Daily commutes to our offices / businesses / places of work are something that most of us are used to! There is a routine to this kind of office work. Everybody arrives before a certain time, gets to their assigned spaces, and starts the work for the day. If all else stays the same and one takes away the daily commute part of a typical workday, you have the modern-day phenomenon of remote working. Going beyond the office has taken on interesting dimensions these days, even in a conventional manufacturing company like ours.

Is remote work part of company culture?
Remote work, also known as away working, is not really an essential part of all companies. But there are a few things that have resulted in the rise of this kind of working method if one may call it that. Few significant changes that have led to the advent of asynchronous working are:

• Growth in online collaboration tools

• Stronger network / connectivity infrastructure

• The Covid-19 pandemic

• Employees wanting more flexibility at work

• Challenges of commuting to work

Remote work culture in a traditional manufacturing company is a remarkably interesting thought too. There are a few roles that can be performed from a non-office location such as a home or a co-working space. But most roles need the employee to be present at work. For instance, the digital marketing team, social media managers, and even the creative team members can work from home. Few software / IT roles can also be carried out from an away location. But a shop floor worker must be present physically in the factory. So perhaps the solution lies in finding which employee can work from home and be productive and which one needs to do the same at office.

Asynchronous working
The culture of asynchronous working is certainly on the rise. According to a study, remote work is seeing a lot of believers:

• 12.7% full-time employees work from home

• 28.2% work in a hybrid model (combining on- and off-site work)

• By the year 2025, India would see anywhere from 60 to 90 million people working from home

• 71% of job seekers want flexibility

With the profusion of online collaboration tools that are available to everybody today, asynchronous working only means that a team is not always interacting with each other physically / face-to-face. But they are synchronous in every facet of their work.

Why work remotely?
Virtual teams have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some of the significant benefits to working virtually are:

• No stress of a daily commute

• Time zones are no longer a challenge because of online collaboration

• Reduction in office space

• Higher employee engagement because of flexible work conditions

Companies with a culture of remote workers need to watch out for a few challenges such as ambiguous policies, lack of internet connectivity, and even productivity and motivation levels of the workforce.

Finally, it is true that manufacturing is most certainly a hands-on business – whether it is gathering around a project plan or working on an assembly line – but trends like hybrid staffing and virtual collaboration are ringing in a few tremendous changes here as well.

#InterestingInfo

• Remote working’s history started in the 1970s when telephone lines were used for connectivity.

• Something to consider - remote working allows anybody to turn any space at any time into an office.