Managing The New Remote Work Reality

The shift to remote work creates new challenges, opportunities for employers

Canadians across the country are adapting to a new way of work. With 61 per cent of the country now working remotely, it’s inspiring to see the flexibility and resilience of Canadians, over the past few months, when faced with large-scale uncertainty. For many organizations, the pandemic caused a rapid transition to remote work - one that seemed to happen overnight. Employers found themselves relying on new technology to maintain business continuity and ensure their workplaces remained fully operational, while guaranteeing the health and safety of employees.  While many were able to adapt swiftly in response to the pandemic, the transition to remote work presents a new set of challenges. 

Challenges With This New Normal

Challenge 1: Connectivity, physical and mental health
ADP Canada’s recent study on the implications of COVID-19 on remote workers showed that the top challenge for employees working from home was not feeling connected to their colleagues. While digital platforms allow workforces to talk and collaborate virtually, it does not have the same effect as connecting live in a physical office. 

The additional pressures while working from home can also lead to a greater sense of frustration. Many employees are faced with additional responsibilities when working from home, such as looking after their loved ones or managing home schooling and childcare. Balancing these additional priorities can also affect workday schedules, which can make it more challenging to share ideas and collaborate with team members. 

Working remotely can also cause added stress and create physical and mental health challenges. ADP’s study showed that:
 

• 34 per cent of remote workers indicated their stress levels had increased
• Nearly one-quarter (24%) reported they were struggling to manage their mental health.
• Approximately one in five (22%) reported having trouble managing their physical health and wellness 
• Over one quarter (27%) reported having difficulty taking breaks because they were too busy

Challenge 2: Productivity
Another key area that was examined by ADP’s study was related to productivity. More than 50 per cent of remote workers felt their productivity, quality and hours of work has stayed the same since the transition to working remotely. Approximately one-quarter of workers thought their productivity, quality of work and work hours had increased while one-quarter thought they had decreased. 
 

• However, many managers often struggle with the inability to “see” what their people are doing on a day-to-day basis while working remotely. With less face-to-face interaction, it’s important for managers to communicate clear expectations around remote work to build trust within their teams. 

Challenge 3: Adapting/reinforcing workplace policies, employee communication
Most employers have acted quickly to address the pandemic, by adjusting workplace guidelines, policies, and procedures to physically protect their employees and encourage collaboration. Our Workplace Insights Study showed that 89 per cent of working Canadians said their employer had updated existing policies or introduced new policies because of the pandemic. 

However, communication of these policies and procedures across the organizations and ensuring a clear understanding of the changes can be challenging in a remote work environment. In addition, given the rapidly evolving situation, it can be difficult to stay on top of the latest information and announcements from both government and public health officials and relay this key information to employees. 

Suggestions For HR Professionals

Addressing these challenges will mean our usual workplace practices, behaviours and mentalities will have to shift. There are several ways to help alleviate employee stress and optimize workforce productivity, quality of work and hours of work, including:

1. Support systems
This is a difficult time for many people in all stages of life. Employers should be placing employee health and wellness among their top priorities. Expect to experience an increase of involvement in employees’ well-being, including a greater emphasis on mental health, emotional and social well-being.
  
Be flexible with productivity expectations by understanding the various challenges employees may be facing. This includes recognizing that there are parents out there who are working from home with young children or new hires who, instead of turning to the person beside them to seek answers, need to leverage collaboration tools or pick up the phone. If leaders can place greater emphasis on flexibility for people to accomplish their best work, they can reinforce the cultural shift of measuring staff based on performance outcomes, which can result in exponential benefits for the organization. 

2. Guidelines and expectations for performance 
When working remotely, it’s important to make sure that employees are clear on their mandate, and where we need them to focus and why. While our study found that three-quarters of remote workers say their manager has clearly communicated expectations around remote work, remember to set clear expectations, have measurable goals and KPIs that vary by function.

This also means outlining expectations surrounding work hours and availability. Managers typically “manage” the work while leaders “lead” by leveraging employee strengths to produce strong performance outcomes. Keeping this in mind can be helpful as teams adjust to digital check-ins, goal setting and employee performance pulses from remote locations. Creating a culture of trust breeds accountability. 

3. Clear communications on company policies
Now more than ever, employers need to ramp up communication and transparency to instill confidence and trust between senior leadership and staff. Instead of relying on body language and seeing the dynamics of team members first-hand, employers should try to listen more intensely and asking more questions to make sure everyone is not just coping but feeling assured. 

A communications plan with timely updates keeps all employees on the same page. Do what feels right for your organization. Being timely and transparent with updates to employees and leadership is important for consistency across the organization – this ensures the employee experience is the same for everyone. This could also help mitigate employee anxiety and return focus to business priorities. Remember, it is almost impossible to over-communicate in a situation like this. Regular updates are welcomed and essential – whether that’s every day, week or hour.

This pandemic and its impacts will, and are, reshaping the workplace as we knew it. This will have a profound effect on the next generation of talent and how they think about top tier employers. As the labour market starts to return to “normal”, the most common question candidates will have is ‘how did you treat your workforce during the period of the virus?’ The decisions that organizations make over the next several months will define their employment brand for the next several years. This will be a key driver of attraction and retention for top talent in our new world and employers must keep this in mind if they want to emerge more resilient and dynamic. 

Andrea Wynter is the Head of People at ADP Canada. Since joining ADP in 2006, as the company’s people leader, Andrea’s focus is on developing talent, building the organizational people strategy and driving forward the culture and values that ADP Canada holds dear. She is passionate about the critical role her function plays in enabling ADP Canada’s focus and vision where nothing gets in the way of people doing great work and creating conditions that allow everyone to reach their full potential. Visit https://www.adp.ca/ Connect Andrea Wynter Follow @ADP