Working Remotely? This Is How You Do It!

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Many of us are working at least part of the week remotely So how do you work remotely and remain effective Well HR guru Gemma Dale has just published a book about remote working and here to share her expertise Gemma is a lecturer in the Business School at Liverpool John Moores University as well as running her own business apos The Work Consultancy apos where she focuses on policy development flexible and hybrid working and wellbeing A charted fellow of the CIPD Gemma was one of the apos Most Influential Thinkers in HR apos in 2021 and 2022 Her recently published book How to Work Remotely and remain effective wherever you are is a hugely practical guide for those new to remote working as well as those who ve been working this way for years The brilliance of Dale s book is the way she also weaves pragmatic and thoughtful advice for managers and leaders who perhaps are struggling to adapt to this new way of working Is the standard 8 hour day dead 2 02 Dale argues that despite the pandemic offering us the opportunity to change the standard 8 hour day a throwback to the industrial revolution employees and employers have largely stuck to this routine Is the hybrid genie out of the bottle 4 05 Dale believes that we are unlikely to return to being full-time office based but she also argues that the benefits from hybrid working are not yet totally clear for example will it gives us the work-life balance or autonomy we desire or will we end up in a worst of both worlds scenario Autonomy Thwarting Behaviour 6 05 Policies such as employees must attend the office 3 days a week are Dale argues apos autonomy thwarting behaviour apos as essentially the organisation has to see you working to believe you are working and therefore removing autonomy Overcoming apos proximity bias apos 09 35 We have a bias to those who are physically closest to us We are much more likely for example to defer to someone physically present in a meeting than a colleague on a screen therefore the risk of favouring say people in the office over those working at home is a clear and present danger What skills do managers need to manage remote teams 13 18 Dale argues that managers being quot intentional quot is key to success Recognising that those water cooler moments are not going to happen so being intentional and making sure you are deliberately checking in and communicating with your team Where do we get remote or home working wrong 22 57 Dale argues that remote working is deeply personal What suits one person may not suit others Additionally it also wrapped up in whether we apos re introvert or extrovert and how we work e g short sprints Environment is also key not setting up a proper working environment is going to make remote working much harder Resources https www linkedin com in gemma-dale https www koganpage com product how-to-work-remotely-9781398606111https www linkedin com in podcasthost https ovenreadyhr com