Remote Work — Are you ready for digitalization?
At the latest since the pandemic, companies have to embrace change
“Do you do remote?” — this is a question companies are likely to be asked more often in job interviews in the coming months. At diconium, our answer is a resounding “yes” — and we’ve been saying it with conviction for a long time. With the outbreak of the pandemic, a shift has taken place in many other companies — from presence-oriented to results-oriented organization. Finally.
Remote work and flexible work models are the new normal — and they’re here to stay. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, more than 70 percent of employees surveyed favor getting flexible remote work options. According to the report, 66 percent of corporate decision-makers are considering adapting their office space to this new hybrid work environment, where employees can choose between working from the office and working from home based on their personal needs.
In a study by German health insurance AOK, many employees who were working from home already reported higher job satisfaction back in 2019. Three-quarters said they were able to work with greater focus, and two-thirds considered themselves to be more productive. In the past, researchers have repeatedly emphasized the advantages of remote work and flexible working models — but for a long time, to no avail.
Germany’s hesitation about remote work
In Germany, remote work had been a niche topic until the outbreak of the pandemic. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, 12.9 percent of all employees in Germany had ever worked from home. However, a look at the details shows that only 3.3 percent of employees regularly work from home. At the same time, we have been discussing the shortage of skilled workers — the pull of the major metropolises and how rural regions are lagging behind, the growing numbers of commuters who are taking on longer and longer journeys to get to their jobs while still being able to live in affordable apartments and houses. Every Friday, our children took to the streets to demonstrate, quite rightly, for more action against global warming and, thus, against the daily traffic jams on our streets and the CO2 emissions they cause. Yet just 1.49 percent of job ads in Germany in 2019 included a home office option, according to the job search engine Adzuna.
The past few months have shown us that a different way of working is possible — a more flexible, a decentralized working model that can benefit everyone and is as good for productivity as it is for the environment. Sven Astheimer described it in the newspaper FAZ as the “biggest training program for companies and their employees in history.” Ultimately, it shouldn’t matter to me as a company whether my employees are in the local office, in the neighborhood or on the other side of the world — the main thing is that the results are right and everyone involved feels good.
The currency is trust
This idea is not new. Many areas of our economy have been bringing together the services of people from all over the world for decades. In few other countries are companies as much a part of international value chains as Germany. Ultimately, the currency for dealing with partners, suppliers and customers is trust. Trusting one’s own employees at least this much is therefore only logical — and essential for the change in the organizational form of companies.
In some places, the associated learning curve may have been steep in recent months. After all, the pandemic has caught many companies by surprise. But I have the impression that the rethinking among managers has definitely begun.
Remote work as a measure of digitalization capability
It is often said these days that remote work isn’t a sign of advancing digitalization — at least not yet, anyway. That may even be true. But in my view, this criticism misses the point: a company that has designed its processes and structures to be agile and flexible, and whose organization is therefore remote-work-ready, has understood digitization and is able to drive it forward at high speed. Such a company has torn down data silos, introduced interfaces, upgraded its IT and created opportunities for collaboration beyond the boundaries of the company. By contrast, the opposite is true for a company that clings tenaciously to existing structures and processes. Remote work is an indicator of the ability to digitize.
Not every company has to let their employees work from home at the end of the day — even though I personally think that’s the right way to go. But every company should generally see itself in a position to make remote work possible.
What is your answer: Do you do remote?
