2020: the year of remote working

The coronavirus changed the way we work significantly this year, and many of us don’t want to go back to the ways things were, but what have we learned from the sudden move to remote working? And what do we need to do differently if we carry on this way?

Here’s two things we have heard a lot about remote working this year: 

“It’s been amazing. I am so much more productive at home and I don’t see why I need to be in an office five days a week again” 

“Nothing can replace face-to-face. You miss all of the insight you get from just overhearing conversations and bumping into people in the corridor, plus remote working removes all sense of community and can make you feel lonely.”

Both of these perspectives are true, and both are completely valid. The most unusual aspect of our collective move to ‘WFH’ is that it was thrust on us so suddenly and we just had to make it work. As one of our clients said recently: “If there hadn’t been a pandemic and we were planning a change to remote working, we would have taken months or years to plan it.” 

And yet, for the most part, businesses have made it work without a significant drop in productivity, but as the vaccine is still some months away and with many companies deciding to make home working a permanent thing, what are the key things we have learned from 2020 that we can take into the (remote) workplace of 2021 to make sure that productivity remains high and employees feel happy, motivated and engaged?

Nothing can replace face-to-face

Humans thrive on contact with other humans, and to go long periods without engaging with your workmates can affect your investment and engagement with the place you work, but can also affect your mental health. 

Also, in the experience of our agency and other creatives, while a lot of the day-to-day production work can easily be done remotely, there are things like creative development, ideation and just ‘that moment’ when you are starting a new piece of work that cannot be done in the same way online.   

Little-and-often communication rules

At Headlines, we have a huddle on MS Teams at 10am every single day. Some days it takes ten minutes and we have nothing to update on, others it takes over an hour when there is a lot to discuss. The important thing is that happens every day and it provides a regular, immovable touch point with the agency and other colleagues. We know more about client jobs and what other team members are working on than we ever did when we were in the office. 

Your workspace needs to be fit for purpose

In big corporates, if you need to work from home for a significant period of time, the occupational health team will need to come to your home and evaluate your workspace for things like your chair and how it supports your back, and whether your screen is at the right level for your eyes. 

For the past year it has been a case of sitting on your bed or at the kitchen table. This is a big one that companies will need to address in the coming year, as the long-term health issues of working this way will start to present sooner or later, as will supporting employees financially with creating an appropriate workstation at home. 

Find ways to disconnect between work and home life when both things happen in the same place

We haven’t yet discovered what the longer-term ramifications are when remote working for long periods of time, and if we assume it will be part of our lives for good now, then it is important that we make sure we put steps in place to differentiate between the concept of ‘work’ and ‘home’ now that will likely be happening in the same building, often in the same room for many people.

Many will have the benefit of a study, where they can leave their computer and phone at the end of the day and close the door to disengage from work, but for others (and often even for those who do have studies) the phone/laptop/tablet stays out and switched on outside of work hours, and the stresses of work bleed into your personal life. 

So, you should establish your routine for how you start and end the working day, and STICK TO IT. 

There is nothing wrong with signing off at 5 or 6pm and ignoring calls or emails until the next day, there should be no expectation from any business or line manager that you will answer outside of your working hours, and you need to be disciplined in applying this, because as soon as you start emailing people at 9pm at night, it becomes expected, and you in turn then start to struggle to switch off from work into home mode. If both become interchangeable, then your stress levels will escalate as you will always feel like you need to be doing something else in moments when you should be relaxing.  

We will continue to learn more about home working and how it affects us in the months to come, but these tips have helped us in the past year, and we hope that they help you too.