Remote mobile working is growing – fact.  As work evolves so does what work is, how work gets done, where work gets done and what workers do*.

Projections I heard about on a recent webinar show a major jump over the next 15 years in remote working.  The benefits could include more time on ‘tasks’ as there is less social interaction but does less face-2-face contact impact employee engagement?  From the evidence I have seen, working with many clients over the years, employee engagement is critical for effective teams.

My thoughts on how to address this is that emphasis should be put on real-time communication – goals, expectations, achievements and leadership.  Management information is key to recognise performance and engage team members.  It should be regular and effective.

Whilst technology can facilitate remote working it is behaviours that will deliver the right results.  See Andrew Baker’s blog on what gets measured gets better http://www.eguk.co.uk/category/blog/client/and Tim Becker’s ‘Managing our People Performance’  http://www.eguk.co.uk/category/blog/operations-management/

The mantra of coach, challenge, cheerlead combined with regular management information on performance will keep employees engaged whether working from home, another office or another country.

I have some specific case studies I can share with you, just email me – ask@eguk.co.uk

You can even take a free ‘health check’ to see where employee engagement would deliver bottom line results

http://www.eguk.co.uk/about-eg/sign-up-for-your-free-site-survey/

Further reading on this subject can be found in the ILM research article – ‘20th Century Bosses Hold Back 21st Century Working Practices’