Canadian HR Reporter

4 www.hrreporter.com N E W S they think about accountability and empowering their employees." While there may be concerns about employees being less productive, Gibson says she has seen more of the opposite. "Sometimes, people feel like they have to be online all the time, late into the evening, way longer than they would normally be." Managing remote work differently People who start working in a remote environment also lose the collaboration of a traditional office setting, meaning the sharing of information and being able to get answers quickly to things, along with the camaraderie that takes place, says Rodriguez. " Ho w m a n a ge r s a r e m a n a g i n g employees needs to be further changed and modified as well because… when you can't monitor activities at the same level as you used to, you have to shift gears and think of it more about how do you monitor outcomes, how do you support your employees in terms of driving those outcomes?" Some managers make a point to schedule videoed coffee breaks, as an example, setting up allocated times for people to chit chat, he says. " I t 's n o t j u s t t h e b u s i n e s s collaboration but the overall peer- employee collaboration that [employees are] used to and that allows them to really feel more comfortable with their work environment." In moving to a remote workforce, there's a set of fundamental mindset shifts in which leaders need to engage. For one, they have to focus a lot more on outcomes than process, says Kropp. " What you really need to pay attention to is: Are people getting work done rather than how are people getting work done? This idea that you can see them, monitor them, track them, be aware of everything they're working on and so on is just not realistic." Managers also have to become dramatically more intentional in terms of talking with their employees, he says. "The idea that you're going to bump into them and update them on things or as you're walking down the hallway or getting lunch or getting coffee or whatever it might be, it's just not realistic anymore… Everything that happens to enable workflows by just bumping into people completely goes away. You have to create these intentional moments of serendipity, intentional moments of interaction to make sure that the work keeps flowing." In the end, the one big macro trend that's going to come out of the COVID- 19 pandemic is more employees will keep working remotely, says Kropp. "Companies will have to make sure they're making the right investments in technology to enable employees to be successful in a new, more remote workforce and working experience than we've ever seen before." As one executive mentioned, "We're unintentionally running the global pilot on remote work. And we're going to learn a lot in that process," he says. "And there's going to be some things coming out of it that will push us more to have more employees working [remotely]. And there' ll be a ton of implications that come out of that once all this gets settled." CHRR REMOTE WORK POPULAR WITH CANADIANS "Not many organizations do simulations and meetings fairly regularly when there isn't an issue or crisis." Lisa Gibson, Microsoft Source: Citrix Canada Photo credit: JohnnyGreig iStock 53% Percentage of companies that have policies or technology in place to work remotely in case of a natural disaster 55% Percentage of people who would be more or as productive working remotely than in the office 51% Percentage of workers who say that their jobs can be performed remotely if allowed 83% Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who are most inclined to work for a company that allows them to work remotely 73% Percentage of 24- to 34-year-olds who are most inclined to work for a company that allows them to work remotely

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