever before. Efficiency – easier said than done, right?
Let’s look at some numbers. A report from Wakefield Research and Elastic in 2021 observed that 54% of U.S. office professionals report wasting time searching for files in their cluttered online filing systems – many of which attempt to run several clunky legacy systems in tandem.
Platforms like CommonThread allow for sales, operations, finance and HR all to operate under the same metaphorical roof – with reporting, calendars, communications, CRM data and more living within the platform for easy searchability. With a robust content management system, time loss in searching for work content can be trimmed substantially, instantly creating a more efficient workflow for your employees.
With four unique channels of integration, CommonThread configures to your already-existing workflow (with substantial user accessibility upgrades), rather than needing to rewrite your internal systems to match it. By leveraging a more efficient team, in person or remotely, a system like CommonThread can transform the way you do business for the better – and make productivity simple.
Learn more about CommonThread at ideaweavers.com and schedule a quick focus discovery to see how CommonThread can be configured for your unique business.
