The Benefits of Remote Work
Not too long ago, working from home was not a viable option for many businesses. Today, however, more and more corporations are tapping into the world of remote employment thanks to communicative technologies that close the gap between home and office.
Conference calls, video chats, emails and instant messages make connecting easy from all over the world. And having employees work off-site yields a number of strong benefits.
For starters, the pool of talent grows exponentially when an employer opens up to the idea of hiring remote staff. Relocation packages are eliminated completely, giving employers the ability to search beyond their local area.
It also meets the demands of the growing independent workforce. In our blog on the freelance economy, we tap into research which indicates that by 2027, a majority of the American workforce will be working remotely. By not offering remote employment, you could be missing out on valuable people.
Perhaps the most important benefit of letting staff work off-site is the fact that it heightens employee productivity and boosts morale. People who don’t have to go into the office every day feel more in control of their daily life and working schedule.
When employees work from home, however, it may be more difficult to include them into your team’s identity. This is simply because they are not physically present in the office on a daily basis.
To get the most out of your remote workers, you need to ensure they feel welcomed by the team and valued within the organization. To accomplish this, many companies turn to challenge coins.
Sharing Business Identity With Challenge Coins
Large organizations and corporations like NASA, Coca-Cola and Amazon use challenge coins to bolster team spirit and align team goals. They are a symbol of shared identity within a group and can foster a feeling of community.
Signature Coins makes corporate challenge coins for these and other businesses like Facebook and Microsoft, who both employ remote employees and utilize coworking spaces away from their main worksites.
Too often, remote staff members lack information on company goals and values simply because their superiors have little experience creating long-distance working relationships. To avoid making them feel like outsiders, use challenge coins to engage them in company goals.
Some useful tips for getting the most out of your remote staff include:
Setting up weekly meetings and check-ins. This helps establish accountability and rhythm. It also provides managers with a time to bring everyone up to speed on projects, update staff on changes, and get feedback from people they don’t see every day.
Opening up lines of communication for remote staff. Make sure that your remote staff has access to other home office workers and on-site employees. This could be simple email chains, phone numbers or instant messaging channels. By connecting with multiple people in an organization, remote workers are given a chance to feel more included in team identity.
Providing consistent feedback. Just like a regular staff, remote employees need to know how they are doing. Be honest, make suggestions for improvement and reward a job well done.
Recalling remote workers to company functions from time to time. It’s good to get real face-to-face interaction between management and remote employees. Bring them back in for training, quarterly meetings or get-togethers like Christmas parties. It gives your off-site workers a chance to network and create personal connections with the people they work with every day.
Showing remote staff they are a part of the team. Challenge coins are a prime source for including off-site workers in team identity. Working from home comes with less opportunity to socialize with other staff members. Custom coins with company logos and mission statements are a physical symbol of a team’s shared goals.
Finding the Right Balance
Research points to the fact that working from home provides people with a strong feeling of autonomy. This feeling of control over one’s working life results in high job satisfaction, engagement and production.
For employers, benefiting from remote staff seems pretty straight forward, right?
Well, that's not always the case.
As of 2009, up to 40% of IBM’s staff worked remotely. The corporate giant is still known as a trailblazer for the remote employment concept, however in 2017, they pulled the plug and started bringing people back into the office. The entire US marketing department of about 2,600 people was asked to “co-locate” to one of several new IBM offices located around the country.
IBM’s change in business strategy should not be taken as an indictment of remote work, but rather as a rebalancing of their company. The simple fact is that there are inherent advantages and disadvantages to having employees work in the office and from home.
IBM believes that having a marketing team working “shoulder to shoulder” will bring more speed and creativity to the department, however, the autonomy of employees will degrade. IBM might be taking their workforce in a different direction, but the fact remains that the future of businesses across the globe is in the hands of remote workers.
The autonomy of working from home yields higher job satisfaction and productivity (among other things), but may come at the cost of overall team agility. Individuals might be producing regularly, but it's hard to organize if employees are playing constant rounds of phone tag.
The key is finding the right balance between local and remote staff, and knowing how to get the most out of each arrangement. Remote work is becoming more prevalent throughout every industry, so it is vital that managers and business owners have the tools they need to reap the benefits of having members of staff work away from the office.
Given the inevitable increases in remote work, the companies with the most lasting power are making sure they can get out in front of any problems before they occur. It all comes down to knowing that remote employees want to feel accepted and valued within a team, just like anyone else. Challenge coins are a perfect place to start. They promote team pride, show appreciation for work, and instill confidence within a team. For remote staff, a challenge coin is a connection to a business’s identity that promotes engagement, while not disturbing individual autonomy.
