3 tips for establishing a remote working culture in your company

There’s been a surge of interest in remote work in recent years, thanks to the increasing number of benefits associated with the practice and the widespread availability of technology.

“With cloud technologies and collaborative solutions made more available, we’re seeing companies embrace remote working,” explains Joey Lim, commercial lead of Asia Pacific for Lark, a collaboration and communication platform headquartered in Singapore.

Lim also cites co-working spaces as a contributor to the trend.

Pros and cons of remote work

Flexible working arrangements have been found to increase productivity and make employees happier. But despite the benefits, some more traditional businesses are still hesitant to implement such policies due to the challenges they pose.

By working out of the office, employees may feel isolated from their colleagues and face difficulties in developing relationships with each other. This is a significant issue, especially for younger staff who may require more guidance, according to Lim.

Joey Lim, commercial lead of Asia Pacific for Lark / Photo credit: Lark

Additionally, many remote workers find themselves unable to unplug, suffering from poor work-life balance as a result. On the other hand, managers also worry about being unable to manage employees who are out of sight and fear that business processes might slow down because of ineffective communication.

However, the pros seem to outweigh the cons.

Aside from boosting productivity, remote work also helps companies save thousands of dollars, by cutting down on absenteeism and office operating costs.

It also appeals to potential employees. According to Lim, recent research has found that flexible work arrangements are a key factor for job-seeking millennials.

Overall, the practice goes a long way in increasing employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention – a good incentive for businesses to begin looking into the approach.

But there’s more to implementing these policies than just announcing that employees are free to work wherever they want. Here are Lim’s three tips on how businesses can create a culture of remote working.

1. Change the way you understand performance

Before flexible working arrangements can be effective, companies need to change the way they understand key performance indicators and productivity.

“It always starts at the top by having managers not penalize colleagues who are working remotely,” Lim explains. “Do not account for the actual physical hours of work because the work outcome will speak for itself.”

Businesses need to shift away from looking at time spent in the office as an indicator of effort and focus on measuring employees’ performance by their results.

“Give them the benefit of the doubt that when you give them the right tools with the right outcome, objectives, and support, they will achieve it without being physically in the office,” Lim says.

For example, payment platform Stripe formalized its flexible work processes in 2019, opening a remote engineering hub that allows staff to work from anywhere in the world.

This marked a shift from the belief that physical, in-person collaboration was necessary for product development and led to greater satisfaction with the output of the firm’s engineers.

2. Invest in technology

The internet is the biggest enabler of remote work, allowing employees to perform their roles from almost anywhere in the world, as long as they have a broadband connection.

Many businesses leverage new technologies in order to get things done. Tools like Lark provide an all-in-one platform for businesses to streamline their processes.

Integrated advertising agency Dentsu X, which uses Lark’s services, particularly benefits from the platform’s document collaboration tools when making pitches for clients. The platform allows staff to edit respective sections within the same deck and track different versions of documents with ease.

The agency also used Lark’s video conferencing services and calendars in order to communicate effectively with clients and team members, regardless of distance.

This enabled Dentsu X to decrease turnaround time on projects, allowing its staff to work more effectively.

3. Create processes to support the policy

Anyone who has worked remotely has likely been on chaotic video conference calls, where people talk over each other and get distracted by something off-screen.

In order for these video conferences to be effective, Lim suggests implementing simple rules like muting when not speaking, waiting one’s turn to chime in, and not multitasking while on the call. This allows teams to function as if they were speaking face to face.

Businesses also need to communicate clearly to their employees what results they expect to see so that workers know what they have to do, says Lim.

Enterprises with remote working arrangements in place should also consider making the extra effort to establish a cohesive company culture by holding annual retreats that bring employees from different locations together so they can get to know each other outside of the workplace.

Remote working the future

Photo credit: gaudilab / 123RF

The number of remote workers is on the rise, having more than doubled in the last decade. In a climate where business outcomes have become more important, having flexible work arrangements is vital for companies to attract and retain employees.

Ultimately, creating a culture of remote working relies on one simple thing.

“Trust your people,” says Lim.

Lark is a new take on the office suite that is transforming workplace collaboration, combining a multitude of essential collaboration tools in a single interconnected platform.

Get started with a full free version of Lark when you sign up now on their website.