By Jo Best, 17 May 2004 15:45
NEWS Businesses that donÂ’t consider the implications of remote workers could be creating an atmosphere of mistrust in their businesses, according to new research.
A survey from effectiveness consultancy Priority Management for Microsoft has shown that more and more people are working with people they've never actually met – so-called 'invisible workers' – and feel that they're not working as effectively as they could be.
Of those surveyed, 82 per cent had an invisible colleague and 84 per cent thought they worked better with those they dealt with on a face-to-face basis. It looks like the remote working may be contributing to a more impersonal atmosphere in the UK workplace, with a third of workers knowing fewer than five of their colleagues really well and six per cent confessing they didn't even know their closest colleague's birthday.
While remote workers might miss out on some of the social benefits that their in-house colleagues have, there are productivity benefits to be had. A remote worker doesn't have to deal with the same interruptions as an office worker, for example, but can miss out on opportunities to collaborate.
Michael Beasley, MD of training organisation Priority Management, said that a more formal approach, with regular team updates and the right training and policies put in place, could help to bridge the virtual worker divide.
It's not just regular office workers who can suffer, he added: "Remote workers can become obsessed with their work – they don't have the same clean break between their home and their office."
Comments
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1. anonymous
And still the videoconferencing industry fails to grow at a significant rate?!?
Time and again businesses fail to see the real benefits of real-time video communication and then we get a study that shows that if people communicated face-to-face the modern workplace work would be less stressful...GENIUS!
A vast amount of money is spent adding disk space to ever expanding e-mail servers or creating complex never used Intranets while the 'Human Remains' department (or their consultants)come up with yet another set of core competency models and performance measures, when what we really need to do is get people talking to each other...
2. TerryC
Don't forget hot-deskers! Anonymous folk who turn up opposite, unpack their lunch and beaver away focussed and feverish on their Tablets. Do they realise they are restricting normal business conversation (opinions on company strategy, pay rates, client problems, the boss's new hair gel)? Breeds insecurity and stops efficient communication, if you ask me! Who wants to go home worrying what might have been said in un unguarded moment, particularly about the hair gel?
Make'm introduce themselves or lock 'em away, I say.
3. anonymous
I have worked in MNCs, SMEs and in small globally dispersed teams over the past 15 years. I agree with the conclusion 100%.
Business is about people getting work done. And work gets done faster and with much higher quality when trust levels are high.
If your team is in the same office under one roof and you have to do a project, what do you do?
Meet and discuss. Don't we know that is the most effective way. We don't email and have conference call. Why?
Why not? We know it would be less effective, that's why not.
Then why is it any different with teleworking?
Quality virtual face-to-face meetings does the job. Why do they have videos for Board Meetings and not just conference calls? Because they know that video conference is much more effective.
But is quality video conferencing affordable to the teleworkers?
Indeed it is getting affordable. For companies that have teleworkers and virtual teams, this is the right time to start exploiting the effective tool of video conferencing now.
-- A Global Manager