What’s the Real Reason for Our Remote Working Love Affair?

Posted on 11 January 2019

The old workplace is going extinct, and remote working is taking its place.

You’re now far more likely to hear about ‘the modern workplace’ or remote working – which sees employees working from anywhere but the office – than you did, say, ten years ago. Perhaps even five.

But what’s the fuss all about? And why are so many businesses now clamouring to introduce a remote workplace?

Believe it or not, once upon a time, going to work usually meant commuting to the same location you were in the day before, and the day before that, and so on, ad nauseum. Then, something changed: technology caught up with the demands of our daily life, allowing employers to say yes when employees asked to work remotely (which was limited to either home or another office).

Fast forward to today, and your day might look very different, depending on where you work. Sure, the commute still exists, and you’re still likely to have an HQ with which you can ‘check in’ with; the major difference is that employees are able to be more flexible in how they work – and businesses are in love with the idea.

Is Remote Working Really That Great?

A typical day for the Identity Experts team differs between each member of staff. Some will find themselves in one of our prime locations, whilst most will be further afield, working with customers and partners or attending events. Some will even be starting their day working from their own little workstation, whilst navigating the responsibilities that come with a young family.

In short, we’ve fully embraced remote working as part of our culture, so we can say with authority that we wouldn’t have it any other way.

But why, we hear you ask. Simple: because everybody benefits – and this is what that looks like:

  • We’re able to hire further afield, allowing us to tap into a greater pool of talented individuals. That’s because we have the infrastructure in place to ensure everybody – no matter where they’re based – can still communicate with one another and feel part of the team.
  • That’s good for growth, as we can make use of fantastic talent from within the industry without being geographically limited, helping us to pursue our growth objectives and prove that the ‘Experts’ belongs in our name.
  • Our team are also happier, with a work system that’s designed to help them be the best they can be whilst making room for family commitments, up-skilling, and personal lives. Each individual has been catered for, whether they prefer to be around a team in the office, or in the zone by themselves.
  • The culture then benefits, making it a joyous affair when we all get together. The relationships built up over Microsoft Teams or during projects is cultivated when we’re all in the same room.

How to Make Remote Working Work

Of course, the decision to usher in remote working didn’t simply begin and end with deciding to go for it, leaving our employees to figure the rest out for themselves. We learnt from other companies about what works and what doesn’t, checked in with our team, and explored different solutions to support a remote working ecosystem.

This is what we found to be essential in creating effective remote working:

 

  • Trust: Set out the expectations for work – amount of hours, roles, and the parameters of remote working, for example – and then be prepared to trust your employees.

Your culture will benefit from a leap of faith, and if expectations are clear, employees are aware of what is being asked of them in return for this flexibility.

 

  • Technology: Tech has made it possible for remote working to exist on the scale that it does – make the most of it! At Identity Experts, we’ve implemented Microsoft 365 across the organisation to support communications (Teams), document sharing (SharePoint), keep everybody in the loop on updates and training (Stream), and so much more. The suite forms the backbone of our remote working experience, keeping everybody connected and on the same page regardless of where they are.
  • Security: As attendees to 2018’s events will know, we’re advocates for secure remote working. After all, threats have evolved at the same pace as technology (if not faster), so it makes sense to ensure every individual is secure. By implementing identity and access management solutions to offer self-service password recovery and remote log-ins, we – and our clients – can support remote working infrastructure all from one location.
  • Meet Up: Although there’s a great deal of comradery even when our team are miles apart from each other, it helps to bring them all together on a regular basis to reaffirm the working relationship and make sure everybody still feels like they’re a part of the Identity Experts family. It’s a great opportunity to see people in the flesh and let our hair down – and it makes remote working a less-isolating experience.

The Future of Working

In short, we dig remote working, thanks to the way everybody benefits – including the business itself. In fact, we dig it so much that it doesn’t feel at all outrageous to say that remote working is probably the future of the workplace, thanks to solutions such as Microsoft 365 making it possible.

If you’re considering getting in on the remote working craze, be sure to take your time, talk to employees and build your Technology and security into the heart of your organisation beforehand – the end result will be a successful implementation and unlimited possibilities. Good luck!

Need some guidance on how to manage Identity, Access Management & Security across a remote working landscape? Or just want to pick our brains on how Microsoft 365 works for our remote workers? Feel free to get in touch – our team are happy to help.

A few people we've already done it for
X