What If Working From Home Goes on ... Forever?
Dave Parkin
Transformational Leader - Management Consultant, specialising in Consultancy, C-Level Advisory, Transformation, Behavioural Change, and Managed IT Services
Working from home, even in sales, exceeds expectations regarding productivity.
Josh Harcus, who usually spends 80% of his time in the field selling robotic vacuums, was unsure about working from home. Happily, he found that executives at prospective client companies were open to Zoom meetings and that a video of the robotic vacuum in action gave them enough information to sign a $6,000 yearly lease. Executives at SoftBank Robotics expressed as much surprise as Harcus did. They had expected sales to decrease and, instead, productivity rose.
“The coronavirus crisis is forcing white-collar America to reconsider nearly every aspect of office life.”
Consultant Accenture’s workforce of half a million people now works from home. Using Microsoft Teams to interact and coordinate has led to a “sixfold” increase in video calls. Since mid-March, the group has logged “900 million minutes” or “1,700 years” of conversations. All this online action has fueled an increase in productivity.
Studies show that this productivity boost isn’t a coincidence. Remote work allows employees to work without colleagues interrupting them, eliminates the commuting time, and provides greater flexibility, all of which enhance job satisfaction.
While Facebook and Nationwide Insurance will shift a significant percentage of their staff to remote work, downsides can affect working from home. Aside from feelings of isolation, working remotely can blur the boundaries between work and personal time.
Leaders wonder if their usual meetings are necessary.
Reliance on videoconferencing has many executives and managers rethinking the need to hold multiple meetings. Video meetings can turn out to be more awkward than in-person gatherings due to connectivity issues. This can make it difficult to judge when to speak without interrupting a colleague. The resultant longer pauses make conversations more choppy and disrupt the continuity of ideas.
“They had reduced the frequency of their formal meetings, yet the communication felt nonstop.”
Zoom meetings are more formal because you have to schedule them, which is good for business, but not necessarily for creativity. Some companies turn to Slack, which allows users to see who else is on the app and request a quick video chat. This provides an easy route to more casual interactions with colleagues.
An Accenture Labs scientist found that people bonded better using video when they could see the other person’s torso. Also, using portrait versus landscape mode proved helpful in establishing a connection. The success of mobile phone video apps such as TikTok may be due in part to these psychological factors.
Seeing more of another person is easier on your brain, according to scientists. Sitting and staring at another person’s face on video is counter to how you normally look at someone. After about three seconds, eye contact becomes “unsettling” and “creepy.” People may interpret turning away from the camera as “rude.”
“Viewing an avatar’s cartoony features doesn’t require as much mental processes as watching…a human face.”
Some companies utilize customized avatars by Loom.ai with videoconferencing apps to alleviate “Zoom fatigue.” You can customize your avatar’s appearance, and it lip-synchs your words onscreen. The avatar allows you to move around during a meeting as long as your voice stays within range of your computer’s microphone.
Can remote workers maintain their creative spark and corporate culture?
GitLab Inc., with about 1,200 remote workers worldwide, holds a week-long gathering once a year to nourish its corporate culture. This gives GitLab the productivity advantages of a remote workforce and a chance to maintain internal connections and workforce cultural cohesion.
“The truth is that as newfangled as remote work may seem, it relies on a set of tools that are by now quite old.”
Doug Safreno, co-founder of Pragli, is working on an online office app that mimics a social network based on audio. Using icons showing office employees, a user can determine whether someone is available for a chat or tied up in a meeting. He seeks to provide a more casual environment of collaboration, which often sparks creativity.
Ben Waber, president and co-founder of Humanyze, a software tool that maps a company’s internal communications, suggests one caveat. He believes a company’s innovation and cohesion may suffer without the equivalent of in-office chance encounters.
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About the Author
Clive Thompson is a columnist for Wired and Smithsonian. His most recent book is Coders.