Ninety-six percent of respondents said their company either very successfully or successfully executed its remote work approach, according to a recent TechRepublic Premium poll.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, working remotely has become the new normal for many professionals. The workplace has shifted from open floor plans to kitchen tables; video calls have replaced meetings in conference rooms; and wearing sweats has become the business casual uniform of choice. How well are businesses executing their remote work approach.
TechRepublic Premium conducted a survey to learn more about how organizations are managing their remote workforces. According to their survey, which was conducted online from January and February 2021, recorded 857 respondents’ views on what their company has executed well or poorly as part of its remote work approach. Most of the employees also answered questions about remote work policies, platforms they depend on the most, and what connectivity changes they incorporated to make working from home possible.
As a result of COVID-19, a majority (61%) of businesses have gone out of their way to make remote work possible for most employees. According to respondents, 78% indicated that they are working from home five days a week. Five percent work remotely for four or three days a week, 4% work remotely two days a week, and 2% of respondents work remotely one day a week. Not all respondents work remotely. Of the survey respondents, 6% said they do not work remotely; however, of those respondents, 61% would work remotely, if given the opportunity.
The majority (96%) of respondents said their company either very successfully or successfully executed its remote work approach. Some of the top ways employers make it easier for employees to work remotely are by providing conferencing tools (81%), computer hardware (74%) and connectivity tools such as VPN or cellular devices (73%). This is a good thing since 80% of respondents reported depending on video conferencing platforms (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams) for remote work.
Cloud-based office suites for collaboration (such as Google Workspace or Office 365) are necessary for 63% of respondents to work remotely, and for 57%, VPN is essential. Cloud storage followed as a necessity for 46% of respondents, and then respondents listed team tools (such as Slack) at 33%. Fewer respondents required project management tools (13%), private cloud solutions (7%) and team management tools (5%).
The respondents also pointed out that where employers fell short, is supplying hardware (56%) and providing equipment to help employees create an effective remote workspace (52%). In addition, 37% of respondents reported that their company has done a poor job with their remote work approach with video conferencing tools, virtual collaboration tools, manager training and HR resources. Interestingly, 75% of respondents reported not needing to change their connectivity to make working from home possible. However, 7% of responses noticed that a mesh network or purchased a Wi-FI hotspot to use as a backup, and 5% either switched providers or replaced consumer-grade network hardware with something more secure.
