Remote Working - Understanding the concept and its implications

By the end of this year, almost every working adult in the western world will have had some experience with remote work. Some of us were forced into it, some of us had to change our dealings with colleagues or clients because they began working remotely. As a result, the current scope of what can be done without being in a physical office has completely changed. 

As some businesses are preparing to bring workers back into the office, there are some who would like to remain working from home. They’ve discovered a level of autonomy and job satisfaction they never had before and are reluctant to let it go.

This can lead to employees looking at remote working options rather than returning to the office. But what does it actually mean to work remotely full-time? How can you do it? What are the challenges and benefits? And what does it mean for employers? Read on to find out all this and more.

Remote Work Explained

Remote work is when a worker or employee carries out their tasks from a location that is not the company premises. It is a form of work that works with the understanding that some tasks do not have to be carried out at a specific location.

Remote workers can basically work anywhere they want; all they really need is an internet connection. They can organize their time and lives around the tasks and projects they need to complete and don’t have to sacrifice hours of their day sometimes to commute to an office.

Within the concept of remote working, the idea of a ‘workplace’ becomes a little more meta. It can be in your home, in a coffee shop, on a farm or at the beach; you can work wherever you want and still get paid like normal. 

How Can I Work Remotely?

Before Covid, many people discovered the concept of remote working and longed for a way to make it a reality. In a post-Covid world, we now know that this type of working model is not only realistic, but also much more accepted than ever before in human history.

There are a few ways you can get work remotely

As a Full-Time Remote Employee

When you’re a full-time remote employee, you are employed by a business or enterprise, but you work 100% of your time outside of their offices. For example, you could be working in data entry for a company based in London, but you actually live on a farm in Wellington, New Zealand. This is probably one of the biggest extremes to use as an example, but it’s way more common than you think. 

This can involve a company employing the remote worker directly or using something like an Employer of Record. 

Some full-time remote employees live in the same city as the company they work for and perform their tasks from a shared coworking space or their own homes.

If you are considering a change to this way of working, you need to have some honest and realistic conversations with your employer, your manager and your team. You need to show them that you can do your job effectively outside of the office. In a way, you need to convince them that your work will not only be just as good, but better.

As a Freelancer

Working as a freelancer is perhaps the most ideal situation for working remotely. Many freelancers already work remotely to a large extent. To make the switch to 100% remote working, there are just a few small questions to ask. If you look at the nature of your business and realize that more than 80% of it can be done without face-to-face contact, then you could probably experiment with a remote work structure.

One suggestion would be to work remotely for a week. If it works, make it two weeks and then keep adding more weeks until you have ironed out any issues and full remote working is possible

As an Entrepreneur

You’re probably already geared for remote work if you’re an entrepreneur because you naturally know how to work autonomously. However, the critical thing to focus on before you head down the remote working lane is the nature of your business and if it can indeed be conducted online. 

Think about your customers and clients and whether they need a physical location that they can go to. Obviously, a nail technician, for example, will need to be present with at least one client, but if your business offers English lessons for business people, they don’t necessarily need to be there in person.

You should also be aware that if you are working remotely, you should make this facility available to your team as much as possible.

Where Can I Work Remotely?

The whole point of remote working is that the physical location of the work takes a bit of a back seat. You can literally choose to work wherever you like; you are only limited by the technology available to you. 

When your work location is up to you, you are in a better position to work in a way that fits into your life. If you are 100% remote, you don’t necessarily need to take up your annual vacation if you just want a change of scenery. You could do your everyday tasks from the comfort of a summer house in the Icelandic countryside. You could spend some time at an Airbnb in the south of France, working during the day and enjoying the Seabreeze and cocktails in the evening.

Of course, not everyone wants to use remote working to combine work and vacation. Some people find that working from home helps them to better manage their work-life balance. Others use shared coworking spaces or simply set up in a café (which works as long as you keep shopping).

The point is that the place where you work is entirely up to you. It can change depending on what's going on in your life and in your business.

Why Do People Work Remotely?

There’s a multitude of reasons why people work remotely. As stated before, some people do it because it fits better with their lives outside of work. 

Some people just don’t enjoy working in an office environment and find they are simply more productive when other people aren’t around.

The list of reasons why people choose this kind of work is as extensive as the number of industries that now allow for it, which is growing every day. 

How Does Remote Work Benefit Employees?

So we know the 'where' and 'why' of remote working, but how does it actually benefit employees? There are a number of advantages and positive side-effects that result from teleworking.

Flexible Lifestyles

This is probably the main reason why people get into remote working in the first place. For some, the most attractive thing about remote work is the ability to make your job fit in perfectly with your life. 

