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successful collaborative working

What 20 years of remote collaborating has taught me

  • min read
    • The future of work is partly or fully remote, especially for tech-led professions. According to McKinsey and Company, more than half of employees want more flexibility from their employers and want to work remotely more than from the office. The pace of attitude change has been fast, even if your usual way of working stayed the same. Effective collaboration is an ongoing challenge for many remote teams. Businesses of all sizes have been known to reach for the next new collaborative tool on the shelf, expecting it to bring minds together for a lightbulb moment continually. Thinking back over my career in cybersecurity, I believe it's not the tools that make or break collaboration. But I have a few ideas on what the critical cruxes of collaboration might be. Let your empathy drive how you work I first worked with others remotely at the beginning of the 2000s. The tech was basic back then: A mobile phone, laptop and dial-up internet. I was giving on-call technical support for an internet service provider's security team. Waking up in the middle of the night to giving out-of-hours support was an abrupt introduction to working with others online. Most people would wake me and launch into a description of an incident ticket, immediately asking questions while I juggled my mobile phone, laptop and coffee cup. But there was one person who'd thought about the person on the other end of the phone. They would call to wake me up, say they'd ring back in five minutes and hang up. It meant I was set up and awake when we started working on the problem together. It made a big difference to my ability to think about an issue in the right frame of mind and not make it worse by being half asleep. Shift the barriers to deep focus For over a decade, I worked as a penetration tester in different teams and companies, either onsite or remotely. I would mimic a cybercriminal and try to compromise a software implementation or do general technical audits, aiming to find as many issues as possible. Often this would be as part of a team. Some organizations I worked for insisted everyone work from the same location, while for others, everyone worked remotely. Penetration testing benefits from seeing someone else's screen and easily sharing ideas around a group. A chance comment by a colleague might give you a clue on your target. But it also benefits from long periods of concentration, learning on the fly and going down rabbit holes without being asked what you're doing. I usually preferred the work-from-home teams. It was easier to talk to a colleague over the phone and email screenshots remotely than to focus intently in a busy office. But for others, having team members close at hand and the feelings of camaraderie were most important. Wherever your team is and what type of people make it up, management must play a crucial role in making sure everyone has a chance for deep focus. University of California's Professor Gloria Mark is one academic asking the price of an interruption. Her paper, The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress, concludes that distracting someone from their work doesn't slow them down, but means they produce poorer quality work and feel more frustration and stress. Use face-to-face time for what it's best for My last full-time job showed me how the remote work approach is more important than tools or factors like how often staff meet. I was giving technical expertise for cybersecurity product sales. Our collaboration tools weren't great. There was the usual nightmare of email and calendar software, partly integrated with more software for phone calls and text chat. Collaboration was mainly over conference call rather than video. I usually worked remotely, but some of the team used offices shared with colleagues or the wider company full- or part-time (known as hybrid working.) Management also drove the team feeling by continually staying in touch and freely giving both praise and suggested improvements. Physical meetings were infrequent but scheduled. They were both practical and social, giving a chance to get to know colleagues outside text or phone interactions. Colleagues and associated teams made the most of face-to-face meetings. The sales team always made sure they spent time together before and after visits to customers and potential customers. Consider team skill mix and have a driving purpose Recently, I worked with a small team to organize the first game-based cybersecurity conference, Play Secure. It was hard establishing a new conference around a novel theme. And with the conference being entirely online, we needed to ensure it didn't feel like just another set of webinars. For fully remote working with a new team, it went especially well. I think the team's success secret was the right combination of interpersonal skills and a shared sense of mission. We didn't get so burnt out through increased online interaction and were motivated enough by purpose to overcome the limitations of the tools. Use your tools on a strong foundation Lockdowns led to my becoming a fully remote worker, which fits the needs of my customers spread across different time zones. My work is usually intensive with short periods of decision support for customers, then intervals for research and consideration. Projects can have different delivery speeds. You need to adapt to others' work demands and availability and establish rapport over a simple video call. In this case, I think tools make a difference. It's hard to find a positive aspect to the pandemic, but the mass adoption of video conferencing has helped my work. It lets me give timely advice to customers without being limited by travel time and cost. When deciding to go remote-first If you or your team want to go remote-first, think through what has worked for you and what hasn't. Take staff preferences into account. Meeting in person once a week, once a month, or once a quarter can greatly affect team wellbeing and cohesion. It's easier for a distributed team to come together than for an in-office team to work apart and avoid interruptions successfully. With the savings on the costs of office space and time spent commuting, opportunities abound for thoughtful organizations to enjoy the benefits of remote work by forging their own 'new normal.'
remote team building

