While the flexible and remote workspace isn’t a new concept, the upending ramifications of Covid-19 has put the entire business industry in new territory whether they were ready or not. Below are 5 ways companies are shifting the office-space norm to a new modern-era of the workplace.
Virtual Team Management
Over the last 6 months in the USA there has been a revolution of the working mindset. Companies have embraced remote work set-ups utilizing collaborative platforms such as Google Suite, Basecamp, or Sococo to manage teams, projects, and meetings. These innovative platforms have displayed that working collaboratively outside of the board room is entirely possible, and may even be more productive to schedule management.
Flexible Schedules
Some companies have gone so far as to say they worry only about deadlines and not a set work day. If you’re getting your work done on time, who really cares if you did it at 9:00AM or 7:00PM? This has been the appeal of freelancers and contractors around the world. This opens up the pool of potential employees to military dependents stationed oversees, persons residing in foreign companies, or caregivers with outstanding contributions to your business, but have obligations at home restricting them from the standard office.
Global Team Members
As mentioned above, moving outside of the standard office building to a new virtually connected company opens the doors to a vast and diverse workforce. You may have an ideal employee who cannot relocate. Why lose out on their expertise when remote work set-ups allows them to be a part of your team? Or perhaps your start-up isn’t located in a big city with a hub of potential employees around the corner. If the culture of 2020 has taught us anything, it’s been that diverse viewpoints, backgrounds, and living experiences strengthen the collective foundation of a business place. Utilize the rural-based web developer who understands the needs of specialty internet shopping or hire the single parent living in the city who sees innovation benefit of prompt delivery services first hand.
Remote Individual Workspace
Another unseen benefit of “the new virtual office” is fewer workplace liabilities. Some companies operating completely remote don’t have to foot the bill of a large rental space or the insurance for the people and products within the building. There are companies that restructured those business costs to their employees by giving them a budget to outfit a comfortable home office or a stipend to maintain membership at a co-working space supplied with copiers, fax machines, fast and reliable internet access, and coffee. It’s in our human nature to make our work spaces comfortable whether that is in aesthetics, pictures, or comfortable seating. Allowing employees their ultimate individualized space will see more creative output, less burn-out, and overall increased mental health.
Increased Social Media and Online Presence
With less foot traffic brought on with Covid restrictions, many businesses have embraced the innovation needed to keep customers. This has resulted in all-new ways of communicating and connecting online both as a producer and a consumer. Businesses are learning how people consume online and realizing it works. We’ve never lived in a more virtually connected world, so why have services remained in brick and mortar facilities? New audiences and clients are accessible as your online platform grows. Why limit your reach to the people who can only physically enter your store or sit at your desk for a meeting?
We can call it the “new normal” but this may be the era of the largest global business growth in recent history. Don’t let this opportunity to recreate or break out of the old pass you by.