With so much discussion across many industries centred around team collaboration, technology and digital transformation, it’s a common misconception that everything pertaining to the way that employee’s get their work done is changing. Although it is true that there is now a broader range of tools available to ensure teams work together effectively and cohesively, the downfall is that some people feel that there is now too much choice when deciding which tools you actually need.
However, many of these tools offer workforces a lot more flexibility in where, when and how people work together, whilst giving them more control over their working environment than ever before.
Do employers trust their employees?
It’s human nature for employees to want to be able to deliver and contribute more to the success of the company they work for, and flexible working is one of the main ways that employees feel that they achieve this. A recent study in North America found that 65 per cent of people believe that a flexible and remote working schedule would increase their productivity and output.
However, this notion needs to be embraced by their employers in order to get the most out of their employees. Unfortunately, the same survey reported that only 19 per cent of employees are actually afforded the luxury of being able to work remotely, regardless of the proven benefits to both efficiency and productivity, as well as staff morale and motivation.
Change needs to be embraced
Team collaboration isn’t a new or revolutionary way of working, it’s simply just that new technology makes working as part of a team easier and more accessible for everyone by removing logistical barriers and restrictions, such as distance, location and time zones. Similarly, remote working isn’t a new initiative either, it’s just that with the technology and cloud-based solutions available it presents more opportunities to do so.
Moreover, some software helps to unify your team’s communications to make it easier for remote staff to connect with their colleagues and access data or other supporting content/files. However, some employers don’t wholly trust their employees to be as productive as they would be when in the office, so aren’t as embracing of the initiative than perhaps they should be.
Despite this, while so much emphasis placed on team collaboration, it’s important to remember that individuals need to work alone to complete their daily tasks, where 86% of people believe that working independently enables them to hit greater productivity levels.
Let’s face it, though, remote workers still have a need to work as part of a bigger team, so spending time in the office from time to time should be a regular occurrence. Ultimately, some meetings simply have to be handled face-to-face and let’s not forget just how important those informal corridor conversations are!
Having the right tools in one place is key
In reality, having everything all in one place seems like the best idea to keep things organised, right? While this is true, everyone works differently so it’s not necessarily about changing the way that we work, but more a case of having the right tools in place to enable us to work more efficiently.
Cisco Spark is a great example for this, which is a unified communications and collaborations platform that enables both effective individual and team working either remotely or together. With Spark, everything you need is all in one place, so finding anything from your files to meeting notes is centralised to one shared location that’s accessible to all!
Summary
While remote working isn’t anything new, emerging technologies focus on integrating several applications to make your day to day life easier whether you’re working individually or as part of a team. Ultimately, it’s an employer’s decision whether they want to permit remote working or not, but having the right tools in the right place will ensure that both individual and team working remains effective for everyone.
