At the beginning of 2020, an estimated 62 percent of full-time employees in the United States worked remotely at least to some degree, according to Owl Labs’ State of Remote Work survey. That number steeply increased in the wake of COVID-19. This escalation in working offsite requires the use of virtual communication tools to keep teams on the same page, despite shifts in workflow and location.
Months into the outbreak of COVID-19 and it has become evident that this pandemic will change how jobs are structured in the long-term. In fact, an estimated 25 to 30 percent of American employees could work from home a couple of days per week by the end of 2021, according to a Global Workplace Analytics prediction, with or without further lockdown.
Remote and flexible work is on the rise, with 40 percent more U.S. employers reportedly offering flexible workplace options than five years ago, according to Global Workplace Analytics. On top of this organic growth, the Coronavirus pandemic skyrocketed these stats in the second quarter of 2020.
In this landscape of social distancing and remote working, staying in touch with coworkers and clients is more important than ever before. Real-time communications platforms have cemented the importance of virtual technology across most industries and workspaces. And under this new normal, voice communication has surged back after years on the decline.
Flexible work is no longer just a trend. And remote working — mostly from home during this pandemic — comes with a unique set of challenges. While none outweigh the overall benefits of distributed teams, leaders do need to shift their management and processes to get the best results from a remote workforce.
Gone are the days when companies had everybody working physically side-by-side and remote teams were scarce. The future of work is upon us, by choice or by context. And now more than ever, it has become vital for any business to streamline its communication flow and enable access to the company’s life to all their employees, regardless of where these are located.
Cloud-based Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) platforms have become increasingly more popular for businesses of all sizes. Enterprise spending on UCC tools grew to a $45 billion industry this past year, according to Synergy Research Group, with an average annual growth of 16 percent year-over-year.
In the push for creating a great website, developing a social presence, and providing an overall positive user experience, it’s easy to forget about the foundation of your business: great customer communication. This element is critical to the success of your business like SEO is to the success of your website. Without it, you’ll struggle to bring on customers, retain clients and build a brand that’s known for a great customer experience.
As companies become more competitive in attracting the best workforce and achieving the highest productivity with the lowest costs, workplace trends continue to change. During the previous years, we’ve seen paid vacations, nap rooms, game rooms, free buffet, remote offices, and other interesting ideas. But in 2019, people expect more.
Having a remote team comes with great advantages. For team members, it means flexibility, less time wasted commuting, less stress, lower costs and increased autonomy. For companies it means access to global workforce with a minimum waste of resources. Being a win-win option, as of 2019, 66% of companies allow their employees to work remotely, while 16% are totally remote.
