#WFH - a new Reality

Insights from running Remote Sessions under COVID lockdown

During the early part of the pandemic, I have been speaking to dozens of people across geographies who were #WFH and are getting on calls every now and then, to attend various Remote Sessions that were being organised by their Working Groups. Let me share what I learnt from these conversations:

1. The sessions were forcing everyone to participate – even the quieter ones in the physical meeting rooms were getting a turn to speak and forcing themselves into a conversation.

2. Since you are not in a room with everyone else watching you, you have a limited ability to use body gestures and articulation to make your point convincing. So, if you have to sell your point, you have to have a better think-through and be imaginative in terms of choosing your script.

3. Individuals in a Work Group collaborate with ‘trust’. If you hold a generally lower level of trust in your team, chances are very high that you will not be taken seriously. This might wake you up or might show you the door, earlier than you think.

4. Countries, cultures and firms that were NOT in any form of Remote Working prior to COVID is suffering from a fear of insufficient surveillance. The team leaders are suspecting that the members are actually NOT #WFH. These guys were creating a lot of pressure on their team members by being all over the place with calls every now and then to keep a check.

5. #WFH is a serious cost-cutter that will perhaps stay even post COVID, to help businesses recover. The cost of Executive office space and all the support system sits very high in the P&L. If the reference documentation are available in the Cloud, Virtual Meeting rooms are adequately resourced, the Remote Team Members only need a Laptop, decent bandwidth and possibly a printer to operate. Teams can meet Monthly, Qrly to meet/greet and sign up documents.

6. Wasted time is a perception. In office, you might be idling around the coffee machine or some immaterial group chat – maybe just to break the stress or otherwise. At home you will probably be distracted with family, pets of TV. Considering ‘commute time’ #WFH is more productive because you have an invisible order to deliver or be a looser !