Remote work in all sectors has been steadily increasing over the years. According to a Gallup report, between 2012 and 2016, the number of American employees working remotely had grown by 10 percent. This rise is not restricted to the US; other studies show it is a global phenomenon - an IWG study found that 70 percent of professionals around the world work away from the office at least once a week, and 53 percent at least half of the week.
Gone are the days when remote work was only appealing to employees alone. Today many companies have discovered the benefits of this work model and are now integrating ‘remote-first and ‘agile team’ philosophies into their business operations – including StaffCop. In fact, according to a 2019 study by Owl Labs, 16 percent of global companies are fully remote, and 40 percent are hybrid (companies that offer both remote and in-office options).
Some of the factors driving the adoption of remote working models include: remote work boosts productivity while significantly reducing the costs of office space and other accouterments.
However, like any other system, remote work is not without its challenges: communication issues, loss of productivity due to lack of supervision, feelings of alienation, the difficulty of managing accountability, high turnover, the difficulty of tracking project, timeline and payroll, security concerns - all of which diminish the benefits of remote work.
Fortunately, with the right strategy and tools, you can effectively monitor your remote workers to identify and tackle these issues to fully reap the benefits of a distributed team.