Is "Remote" A Dream Job? - Image

I work as a chief accountant. Recently, management decided to move the entire department to a remote location. At first I was glad that I would not have to waste time on the road. And now I am afraid that I will not be able to properly organize the work at home, and most importantly, I will not be able to control the work of subordinates. In any case, I will have to be responsible for the results. Antonina, 46 years old

Technically, organizing remote work is simple: a good Internet connection and a laptop with a minimum of necessary programs: a common calendar, archive and e-mail are enough. Technical ease is, of course, wonderful. But there are many other concerns.

It is known that the efficiency of employees' work depends on their motivation, and motivation, in turn, on the relations in the work collective, on a multitude of "subtle" psychological, communicative, ideological factors, known as organizational culture. Skeptics argue that, in principle, it is impossible to create an organizational culture without live human communication.

Remote collaboration does not form lasting emotional relationships between people. This means that remote employees will be poorly motivated and disloyal to the organization

There is also an “internal threat” to the labor process. Usually, everyone has positive first impressions of working at a “remote location”: no need to waste time on the road; you can independently plan your working day; you can work lying on a comfortable sofa, and not on a hard chair in the office; colleagues do not distract with empty conversations, etc.

But all these advantages of remote work can turn into disadvantages at one point! The lack of a road to work and a comfortable sofa lead to physical inactivity and poor health. The ability to flexibly plan your working day leads to procrastination and rush jobs. Instead of colleagues in the office, family members begin to distract from work - and they do it very skillfully. It turns out that the widespread stereotype that telecommuting is a “resort” is wrong. On the contrary, being at a distance requires the highest self-organization, self-motivation and self-discipline.

How to avoid the dangers of remote work? At the organizational level, special attention should be paid to assessing employees "at the entrance". It is important that the remote team includes people who have a high level of internal motivation, that is, they work not for the sake of some external benefits, but due to a deep professional interest in the activity itself.

It is very important that team members communicate with each other regularly

Of course, this will be communication mediated by technical means, which has its own specifics.

For example, with the help of e-mail it is possible to convey information of high quality, but it is difficult to convey emotions. And emotions are extremely important. Therefore, “remote workers” (in contrast to the rules of business communications in ordinary organizations) are advised not to avoid, but on the contrary, to actively use any available means of expressing emotions. For example, well-known emoticons.

A few facts about telecommuting

• A survey by J'son & Partners Consulting, which was attended by 315 executives from different companies in 15 regions of the country, showed that in Russia more than 40% of firms work with remote employees.
• The share of large companies (with more than 250 employees) among them is about 36%, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg - 41%.
• By 2020, 20% of jobs in Russia will be virtual.
• Switching to "remote" will save employers more than 1 trillion rubles.
• Each employee who starts working remotely and provided with the necessary conditions (computer, programs, etc.), will bring the company's economy 170 thousand rubles annually.

Another way to build emotional relationships with colleagues is to create and use your own slang - emotionally charged words and expressions that a person from the outside is unlikely to understand. In the communications of "remote workers" it is not forbidden (to a limited extent) to chat on secular and personal topics.

If a remote team works on a long-term basis (for years; this happens in some organizations), one cannot do without meeting in person. Even short and informal communication makes it possible to subsequently see a living person behind dry lines of emails.

The cumulative economic effect of telecommuting in Russia already amounts to 68 billion rubles a year.

The savings are made up of four factors:

• no need to spend time on the road to the office (22 billion rubles),
• having access to a workplace even during sick leave (5 billion rubles),
• savings on the maintenance of office space (38 billion rubles)
• and reducing labor costs by hiring employees from the regions (RUB 3 billion).

What can you do to get used to remote work yourself, especially if you have worked in a regular office for half your life?

• 1. You need to configure yourself that remote control is exactly the same job. It is important to understand that your home has now become your office, so you need to equip a suitable workplace. Let it be your favorite sofa, but in your mind it should be marked as an "office area", entering which you do not do anything except work.

  It is important to explain to family members that you are now working from home; that this section of the apartment is now your workplace; and that if you entered the "office area" then you should not be disturbed.

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  2. Develop a new routine for yourself. It can and should be more convenient than before. For example, you can make your lunch break longer. If you are a morning person, plan your working hours in the early morning, and if you are a night owl - in the evening. But in any case, your working day "at a distance" should not be chaotic. Perhaps you will not come up with a convenient schedule right away, but that is why “remote work” is good: there is an opportunity to experiment. The result should be a stable schedule that allows you to work rhythmically, productively, and without rush jobs.

• 3. Create for yourself visual "points of control" over the implementation of their own work tasks. When we work in a regular office, we are controlled not only by our immediate supervisor, but also by our entire environment. A good example of your neighbors in your office can push you to achieve results. We may be ashamed to look our colleagues in the eye if we fail to cope with a task. Now imagine that all this "human factor" was turned off; there is a "cat on the stove - mice dance" effect. You can compensate for the absence of colleagues around by strengthening self-discipline.

  Simple trick: write down work tasks on a large sheet of paper and hang them in the most conspicuous place in your "work area". For each task, it is important to indicate the time frame for its completion. And, as soon as the task is completed, cross it off the list. The meaning of the procedure is not very different from daily or weekly planning, but here it is important to make it as clear as possible.