The rapid growth of remote working is undeniable. Especially during COVID-19, when all workers were sent to their homes, remote working touched its peak. According to the New York Times, before the pandemic, only 4 percent of US employees worked from home. However, it's estimated that by 2023, around 25% of professional jobs will be remote.
This shows that remote work is more than a pandemic phenomenon, and it's here to stay for a long time. Hence, it doesn't matter to which field you belong; you can't ignore the importance of remote work. So, to help you build your remote work policies and streamline your processes, we have discussed the top remote work trends. Let's discuss them in detail!
- Hiring Irrespective of the Geographical Region
- Cybersecurity is a Need
- Employees' Well-Being is Important
- Freelancers will Get Popularity
- Investment in Home Offices
- Reliance on Bossware Increases
- Bonus: Team & Document Management Tools are on a Rise
- Hiring Irrespective of the Geographical Region
The most significant effect of remote work is that it has changed the "where" of hiring and expanded the reach of the company's hiring staff. Now companies don't have to find a person living in the same city or area to fill the vacant position. Instead, you can get competent employees outside your locality who can serve your company.
Research by the Conference Board shows that around 40% of the West Coast tech jobs are now posted outside the West Coast.
This means hiring, irrespective of geography, is among the top remote work trends in 2023. Moreover, this trend is significant for those who want to target big-city jobs despite living in small towns. That being said, it also increases competition, as now your competitors aren't from a specific region.
- Cybersecurity is a Need
According to CISO, around 85% of organizations believe cybersecurity is becoming more critical. It's because in remote work, most of the business data is shared online, and the risk of falling victim to cyber-attacks increases. And once the company's data gets into the wrong hands, it'll put its reputation and deals at stake. Due to this reason, most businesses were reluctant to adopt a remote working environment.
An EY poll found that 71% of respondents found remote work a great security challenge. However, during COVID-19, the need for remote work was at an all-time high, and thus, cybersecurity became a significant need. In addition, as remote work has gone mainstream, cybersecurity has also seen a noticeable shift in importance and is among the top remote work trends!
- Employees' Well-Being is Important
It may surprise you, but focusing on employees' well-being is among the most common remote work trends. In a Deloitte Survey, a majority of corporate executives said that improving employees' well-being is among the top goals they want to achieve. Having happy and mentally healthy employees greatly impacts the working of an organization.
The need for this increases with a surge in remote work because, as per the Social Connection in Remote Work, remote workers reported having extra loneliness. Moreover, in a remote working environment, both long-term and short-term employees feel disconnected and struggle to work.
So, to tackle such situations, organizations are coming up with strategies to improve workers' mental well-being and create an active workspace. Moreover, you can also learn about strategies to manage the time zone collaboration issues for remote teams.
- Freelancers will Get Popularity
With more companies getting into the hybrid working environment, they are also turning towards freelance platforms to give their business a unique spark. It allows companies to engage with different talents from different regions, but it is also very cost-effective.
You can hire a professional on a contract basis and don't need to deal with the expenses that come with on-site employees, making it among the best remote work trends. Upwork and Fiverr are the top freelancing platforms in this regard. For marketing-specific roles or projects, Growth Collective has a huge network of top freelance marketers.
Upwork’s recent data shows that one in three and over 53 million American workers are freelancers. So, to keep up with the modern trends, business executives are also trying to adapt to digital talent platforms to grab the best employee. Furthermore, freelancers now contribute $1.2 trillion to the US economy annually. Hence, with the growing popularity of freelancing platforms, more businesses will outsource their work, making this another top trend of remote work.
- Investment in Home Offices
Working in a remote environment allows employees to minimize their daily expenses, including eating and transportation. As remote workers spend most of their time in home offices, they can spend these saved bucks on upgrading their home offices. For instance, if your home office previously had only a table and lamp, you can make it more versatile by adding smart lighting and going for an ergonomic chair.
Moreover, you can grab other gadgets like an adjustable lamp and a desk mat to make your space more comfortable. Looking at this high demand for office objects, office supply stores will start advertising and targeting remote workers.
And soon, it's expected that this will also impact the housing market, and realtors will start emphasizing the importance of home offices. Hence, investment in home offices will be among the top remote work trends!
- Reliance on Bossware Increases
As remote work is gaining quick popularity, there's a huge need for employees' efficiency monitoring software or technology. According to a poll, around 60 percent of employers ask their workers to install monitoring software on their devices. This helps businesses track employees' working hours and work routines. Bossware is a kind of monitoring software and is available in different kinds.
Moreover, multiple AI tools record employees' productivity and give an overall productivity score. SMEs can also get an idea of how to create remote work policies to manage employees better. So, reliance on Bossware to get employees to work updates is among the common remote work trends.
Bonus: Team & Document Management Tools are on a Rise
Working remotely team needs to collaborate and communicate using online tools. As businesses' total reliance is on tools, they should be effective enough to facilitate seamless communication and sharing and management of documentation with guaranteed safety.
This is where Waybook can make your life easier by offering a state-of-the-art system for employee hiring and onboarding. On top of that, it offers an easily accessible documentation system to ensure everything is just one click away. Premade Playbook templates can further ease everything for you.
Just incorporate the aforementioned trends into your business and refine them with Waybook to stay ahead of the competition.
Want to get more insights on the future of Remote Growth & Leadership? Check out our related resources:
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