{"id":6272,"date":"2020-03-24T14:48:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T19:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bluecotton.com\/blog\/?p=6272"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:19:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T15:19:58","slug":"3-things-your-business-needs-to-enable-remote-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluecotton.com\/blog\/business\/3-things-your-business-needs-to-enable-remote-work\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Things Your Business Needs to Enable Remote Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

The traditional office environment may never be the same. With the rapid spread of coronavirus at the front of everyone’s minds, businesses all over the world are shifting towards remote work. Even once the dust settles, it’s likely that many employees will continue telecommuting, and many employers will be forced to enable it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“This is not how I envisioned the distributed work revolution taking hold,” Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress developer Automattic, wrote in a blog post earlier this month<\/a>. “Even at a remote-friendly company like Automattic, we rely on in-person team meetups and conferences to strengthen our connections and get work done…[But] this might also offer an opportunity for many companies to finally build a culture that allows long-overdue work flexibility.”\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This represents a significant challenge for your organization, but also a significant opportunity. If you put the necessary frameworks in place now, your business stands to enjoy significant gains down the road. Research conducted last year by flexible workspace provider IWG<\/a> found that 80 percent of US workers would choose a job with flexible working options over one without, and that 74 percent of people feel remote work is the new normal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In other words, remote work is no longer just a competitive differentiator, but necessary<\/em> for your business. We’ll go over a few first steps for enabling it throughout your organization.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Communication Plan<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Communication and collaboration the heart of effective telecommuting. It’s therefore imperative to provide staff with the capacity to quickly and flexibly connect with one another, no matter where they are.\u00a0 The first step in doing so is deploying a collaboration tool like Slack<\/a>, which provides multiple real-time instant messaging channels through which your employees can communicate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’d also advise integrating Slack with a calendar or scheduling app like Google Calendar<\/a> or Toggl Plan<\/a>. This will allow team meetings, one-on-ones, and other important events to be quickly and effectively planned out. And you will <\/em>want to schedule regular meetings through a video conferencing platform like Zoom<\/a>, both to ensure people are kept in the loop and to help stave off isolation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Finally, a project management platform like Airtable<\/a>, Trello<\/a>, or Wrike<\/a> is a great option for keeping people on-task and cognizant of responsibilities and deadlines, while Google Drive<\/a> or Dropbox <\/a>can be used for file sharing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Secure Connectivity<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In some cases, collaboration software alone might not be enough. If your business has internally-developed software or in some way requires that remote workers have access to their systems, you’ll need to deploy software to enable this. Work with your IT department to put the necessary technical infrastructure in place, then deploy a VPN, a remote desktop, or both.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

More importantly, emphasize to all remote workers the importance of mindfulness when using the web. Educate them on the most common phishing scams, and if necessary provide them with access to a password manager like Lastpass<\/a> or 1Password<\/a>. The more careful and cognizant remote workers are about their own privacy and security, the more careful they’re likely to be with your business’s data.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Culture of Trust<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’ve saved the most important for last. Trust your employees. <\/em>Remote work by definition implies a certain degree of self-sufficiency and accountability, and micromanagement of remote employees ends up feeling even more egregious than in the office.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hold people accountable for fulfilling their deadlines and attending critical meetings, but otherwise, leave them to work on their own terms. It’s also important that you account for different timezones, particularly if you plan to leverage contractors or have offices in multiple locations. Collaborate to create a flexible schedule that works for everyone, and trust that your employees want your business to succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Future is Remote<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Whether or not you believe the recent pandemic is a matter of concern, the fact remains that remote work is a powerful tool. It allows your business to tap into talent that might otherwise be out of reach and enables existing employees to work more flexibly and effectively than ever. Now is as good a time as any to put the frameworks in place to enable it; the benefits go far beyond staving off the spread of a virus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The traditional office environment may never be the same. With the rapid spread of coronavirus at the front of everyone’s minds, businesses all over the world are shifting towards remote work. Even once the dust settles, it’s likely that many employees will continue telecommuting, and many employers will be forced to enable it.\u00a0 “This is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":6273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[870],"tags":[881,882],"class_list":["post-6272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business","tag-remote-work"],"yoast_head":"\n3 Things Your Business Needs to Enable Remote Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bluecotton.com\/blog\/business\/3-things-your-business-needs-to-enable-remote-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Things Your Business Needs to Enable Remote Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The traditional office environment may never be the same. 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