Some people want to travel more, take up hobbies, or even just spend time with their kids. Remote working allows for the elements of everyday life to exist with your job harmoniously. You don’t have to worry about what to do when your kid is off sick from school when you’re a remote worker. You also can schedule your time better because you no longer need to commute. 

Remote working also allows you to set your own pace of work. Some people feel most comfortable in the 9-to-5 model, others like to start work at the crack of dawn and be done with the day’s workload by 2pm.

Flexibility is a crucial factor for job satisfaction and work-life balance.

Better Health and Wellness

Experts have known for some time that teleworkers experience less stress than those who work on site. They also tend to have a better work ethic than employees who work away from their desk.

Stress is one of the most important factors contributing to poor health. It has become increasingly common over the last decade. Many assume that work-related stress only has to do with tasks, deadlines, pressure and other things related to work. However, there is also a certain amount of stress that comes from simply leaving the house to go to work.

A study by the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK found that up to 55% of its participants experienced heightened stress levels from their daily commute.

Another study by PGi in 2014 found that companies that implemented remote working practices reported a drop in absenteeism for 69% of employees. To put these numbers into perspective, people who don’t have to waste hours every day getting to and from an office are happier. Happier people also tend to only call in sick when they are genuinely too unwell to work.

Improved Passion For Your Job and Work

In recent years, we have found that remote workers often perform better than non-remote workers. They often see control over their time as a reward for excellent work. The autonomy they are given also allows them to develop a sense of responsibility and pride in their role and their work.

Remote working will usually help an employee to realize the potential they have and assist them in establishing bigger career goals to hit. 

How Does Remote Work Benefit Employers?

Remote work offers some incredible benefits for employees, but it’s not just a one-sided situation. There are just as many benefits that employers can gain from allowing remote working.

Improved Employees Productivity

We now know that breathing down an employee’s neck hardly increases their productivity. Just because you can see them in your office doesn’t mean they are doing their best work.

Remote workers are more likely to put in extra effort. As a result, they will regularly outdo their own level of productivity and that of in-office employees. A recent survey found that 65% of employers and employees feel they would be more productive if they were allowed to work from home. 

In addition to this, another study found that 66% of managers noted a marked increase in productivity from employees who switched to remote work. 

Cost Efficiencies

There are many costs that we tend to forget that come with employing people on site. The most immediate is that you have to accommodate them during office hours. This can mean that you have to incur high costs for rent, electricity and maintenance. It can also hinder your ability to expand your team.

If business is going well and you would like to take on new staff, this may mean that you have to move to a larger office. Sometimes this can mean that staff are stuck waiting for more profit just so they can afford to house new staff that they could actually hire right now

Remote work can significantly decrease overheads.

Even if you don’t have a fully remote team, it is possible to save money. A survey by Flexjobs found that the average company can save up to €19,000 per remote employee every year. 

Empowered and Engaged Employees

It has become increasingly evident that, as technology develops, businesses will have to understand that if they want to keep the top talent, they will need to cater to some of their needs as employees.

Offering the possibility of remote work to your employees is a great way to empower them, keep them engaged and ultimately happy.

More and more employees would happily quit the job they currently have for one that allowed them to work remotely. It would appear that remote work could be the ace up your sleeve you need to secure the best team members. 

According to Linkedin CEO Ryan Roslansky, “I think the fight for talent will get harder by the minute for companies not offering a remote or hybrid working model.”

Misconceptions About Remote Work

Even after so many of us have spent months working from home, there are still many misconceptions about telecommuting. The most common ones are listed below, along with a little clarification.

Poor Communication

The mere fact that you are physically facing someone does not mean that your daily communication will be the best. There are some aspects of office work that help people connect with each other, such as lunch conversation and office happy hour; however, these are not critical to the success of office communication.

The advent of work-related communication software like Slack has made it easier than ever to quickly ask a colleague a question, often faster than walking to your desk. The move to an online working environment also means that employees are communicating more effectively. Put simply, they have the ability to see what they are saying before it is sent to someone, which can reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings

Video conferencing has more than proved its worth in the past two years as a stand-in for ‘in-person’ meetings. Studies have also shown that relying on this kind of meeting style has decreased the amount of ‘meetings that could have been emails.’

Remote Workers Don’t Really Work

This is a very old-fashioned attitude that does not really correspond to reality if you look at the statistics. It's based on the idea that a remote worker wakes up whenever they want and makes a few small clicks on their keyboard throughout the day, eating snacks, shopping online and watching Netflix in between.

Remote employees definitely work. It’s a matter of opinion as to whether they work harder or smarter than in-office workers, but it’s certain that they are, on average, more productive. 

