Due to the ongoing pandemic, millions of employees have worked from home for the past two years. As a result, business leaders around the world are currently debating the pros and cons of remote workers.
Arguments for and against remote workers boil down to convenience and control. On the one hand, it’s a convenient way for employees to maintain a desirable work-life balance and for companies to lower overhead costs. On the other, it becomes harder for managers and other business leaders to exert proper control over their organization.
The debate over remote work gets framed as compromising control for convenience or the other way around. But what if you didn’t have to compromise? What if you could maintain adequate control while still benefiting from the convenient nature of remote work?
It sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. It just takes the correct utilization of available technology. The following are five ways technology can be used to manage a remote workforce successfully:
Cloud-based services
Cloud computing is the glue that holds remote work teams together. It provides a level playing field for employees to be productive and streamlines an organization’s efforts to enforce a standardized work environment for their scattered team. Cloud-based services are also a reliable way to keep data saved and organized. Lastly, cloud computing allows organizations to scale their operations up and down as needed. It all adds up to having an exceptional advantage going forward.
Payroll services
While most businesses with remote workers are limited to a single country, others include team members across several continents. To ensure safe and secure compensation, companies need global payroll services. These services provide the consistency and reliability required to avoid delays or other hiccups when sending out paychecks. Given the number of currencies worldwide and the ever-changing nature of exchange rates, global payment systems are essential for companies relying on an international workforce.
Video conferencing
For years, the quality and reliability of online video conferencing were spotty at best. It barely got the job done from a business perspective. But these days, business-grade video conferencing is a case study in the evolution of communications technology. Today’s best video conferencing services provide high-resolution feeds with responsive add-ons designed to enhance one’s ability to express ideas and share information over the web. Even if used sparingly due to the nature of the organization, video conferencing is a way for remote workers to come together face-to-face when called upon.
Monitoring software
The average business leader’s biggest concern regarding remote workers is ensuring they work. It’s easy for managers and owners to assume their employees are watching television, scrolling social media, or running errands while on the clock. This is where monitoring software comes into play. In essence, monitoring software documents the activity levels of your remote workers. While there’s always the possibility of employees “cheating” the system – most commonly by finding ways to jiggle or jostle their mouse to appear active – the bottom line is that productivity is there or it’s not. Monitoring software is useful in policing your workforce, but if they want to dodge work, they will find a way. In the end, your assessment of their productivity will determine whether or not they’re getting their job done as instructed.
Virtual private network
Cybersecurity is a significant concern for all organizations around the world, big or small. The prospect of remote workers suggests substantial weaknesses in your company’s cybersecurity apparatus. But these fears ultimately boil down to concerns over the poorly protected networks your remote workers use to conduct business. The solution is to utilize a virtual private network or VPN. A VPN provides a singular network for all employees to work on. In other words, it’s as if everyone is working in the same office, with the same security measures offered by a traditional workplace network.
The age of the remote workforce is upon us. Its proliferation is owed to the development of technology that makes remote teams feasible. Moreover, these technologies allow business leaders to get all the benefits of a remote workforce with minimal compromise. It’s a win for the company, a win for the worker, and a win for the future.
