It’s a sign of the times; working from home in any capacity appears to be the way forward. And while the numbers are increasing, for those out there that are looking to save money on their business, this is a viable option. But for those people who have a tangible office setup, an in-house culture, and a working process, should all these be disposed of in favor of full time, remote workers?

The Technological Concerns
The one true way to ensure adequate control, as far as the computers are concerned, is to avoid the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) setup that many modern businesses use. Because a company is looking to save money, it doesn’t mean that encouraging workers to use their own devices is always the best bet. However, you can offset this by setting up your own cloud network that can be provided by numerous virtual server hosting companies, and with any server provided by a company, it is their responsibility to ensure that the patches are up to date. Because malware and viruses are on the increase and mutate, the technology aspect has to be given credence.

What Happens To The Culture Of The Company?
If you’ve worked hard at making a business gel, the last thing you’d want to do would be to have all of your employees dispersed at remote locations, and the entire communicational aspects of the business reduced to nothing. The culture of the business isn’t just about the working environment, but it’s what can help with motivation and a tangible sense of reward. Because a working environment can nurture its employees, you run the risk of getting rid of this if you send workers home. This means you have to change your entire working setup.

Altering Your Management
Although you might believe yourself to have infinite skills as far as communication is concerned, this will be put to the ultimate test when you have employees dotted all over the place. What you have to say needs to be communicated as briefly as possible, and in many formats. Collaboration is something that can be lost when you have remote workers, but now, thanks to tools like Slack, the transition to virtual collaboration can take some getting used to, but when the planets align, it’s as effective, if not more effective, than collaborating in person. When you are managing a team of workers in this way, you have to learn how to get across your point quickly and at the right time. What can be a big problem is that because you have workers operating from a remote location, you have no control over what happens at their end. So in many ways, you’ve got to have a lot of faith in their abilities to keep themselves motivated. You can motivate them to an extent, but this runs the risk of interfering with their productivity. It takes some time to get right, but once you have a setup that works efficiently, you may never go back to the office!

And if you or your employees have concerns, go back to face-to-face meetups, so that you can get a better understanding of how it works for everyone. Remote working is a way to save money, but this shouldn’t be the overriding factor.