The digital workplace is evolving quickly with remote work becoming a new normal. With new collaboration and communication tools, employees can connect from anywhere and anytime they want. The freedom to work flexibly is also a great motivation for several employees.
Remote work is here to stay
- According to Global Workplace Analytics, the number of people working from home has increased by 140% since 2005. (1)
- In a Gartner survey, 80% of company leaders plan to allow employees to work remotely at least part of the time after the pandemic, and 47% will allow employees to work from home full-time. (2)
- In the PwC survey, out of 669 CEOs, 78% agree that remote collaboration is here to stay for the long-term. (3)
- In a recent FlexJobs survey, 65% of respondents reported wanting to be full-time remote employees post-pandemic, and 31% want a hybrid remote work environment—that’s 96% who desire some form of remote work. (3)
The above statistics clearly show that remote work is here to stay for a long-time. For organizations too, remote work can prove to be a game-changer in terms of increased productivity and reduced churn rate.
Research shows that businesses lose $600 billion a year to workplace distractions and that remote workers are 35% to 40% more productive than their in-office counterparts.
There’s no doubt that remote work is beneficial for both organizations and employees. But as employees work from home, the major challenge they face is communication. In the below research by Statista, collaborating with colleagues/clients was the second-major challenge of working remotely.
That’s where a platform designed for remote work comes into the picture.
To gain full benefit from the remote working model, organizations need access to the right technology. Remote working can succeed only when proper collaboration software and policies are in place to support the remote workforce. These will allow them to communicate with their teammates and clients seamlessly.
Here, your organization’s intranet software can help the remote workforce meet company’s culture and build a collaborative work environment.
What is Intranet?
An intranet acts as a central hub of communication within an organization. It is a private online portal that contains everything modern that employees need to communicate and collaborate in real-time. This private and secure internal network can be accessed only by internal employees.
Take a look at the top 6 reasons why organizations need intranet to manage their remote workforce.
Top 6 reasons organizations need intranet to work remotely
-
Drives internal collaboration
Real-time collaboration is now at the heart of every successful project. Modern organizations are more complex than their traditional counterparts. How? Today, organizations need to collaborate not only with the employees working within the office but those well who are working remotely and probably in different time zones as well.
Intranet software with in-built features for document-sharing can help your in-house team work efficiently with remote employees. They can collaborate on different projects, track progress, and even seek feedback from their managers.
-
Centralizes communication
Remote intranet software can act as your company’s central hub for all important communications. You can share your company’s important news updates, events, and other announcements. Employees too can share their knowledge and achievements. It is the way through which you can bring your remotely located teams together under one roof.
Engagement is extremely important for the remote workforce. As they work at home, they do miss participating in company celebrations. Social intranet software can help these remote workers experience the culture of their company. There are certain features like polls, likes, mentions, comments, etc. to improve employee engagement.
-
Boosts employee productivity
Employees play an integral role in your organization’s success and growth. Hence, it is important to empower them with modern tools and technologies to help them perform at their level best.
In today’s age of digitization and modern technologies, still, there are some organizations that rely on manual methods of getting work done. This only slows-down your employees’ performance and thus affects their productivity.
Intranet software with powerful automation features can help your employees cut down on monotonous and manual tasks. They can simply share files and documents online with their peers without having to mail them separately.
-
Quick and easy information sharing
For an organization with multiple departments and roles, information sharing can seem complex. But with intranet software, it can be a piece of cake.
If you look at the traditional ways of sharing information, employees relied on USB drives and physical documents. They are always at the risk of being lost or stolen, leading to cybersecurity concerns.
Suggested Reading: Potential security issues when employees work remotely
The modern intranet solutions facilitate easy and quick information sharing. The marketing department can use it to announce all the latest achievements of the company. The HR department can use it to keep employees updated on the latest policy changes. They can also upload onboarding forms and create polls for employee engagement.
Remote workers, once they join the intranet platform, can simply view these HR files, and check out the company forum to learn a great deal about what’s happening in the company.
-
Mobile accessibility
The most attractive thing about remote work is flexibility. Remote workers want to live the life of a digital nomad – accessing work anytime and from anywhere.
This becomes impossible if your company still relies on traditional modes of communication.
An Intranet with mobile accessibility features can help your remote workforce be a part of the company’s culture and get connected easily as per their convenience and availability. Managers too can use the mobile app of the intranet software to check important team updates on the go.
-
Secured information
An intranet is a private line of communication within an organization. Only the authorized personnel can access the platform.
Most of the remote intranet software are developed using secure cloud technologies.
Every information shared over an intranet is secured and can be accessed only by the employees who are within its network. This also helps you meet data security standards within the organization.
This is especially important from the point of view of remote working. Remote workers mostly use their own network and medium of communication. This dispersed information can not only hamper seamless communication but is a big data security risk.
So, is intranet important?
If you want to develop an inclusive culture within your organization – wherein your employees, including your remote workforce, can share information freely and seamlessly, then you need intranet software.
An intranet software gives your company a voice – with the help of social networking features. A good intranet software takes on the characteristics of the company itself – representing its culture. As an organization, you can bring your remote workers and resources together through an intranet.
This is especially relevant during the current pandemic times and any untoward scenarios in the future. If you are already on a remote working model or part of your employees are working remotely, then you need a central hub where all your employees can connect and share information.
Images’ credit: Happeo – the best software for remote working
References:
- https://gblogs.cisco.com/in/remote-working-the-new-norm/
- https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-07-14-gartner-survey-reveals-82-percent-of-company-leaders-plan-to-allow-employees-to-work-remotely-some-of-the-time
- https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics/
from WordPress https://ift.tt/2ZJw1Sc
via IFTTT
0 Comments