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After more than two months with more than 50% of the US workforce working remotely, going back to normal is still uncertain. While some companies are already returning to in-office work, in most cases, this return will be slow. How can productivity and engagement be improved?

Many tech companies like Google, Facebook and Zillow announced that employees who need to return to their office would start in June or July. Still, the majority of employees can continue to work from home for the remainder of the year.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced Twitter employees would be able to work from home permanently even after COVID-19. Mark Zuckerberg committed to having 50% of workers working remotely in 5–10 years. And they are not alone. One in five chief financial officers surveyed said they planned to keep at least 20% of their workforce working remotely to cut costs. The other bright side of setting the stage for remote work is that companies can have access to more skilled workers, all around the globe, without the need to move or even getting a visa.

If remote work is extended permanently, the question that remains is how to sustain productivity and engagement through time.

Is productivity being impacted by the change?

The culture is embedded in the employee’s day to day behaviors. Though, if employees are forced to working remotely, some of those behaviors may change. Productivity and work quality may be impacted.  Best place to work in 2020 by INC Magazine, tell us what matters to develop company habits that can be sustained through time, even remotely.

Communication and transparency are key

97th Floor, 5 y 1–800 contacts highlighted the importance of communication and transparency while working remotely. They all were already used to working with some employees remotely before COVID-19, so the transition to 100% remote was not difficult.

Using Zoom, Hangout, WhatsApp, or Teams to add video to conferences is essential to create a human connection. It allows employees to be involved no matter where they are. These tools enable not only regular formal meetings but also informal ones to improve the engagement of the team.

1–800 hosts a virtual lunch on Tuesday and virtual coffees on Thursday. The company 5 organized a virtual baby shower and offers art or cooking classes. 97th Floor opened a meeting link to connect for lunch every day. These meetings have no agenda; everybody can dial-in. It’s a chance for employees and the management team to connect. The key is to create different ways of integrating everybody. The associates are free to find the one that suits them the best.

Another way of integrating everyone is through the “All-hands meeting”. All employees can participate periodically, either remotely or face-to-face. The habit of transparency is developed here. Companies create an instance where results are shared directly by the executives, and all employees can participate and ask questions.

SLACK, Monday.com, and Asana.com are also other tools that are being widely used to improve virtual communication and task assignment.

Coaching

While many companies stick to doing one-on-ones only face-to-face, extending remote work requires changing the coaching habits too. Especially in times of uncertainty, a Deep understanding of the employee challenges and concerns is vital to ensure they will be able to provide a great service, so coaching sessions should be even more often than when working in the same office.

The energy company 5, based in Irving Texas, organized a CARES team to touch base with every employee every week. They do group coaching, supervisor coaching and cross-coaching, where any employee can coach you, from a team member to one of the owners. They do at least a one-on-one monthly deep dive and a group annual coaching session that invites them to develop the habit of self-reflection.

1–800 Contacts also emphasized coaching, now more than ever. Phil Bienert, Chief Marketing officer at 1–800 said that “When working remotely, coaching has to be two or three times more frequent.” Time management and work-life balance can be challenging, so employees need to be supported and coached to practice the right habits. Some employees may be alone and work longer hours; others may work at night to avoid family distractions. 1–800 makes sure it doesn’t impact the quality of work by discussing expectations regularly and providing flexibility to choose how and when to work.

How autonomy increases job satisfaction and productivity

Autonomy is key to ensure employees respect the company rules, even when “nobody is looking,” that’s the ROI of a strong culture. 1–800 contact promotes empowerment by avoiding scripts in the call center and allowing employees to decide how many hours per week they will work. This policy allows to hire employees from remote locations, even students or people with disabilities. Autonomy is a blessing when employees need to work remotely, as they learn to make more decisions by themselves. 1–800 also allows employees to decide how to WOW their customers, even if it entails paying an uber lift or sending unexpected gifts. Their drivers are the company values: make her day, we win as a team, live for the impossible and champion each other.

Autonomy increases engagement and job satisfaction, as the employees feel more unique and valued. The other benefit of autonomy is that it makes employees less dependent on a leader and more self-organized, reducing both team member and leader stress and frustration while working from home.

Big companies like Google uses OKR’s (Objectives and Key Results). 97th Floor, a Digital Marketing Agency, applies the ROWE method (Results only work environment). Row helps them to promote autonomy as a key value. Results are the only thing that matters to them. They give employees freedom and responsibility to achieve their goals, so it is not required for employees to work in the office. They use Monday to make goals visible and flexible. Their teams are particularly organized not by department, but by customer. They are multi-disciplinary. Teams provide therefore a better service to the customer through dedicated designers and writers more connected to their specific needs. Annalee Jarret with 97th Floor says, “people feel valued when they are given the responsibility to self-manage.”

Driving innovation remotely

If autonomy is promoted, remote work can boost innovation. 5 was awarded as one of the most Innovative Companies by Entrepreneur. Jeff Schiefelbein, 5 Chief Culture Officer, says that “the key to success is to give a free pass for people to be creative, as long as they have in mind the purpose and vision of the company. Sometimes formalities, structure and fear tamper the spirit. For instance, some of their employees are more innovative than ever given that they are less distracted working from home.

Team innovation can also be promoted by organizing remote brainstorming and retrospective sessions. Some tools that are recommended are Mural.co, Poll everywhere and Teams.

The ROI of Building a strong culture

While companies can “survive” working from home, the challenge is not only to get the job done. Organizations also need to focus on keeping the culture alive. Boosting company values like employee engagement, customer focus, and innovation is next in line.

Working remotely and being productive at the same time depends on how strong the company culture is. Employees have to keep working the same way even when nobody is looking. Leaders need to communicate with their employees and remind them why the organization exists and how. The first step is to design a set of values that build upon the expected behaviors. The second step is to build corporate habits that support them every day.

Change is constant. The ROI of having a strong culture based on autonomy is that employees sense whatever is going on. Empowering employees, companies have more sensors to react to change more effectively. In this new normal, leader’s job is not to tell team members what to do, but set a context that enables them.