A new report by Insightful, a workforce analytics and productivity vendor, shares insights into the status of remote work, and how employers are dealing with managing their new crop of remote employees. Most companies are not dealing well with this new way of working.
The Ongoing Challenges of Remote Employees
The data also revealed an increased acceptance and adoption of remote work. But, it also found that many leaders still don’t feel fully equipped to operate optimally in this new environment.
Just look at these eye-opening numbers;
- 63.91% of company leaders believe they don’t have the right tools to manage remote employee productivity.
- 71.45% of company leaders will allow remote work at least some of the time.
- 64.68% of company leaders will allow their employees to permanently work remotely or hybrid.
- 21.38% of company leaders reported that collaboration and communication are the biggest challenge when working remotely.
- 38.06% of company leaders believe that employees are less productive in a remote or hybrid environment.
- A 383% increase in the adoption of remote and hybrid work was seen among enterprise companies.
Among a wide-ranging series of findings, almost two-thirds of respondents stated they don’t have the tools they need to effectively manage their team’s productivity when working remotely.
In a further indication that monitoring remote employees’ workloads continues to present challenges, 38.06% of company leaders said that they believe employees are less productive when working remotely. And 21.38% of respondents cited communication and collaboration as the biggest challenges in a distributed work environment.
Remote Work is Here to Stay
Despite the challenges expressed, the report revealed that a resounding 71.45% of company leaders said they will offer remote work to employees in future at least some of the time.
Further reinforcing that workplaces of the future will be distributed, the report also found that 64.68% of company leaders stated that remote and hybrid work will become a permanent fixture in their organization. They will learn to do it better over time.
Insightful CEO Ivan Petrovic said: “This research strongly suggests that remote and hybrid work are here to stay, and that they will become the prevailing work models of the future.”
“As remote work is still at a nascent stage, we anticipate that over time the challenges expressed by company leaders today will ease through the continued evolution of remote infrastructure and operating mindsets. That said, the research also shows there are ongoing challenges for company leaders when managing remotely.”
Download the report here.
