While virtual collaboration necessitates a different skill set than in-office collaboration, many employers expect their teams to produce the same level of quality and results as they did when they were co-located.
Fremont, CA: Working from home is a workplace transition, but virtual organizational growth is not. In other words, it only permits remote work, not encourages it.
The distinction between enabling and implementing remote work is how the organization considers the ramifications of workplace change, such as protocols, policies, and resources. This more long-term development necessitates a systematic change management strategy that includes the following six categories:
Workforce - While virtual collaboration necessitates a different skill set than in-office collaboration, many employers expect their teams to produce the same level of quality and results as they did when they were co-located. Companies must help their teams through the transition from working together in proximity to working together in the cloud in order to foster the long-term autonomy that remote work necessitates. All aspects of the job lifecycle, including talent acquisition, onboarding, offboarding, learning and growth, sponsorship, performance appraisal, and more, have been updated and adapted.
Management - Many administrators are concerned with how to assess the efficiency of their workforces without the opportunity to physically supervise them. Monitoring health, performance, and participation in a virtual work environment is still possible, but it takes different tools, behaviors, and training. Otherwise, micromanagement, unethical monitoring, bigotry, and isolation are all pitfalls that leaders can easily fall into.
Culture - Many businesses assume that cultural development is on hold because teams are unable to collaborate in an office setting. It's important to note, however, that proximity doesn't guarantee communication, so leaders must purposefully develop platforms, events, and interaction standards that will help their teams unite and feel like they belong. Workers also succumb to common work-from-home risks such as alienation and burnout if they are unprepared for the transition to a dispersed work environment or ignored when working remotely. This affects efficiency and retention.
