Recent months have seen a significant change in the way we work. On Friday 13th March 2020, Northern Ireland’s workforce made their usual commute home from the office, and the majority of them haven’t returned since. While a number of our local employers embraced working from home as an option for their team prior to lockdown, few of them had engaged in a remote-working-only strategy rendering their office lease and funky fit-out somewhat redundant.
While the early days of moving a team who worked almost solely in the office into their respective homes was a challenge which required much organisation and improvisation (I cast my mind back to seeing my Linked In feed full of ironing boards doubling up as desks), those organisations who have passionately facilitated this new way of work are beginning to reap the rewards.
Almost overnight, micromanagers had the presenteeism umbilical cord slashed and were forced to focus on more quantifiable, perhaps more useful KPIs such as productivity and output. Although there are a few organisations who remain intent on measuring time spent at the desk, companies who have refined their KPIs in line with the times are seeing much better results. Going forward, those businesses who measure performance based on output achieved are likely to experience much higher productivity and even better time management as employees strive to balance home life with meaningful performance indicators.
There is also an opportunity to make the office a more collaborative space reserved for those who want to work together on a project or host meetings and training with the team. Time in the office has become much more intentional and purpose-driven meaning that people are not spending valuable hours commuting to do something that they could ultimately have done at home. On the face of it, this may seem like a loss for local coffee shops, restaurants and even public transport however as the dust settles over the new way of working, we realize that working remotely doesn’t necessarily mean working from home and many will choose to work from a local coffee shop or hot-desking space thus continuing to contribute to the economy, albeit in a different way. There could also be a considerable lift to those rural and ‘commuter’ town economies.
Many local organisations fear that the rise of remote working may deplete the talent pool, as many of our young professionals now have the option to enjoy the best of both worlds, combining the Northern Ireland lifestyle with working for an international company. However, this is an opportunity for our organisations to up their game and properly communicate the benefits of choosing them as an employer to their ideal candidates. Additionally, they can also take advantage of a global workforce by employing international candidates and diaspora on a remote basis.
Although working from home felt somewhat disorganised and (as my granny would say) a bit through-other in the beginning, it really is an opportunity for local businesses to reset their way of working. It is important for employers to reflect on their core objectives and exactly how their workforce should contribute to these.
This post is part of our #TheReset series in association with Ulster Bank
Photo by Anrita1705 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Ellie is founder of Nepturnal Ltd, a management consultancy dedicated to improving how businesses manage people. Her main interests are business and the economy.
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