Several studies during lockdown found that remote workers are 10 minutes less unproductive per day than their in-office counterparts. Employers also seem to get a whole extra working day a week out of remote workers, and they are generally about 47% more productive.

Remote Workers are ‘Always On’

This is a fear that most people have, whether you are an employer or employee. The last thing anyone wants to happen when switching to a remote or hybrid working model is burnout. 

In general, an employee who is "always on" in a remote work situation would be the same if they were working in the office. It’s more of a personality trait than a working style.

Most employees who want to work remotely do so because it gives them the freedom to set their own schedule. Someone who places so much value on their personal life is unlikely to give that up to work non-stop.

The easiest way to prevent this is to clearly set working and availability hours and stick to them.

Key Challenges For Remote Working

We know the benefits of remote work for both employers and employees, but it’s not all smooth sailing. There are, of course, some challenges to look out for as you embark on the remote lifestyle. 

Time Management

This is probably the biggest challenge for most remote workers, especially when they are first starting out. When working from home, you may notice some distractions that you never noticed when working in the office.

The laundry needs to be folded, the dishes need to be done, the sun is shining outside, maybe an hour on the patio in the sun would be nice. The truth is that the same distractions you have in the office can happen when you are working remotely, and there are even more that could get in the way.

A successful remote worker is able to plan a realistic timetable of their day and stick to it. If you find that you are likely to open a browser window and get sucked down a Facebook wormhole for an hour, there are third-party applications that can limit your access or even track your movements throughout the day. 

You also need to figure out how your rhythm works in remote work. Do you like to power through tasks in the afternoon without being interrupted? If that’s the case, perhaps you should conduct your video meetings in the mornings. 

The best remote workers learn their working habits and schedule their day around that to work smarter.

Team Communication

If you work for a company where there is a combination of remote and non-remote workers, it's clear that there will inevitably be some face-to-face conversations, exchanges and spontaneous brainstorms where you simply won’t be present.

There are a few things you can do to ensure that you don’t feel like you’re "the last to know about everything". One of the first things is to make sure you are as available as an internal employee. One of the biggest complaints managers have about remote workers is that they sometimes have to wait hours for an answer to a simple "yes-or-no" question that they could get in seconds from an in-office employee.

As mentioned earlier, workplace communication software can help with this, but the remote worker also needs to take ownership of the situation. This can be as simple as making sure your camera is switched on during meetings. 

Work Culture

When your daily commute may involve walking from your bed to your desk, it can be tough to establish a clear separation between your work life and your personal life. 

We can add our work email inbox to our smartphone and keep our communications apps right next to Facebook, so the temptation to keep working long after the office is closed will always be there. 

Another unfortunate mental challenge for remote workers is that they often worry that their boss or coworkers might feel they aren’t working enough. They need to make sure they respond immediately to every email, so they end up overcompensating to make sure they are proving their worth. 

The first thing to realize here is that the fault is most likely in your head. There should always be clear and unambiguous communication when working remotely. The second point is that you might benefit from external help.

This can be as simple as asking a friend, family member or spouse to hold you accountable when you switch off after hours.

Not Feeling Visible (FOMO)

For some remote workers, the lack of face to face contact can take its toll over time. Of course, it’s great to be more in control of your daily life, but sometimes we miss the chat around the coffee machine or just talking about the latest episode of a TV show at lunch. 

Working in close proximity to others also contributes to a strong camaraderie that is difficult to achieve from a distance.

One way to counteract this is to work from the office occasionally when you can, or show up to non-mandatory work events when you can. The easiest way to avoid an "us and them" mentality is to give colleagues no reason to feel that there is a divide between you.

Another issue related to FOMO is the fact that sometimes you come across a supervisor or senior manager who has the old-fashioned attitude that remote workers don’t actually do anything. It can be incredibly frustrating to constantly have to justify exactly what you do on a daily basis.

A good way to deal with this is to set up regular online meetings with your team leader. Discuss the tasks you have completed and share what you are currently working on. If you regularly share your responsibilities, you are less likely to miss out on great projects or promotions.

Conclusion

The working landscape was permanently changed in the wake of the Covid-19 health crisis, and it will continue to evolve as we move into the future. Businesses are changing their attitudes towards remote work, and this means more and more employees will begin to see it as an option.

If you are interested in taking advantage of the gig economy or doing some remote work in Iceland, Swapp Agency can help you to connect with companies looking for your specific skills.  

Remote working might not be for everyone, but whatever your feelings about it are, you have to agree it’s pretty awesome to have the option to get stuff done without wearing pants.