As businesses try to overcome the uncertainty of the past few months, they have been forced to work remotely to maintain business continuity.
An IQbusiness survey aims to understand the current landscape in which many South African professionals find themselves. exploring the extent to which people are working remotely now compared to pre-lockdown arrangements and how companies are empowering their employees with tools and skills to achieve daily tasks and deliverables.
“With organisations forced to adapt to what we call the Now Normal, it’s important that we investigate this new level of stress to gain a rich, textured, and objective perspective on the matter,” says Biase De Gregorio, managing partner at IQbusiness. “After reviewing the results, one thing became abundantly clear: organisations need leaders to effectively support and enable their employees and in turn, continue servicing their customers.
” The sustainable approach to working remotely can only be achieved through focused leadership interventions where the mental and physical wellbeing of their people are prioritised.”
The report found that employees working remotely continue to show positive emotions, such as trust and empowerment. At the same time, though, only 25,9% reported feeling recognised for their efforts, suggesting an opportunity for employers to drive greater engagement.
Finding the right balance now will benefit an organisation at all levels. With remote working here to stay, 78,5% of respondents indicated that they would like to continue working remotely (at least rotationally) post-lockdown.
This will undoubtedly have a significant impact on processes, structures, policies, and company culture. However, as the report states, if companies do not welcome this change, “they risk a potentially adverse impact on employee motivation and retention”.
With 92,4% of respondents indicating that team productivity either stayed the same or improved, this might be motivation enough for leaders to consider a flexible working schedule in the future. In order for businesses to survive, strong and optimistic leadership will be required to help drive more favourable business outcomes, maintain customer experience, and the business’s willingness to adapt and empower employees at every level.
The report also highlights various factors where organisations need to focus their energies to create a sustainable and better remote working environment, with a better work-life balance ranking at the top (42,1%).
However, it suggests that organisations and individuals need to move beyond work-life balance to that of work-life integration. Work-life integration should be considered an opportunity for employees to shed pre-defined roles and assume a blend of work and life that they are comfortable with. When executed effectively, this can create engaged employees and reduce unnecessary stress.
With out-of-office working here to stay, businesses must continue to accelerate their remote and digital capabilities, allowing them to take advantage of opportunities provided by new ways of working.
By continuing to empower and support employees, business leaders can foster more adaptive workers, enabling businesses to embrace whatever new challenges are on the horizon.