DISTRIBUTED WORKFORCE- THE NEW NORMAL

The Covid -19 pandemic is game-changer of life, which has forced the entire organisation across the globe to change their workforce from office to own homes – the new normal.
Freelance platform Upwork conducted a survey, and according to the hiring managers estimated that 38% of their full-time employees will work remotely over the next 10 years.
Some more of their findings:
- 76% of American workers prefer to perform important tasks outside the office, and 82% will be more sincere to the employer if they offer them this choice.
- 70% of UK workers believe it is important that organisations allow their employees to work remotely.
- 94% encourage others to try and work from remote.
- 90% of remote employees plan to work remotely for the rest of their careers.
- 53% of managers say that companies accept distributed workforce (which means more casual workers, contract workers, etc.)
- 57% said their company did not have a remote employment policy.
A couple of things we would like to add before companies embark on the distributed workforce method.
Hire the Right Resource
When creating a distributed team, it is important to note a few things. At Design Direct we believe that remote working is not for everyone. According to the Buffer survey on the level of remote work in 2018, loneliness, team interaction or a lack of it, as well as other distraction are the main reasons why remote workers fail to cope with.
Second, its distributed team members must be highly disciplined to function. However, they are not surrounded by hard-working and inspiring employees. At least not physically. There are also no managers, to push you and get the work done. So it is all about being proactive.
Clear Expectations
Several elements play a role here. The attitude of a person towards a distributed team is different from the attitude of a person towards a team in a shared office. Make sure your job offer is not as vague as possible to prevent people from having wrong expectations about the job.
After a new employee has joined a distributed workforce, they must know what is expected of them. So this may be a good idea for your team leader:
- Let them know the weekly goals;
- Let them know what tasks they will work on and ideally finish each week;
- Let them know to whom they can reach out to if they have an issue;
- Tell them who to contact if they have a problem;
- Let them know when to reply to emails, etc. and when they should be available.
Conclusion
The future of work is distributed, and it’s picking up pace. Many companies, and employees both old-school and new-gen expect their organisation would allow them to work remotely.
As a result, organisations - and human resources - must find ways to implement this new normal. Companies can create their own distributed workforce strategy. However, never forget to create a unique system for you, your business, and your distributed staff.
Companies need to adopt the change and ruminate whether a fully distributed model makes sense, and they shouldn’t be left out.
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