The Covid pandemic has sent many of us to our homes to work remotely in what has been possibly the biggest transformation in work patterns ever seen. While it remains to be seen how much of the current remote work trend will endure or indeed what work might look like when the pandemic eases, it has nonetheless shone a light on some of the benefits and challenges of working remotely.

The largest remote work experiment ever seen has given us some great insight into what kind of things help to ensure remote working is successful.  For instance, a recent paper from Denmark’s DTU Management provides some helpful strategies to ensure that remote working works for you.

“We’ve examined the pros and cons of working from home among managers and employees in knowledge jobs in eight European countries,” the researchers explain. “We carried out the study at the start of the pandemic, and identified six main areas that are essential for how different people experience remote office work.”

Remote working experiences

The research, which was conducted in Denmark, Austria, Germany, Finland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands, aimed to understand the experience of knowledge workers as they operated from home during the first wave of Covid-related lockdown measures between March and May 2020.

“Most people felt that working from home provided benefits in terms of better work/life balance, increased efficiency, and more control over their own work,” the researchers explain. “For most people, these three advantages outweighed the three main disadvantages: the inevitable shortcomings of the home office, the greater uncertainty when you don’t meet physically with your boss and colleagues, and finally the reduced access to necessary work tools that are normally available in the office.”

The researchers identify six key areas that they believe managers should focus on when they develop strategies to support remote working employees in the future.  These should be considered in the context that there is not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach to a situation in which everyone is very different and with unique circumstances.

“Before companies and organizations make new plans for the scope of remote work, it’s important to remember that people experience the pros and cons very differently. In other words, it’s not a given that everyone feels positive about working from home, or have the same challenges,” the researchers explain. “By analyzing the employees’ experiences based on the six factors we identified, management can get an overview of what to keep in mind and when to take action in relation to different employee groups.”

Success strategies

The six factors managers should consider were broken down into advantages and disadvantages.  The advantages of remote working revolved around a better work/life balance, increased efficiency due to fewer meetings and disruptions, and greater control over how one works.

The disadvantages focused on areas such as an increased sense of isolation and screen time when working remotely, while there was also a heightened sense of uncertainty about the tasks that required performing and the suitability of the tools required to do the work.  There were also reports that the work felt less meaningful when performed remotely.

These aren’t uniformly felt, however.  For instance, younger workers tended to regard their work/life balance as better when working remotely, but suffered more from uncertainty about their work.  By contrast, older workers were less convinced by the work/life balance benefits of remote work and were more concerned about having the adequate resources to do their job well.

The researchers believe that by using these factors as reference points, managers can better understand the issues surrounding remote work and therefore better support their workforce, regardless of where they choose to work from.

“There have been many analyses of people’s experiences during lockdown and working from home, but this is a concrete tool that can be used to identify and engage in dialogue about pros and cons when developing and implementing new strategies to promote both efficiency and well-being,” the researchers conclude.

“It’s about minimizing the disadvantages, because the trend we’re seeing shows that people will work more from home in the future – even when corona no longer dominates society.”