Low Maturity

Your score means your organization’s remote work maturity is only at the beginning stage. This will leave your organization at a disadvantage in the long run. Here are a few key steps to creating a more effective flexible work strategy.

• Allocate the necessary resources. Remote-work success is challenging, and it takes real time and investment to do it well. When it comes to particularly challenging areas like communication and collaboration, many organizations look to cut corners on initiatives that can have the highest impact. For example, 73% of surveyed decision-makers said hiring staff dedicated to enabling and improving communication and collaboration is an effective initiative, and 71% said using analytics to examine collaboration patterns is effective. However, only 19% of their organizations have actually implemented these initiatives, likely because they require additional resources and investments. But these investments pay off in the long run. Our research found that high-maturity firms are 6.75 times as likely to hire staff dedicated to communication and collaboration as low-maturity firms, and they are 3.5 times more likely to use analytics to examine collaboration patterns.
• Place employee experience at the heart of their anywhere work strategies. The strong cultures and structures that high-maturity firms exhibit stem from having a better fundamental approach to flexible work. Representatives from low-maturity firms have indicated that their top priority when it comes to flexible work in the next year is to reduce costs. But for high-maturity firms, cost reduction is the second-lowest priority. About half are still interested in lowering costs, but they are more focused on things like improving IT support and allowing more employees to work remotely

Medium Maturity

Your score means your remote work maturity has advanced to the intermediate stage. Here are some tips in leveling up to a more high-maturity remote work organization:

• Increase investment in remote work going forward. Remote-work success is challenging, and it takes real time and investment to do it well. When it comes to particularly challenging areas like communication and collaboration, many organizations look to cut corners on initiatives that can have the highest impact. For example, 73% of surveyed decision-makers said hiring staff dedicated to enabling and improving communication and collaboration is an effective initiative, and 71% said using analytics to examine collaboration patterns is effective. However, only 19% of their organizations have actually implemented these initiatives, likely because they require additional resources and investments. But these investments pay off in the long run. Our study found that high-maturity organizations became that way through far greater investment in remote work than their low-maturity peers. While medium maturity firms were above low-maturity, they still invested far less than high-maturity. Remote work is only going to increase in importance from here, make sure your organization is ready for it and is investing in putting the right infrastructure in place to ensure success going forward.
• Place employee experience at the heart of their anywhere work strategies. The strong cultures and structures that high-maturity firms exhibit stem from having a better fundamental approach to flexible work. Representatives from low-maturity firms have indicated that their top priority when it comes to flexible work in the next year is to reduce costs. But for high-maturity firms, cost reduction is the second-lowest priority. About half are still interested in lowering costs, but they are more focused on things like improving IT support and allowing more employees to work remotely. Medium-maturity firms straddled the line between high and low when it came to the way they prioritize flexible work. Make sure your organization comes down on the right side and is thinking about your flexible work approach is a long-term strategic way.

High Maturity

Congratulations, your score means that your remote work structure is advanced! Here are a few tips to continue differentiating yourself from your peers:

• Continue to invest significantly in remote work. Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly created a sudden and massive shift to a remote workforce. While there will certainly be many workers who return to an in-office workstyle when the pandemic is over, there will also likely be permanent shifts in how people continue to work. Our study found that high-maturity organizations became that way through far greater investment in remote work than their low-maturity peers. Make sure not to fall into a complacency trap and reduce spending because remote work has been effective thus far. Remote work is only going to continue to grow in importance so its paramount that your organization is prepared.
• Don’t ignore the needs of IT pros. Forrester’s survey data revealed that IT decision-makers find it more difficult to support remote workers, but that’s because they often don’t have the right technology in place to ensure employees have a great experience. Consider investing in extra tools such as remote PC access, cloud-based device management, self-service chatbots, and password managers to help IT decision-makers troubleshoot issues and automate the most mundane tasks that prevent them from focusing on improving the employee experience.
• Rethink your office space. Thirty-seven percent of respondents in our survey said they are actively reducing office space as a result of a more permanent shift to remote work. The way we utilize the office is going to change in the future. Instead of having dedicated desks, organizations will move to hot-desking scenarios with a rotating workforce that works partially in the office and partially at home. The office will increasingly be used for team-building and collaboration experiences. As you downsize office space, envision the most optimal way to use rooms to facilitate collaboration, learning, and design activities.

Recommendations - Culture

Even with all of the correct tools in place, remote work can’t succeed without the right organizational culture. The way that companies think about flexible work initiatives and how employees work remotely is foundational to success. To create effective culture in remote work, ensure that:

• There is trust between employees and the organization when it comes to working remotely. To start, organizations should focus on working with managers to effectively cope with the mix of in-house and remote workers, overcome the stigma about remote workers, hire the right people, and offer specialized training about managing remote workers.
• The organization is prioritizing employee engagement over cost. Thinking of remote work as just a cost-cutting measure is ignoring the significant competitive differentiator that organizations can derive from having effective flexible-work plans.

Recommendations - Technology

As is the case with many parts of the business, flexible work can only be as successful as the technology supporting it allows. Keys to putting effective remote work technology into place include:

• Focus on communication and collaboration tools. Communication and collaboration tools are particularly important to driving employee satisfaction. Our study found that satisfaction with team messaging and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) are the most highly correlated with remote-work satisfaction.
• Consider the long-term strategy before making purchases. During the pandemic, many organizations were forced to make rushed tech purchasing decisions to support remote work. Going forward, make sure your organization is thinking strategically about what technology will be most effective long-term.

Recommendations - Compliance

While not the sexiest of topics, strong compliance is essential to effective flexible work. Without the ability to enact strong compliance policies, organizations risk losing the trust of their employees and their customers. To ensure strong compliance in remote work, decision-makers should look to:

• Ensure you fully understand local regulations. Compliance regulations vary drastically in different locations. Make sure your organization is fully equipped with the knowledge and a plan to ensure all employees are fully compliant with these laws.
• Make sure your employees understand the policies in place. Eighty-one percent of decision-makers said their organizations are effective at ensuring personal privacy among remote and in-office workers, yet only 58% of surveyed employees are satisfied with their employers in this area.

Recommendations - Structure

While many organizations have done an admirable job supporting their workforces remotely during the pandemic, companies must put the right structures and strategies in place to succeed in the new normal. In order to set yourself up for future success with a strong remote work structure, decision-makers should:

• Create formalized remote-work documentation that is clear and based on the right things. Having documentation about who can work from where and why is crucial to creating trust around flexible work, yet only 38% of surveyed employees said their organization has documentation, and only 18% have read it. This leads to only one-third of employees feeling they have a full understanding of how their organization determines who is allowed to work remotely. In addition, many organizations focus on the wrong things when deciding who can work remotely. The 4 key components to consider when making this decision are:
  • Employee’s role
  • Employee’s personality
  • Employee’s performance
  • Employee’s preference
• Consider implementing all aspects of formalized flexible work-programs. Half of the surveyed decision-makers said their organizations have formalized flexible-work programs in place. However, when asked about their organization’s adoption of what Forrester defines as the tenets of a flexible work program, decision-makers cited that their organizations have implemented some of the initiatives, but almost none (less than 1%) said their organization meets all of the specifications. Question 5 in this assessment lists all of these initiatives – check to see how many your firm currently has implemented.