Does your company’s technology strategic plan provide for efficient remote work capabilities for your employees?
Where and how your employees work has become a hot button topic. The recent pandemic forced a lot of employers to lay off employees, the lucky few got to work remotely. A large number of businesses of all sizes were not prepared for the majority of their workforce to function remotely and had to scramble to come up with solutions that sort of worked. Now as business are starting to reopen it is becoming apparent that the work landscape has changed and many employees are demanding the ability to continue to work remote for one reason or another.
There are a multitude of reasons for remote work that benefit the employer and the employee so long as the tools are available for that work to be completed efficiently and securely.
The majority of recent projections show that the majority of all business will have an increase in the number of remote workers compared to that same number pre-pandemic. Employees are wanting to continue working remote for a variety of reasons including, convenience, health and safety concerns, employee personality, and a workforce that is more connected than ever.
Many employees have experience the benefits of working remote and don’t want to lose those benefits when businesses reopen.
- Lack of commute
- More personal time outside of work hours
- Convenience
- More Productivity
- Less Stress
- Less Expense
The above are just some of the reasons that employees like working remotely either all or part of the time.
The benefits aren’t just for the employees though. Employers can benefit from letting their workforce function remotely.
- Increased employee satisfaction
- Increased employee productivity
- Less office space – Fewer employees in the office means large office spaces are not required
- Decreased expenses – fewer employees and less office space means less utility cost
- Bring your own Device / Work From Anywhere could mean less equipment for the company to purchase and maintain
- Ability to attract and retain employees
- Ability to pull from a global talent pool since employees don’t have to be local to your organization
However, with that being said there are definitely challenges that must be overcome to facilitate remote workers. Providing a secure reliable way for employees to connect to your organization’s resources is a technological hurdle that must be overcome. Although there are many options to address the security and connection mechanism having those tools rolled into a single solution has its benefits.
Solutions provided by companies such as Citrix with their Virtual Apps and Desktops product allows for organizations to provide their workforce with secure access to their work environment, collaboration and communication, and a consistent experience that can be used from anywhere from any device.
In addition the combined solutions allow for IT support staff to easily manage the resources and respond to and resolve issues regardless of whether the employee is in the office or working remote. For the employee, their team members, support staff, etc. there is no difference in the experience regardless of the location the employee.
The days of remote work and virtual applications and desktops being only for the largest of companies is quickly drawing to an end and like it or not if organizations want to attract and retain a productive workforce they are going to have to offer the ability for employees to work remotely. Solutions such as Citrix are a great option for organizations of any size. And thanks to Citrix Cloud the days of organizations have to maintain a virtual environment in house are gone to.