So much has been written about Virtual working or remote working and in particular in my learning and development sector.

We have a virtual team for marketing, support and website updates and I see the team face to face 2-4 times a year because one is in the wilds of Essex and the other in sunny Portugal. This works extremely well, is cost effective and we get the right help at the right time.

Employment laws changed in April 2003 offering flexibility of working hours to employees with children under the age of six and also for children under 18 with disabilities.  2007 saw this extended to employees with responsibility for caring for spouses and partners and then further plans were announced to extend these provisions.  And so it goes on.

I think parenting can work very well in this new virtual world.  I have two male colleagues who look after their children at home two days per week and do their work alongside fitting in feeding, washing, going to play groups, swimming and all other essential visits. The economic climate has made people start up for themselves, sitting at home in their office using the reliable technology which prevails.  We are buying in goods and services from others who are also remote, independent and virtual workers themselves.  They often don’t meet other than on Skype (when the camera is on, if there is one!) or Go To Meeting or Go To Webinar for a virtual meeting or to learn.

Not all virtual workers are self-employed or independent, many are from companies looking to free up property and expensive rentals. Some types of role lend themselves to virtual or remote working.  There are tasks which can be done at any time of the day and do not require third party involvement. Work which can be scheduled to be with a client at the start of business next day, via email or link, can be reviewed as you rest and they start their day in another country.  The flexible nature of how, what and when we work means the virtual world is our oyster.

I also think there are some personality traits that lend themselves more easily to virtual working and we have been asked for courses to transition those new to virtual/remote working.

There are areas that need to be resolved:

  1. HR policies & procedures: provision for social gatherings
  2. Technology
  3. Communication
  4. Culture: inclusion, trust, understanding, nurture
  5. Project evaluation & reporting

Charles Handy says “virtuality requires trust to make it work. Technology on its own is not enough”.

Although in our current economic situation you could say gosh we cannot do this but on the flipside the employer has:

  • Reduction in overheads
  • Environmental pluses
  • Productivity increases (overall)
  • Time saves through not commuting daily

These outweigh in the long term all the setup costs in 1-5.

Obviously for the employee or home worker life is much enhanced as commuting is cut on average by 2 hours to 2 minutes, allowing greater flexibility of working and is a boon to lifestyle such as exercising, domestic appointments, waiting for deliveries etc. We at MCL run very successfully outlook and time management courses together with remote working seminars coaching virtual teams on processes and support procedures.

As Brian Tracey says “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing”.

References:
http://www.lincs-chamber.co.uk/images/stories/Virtual%20Working.pdf
http://www.nb2bc.co.uk/images/article/pdf48.pdf
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue56/guy/
http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/content.nsf/wCON/Virtual+Working?opendocument