Remote team building just got a lot more interesting

  • min read
    • Peer through any residential street window these days, and you'll likely see a homeworker at a kitchen-table workstation tapping on a laptop, brainstorming over Zoom or sharing files on workflow apps like Slack. But it's not just everyday work processes going online. Companies are increasingly discovering remote team building, including activities ranging from video treasure hunts to interactive escape rooms to cocktail-making masterclasses. Why do they see team building as so important at times like these? Not all team building is created equal Research suggests changes in work culture seen during the COVID-19 pandemic are here to stay. A survey by US tech researchers Enterprise Technology Research predicts remote workers will more than double in 2021 compared with before the outbreak, to make up 34 percent of the workforce. While most are happy with more flexible work patterns, working from home has downsides. Social media app firm Buffer asked 3,500 remote workers worldwide what they felt was the biggest struggle of working remotely. "Collaboration and communication" and "loneliness" came joint top. Remote team building could improve upon both issues. But when I asked Dr. Christine Grant, Deputy Head of Coventry University's School of Psychological, Social and Behavioral Sciences and author of Agile Working and Well-Being in the Digital Age, she cautioned. Employers should make sure they don't overload the schedules of people already spending swathes of their day on Zoom or Microsoft Teams calls. Virtual team building business is booming How can companies best engage scattered teams who may be suffering from videoconferencing fatigue? Many employers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs,) have been content to take an informal approach, with activities led by people within the organization. HR insider magazines have come up with plenty of ideas that can work over video, from trivia quizzes and icebreaker games to office book clubs and a good old-fashioned Friday social. For something closer to the traditional day out of the office, expert guidance can help. Andy Wells, owner and founder of London-based team builders Zing Events, has worked with most FTSE 100 companies. Before 2020, he'd already noticed an uptick in demand for virtual events and had added app activities and remote options for events usually held live. But the pandemic forced more radical change in the company's model. "The number of events we run has increased massively. We were running around 300 live events a year, but we now have over 150 virtual bookings a month. Now we're working remotely, we can meet this demand. Staff don't have to travel around the country, so we can fit several events into one day. Before, our people would have to pick up the equipment, drive to the venue, set everything up, then run the activity." Timmon Whitehead, Managing Director of another team building outfit, White Rhino, said the company decided to ramp up its virtual offerings in March 2020, concentrating on tried-and-tested escape rooms and food-and-drink masterclasses previously offered live. These proved popular, and Whitehead puts down to employers wanting to recognize and reward staff efforts at a time of crisis. "People worked hard over lockdown, going above and beyond to keep things moving," he says. "The activities are a welcome break from that, and a chance to socialize with teammates and colleagues. People may constantly see each other on video calls, but they hardly get a chance to relax and enjoy time together. Virtual activities like socials and team challenges give that opportunity, and that's why they've been so well received." Murder mysteries or cocktail classes? There are broadly two types of remote team building activity. First, those entirely in the virtual realm. These rely on a bespoke app alongside videoconferencing on a laptop or desktop. Teams chat and collaborate while solving challenges and accumulating points, usually against a time limit, with a live leader board to keep it competitive. Popular scenarios include puzzle trails, crime-scene investigations and escape rooms. Wells estimates 40 percent of their bookings in the past year have been for the virtual escape room. Part of the appeal of virtual events is affordability – they can normally be run by one facilitator, cutting overheads. Team members can take part from anywhere. The second type of team-building event involves real-world activities overseen by an expert, for example, cook-alongs and cocktail masterclasses with ingredients received in advance. Though technically simpler, needing just videoconferencing, these events involve more logistics for all. To take part in a cook-along, employees need access to a kitchen and oven and must banish anyone else who shares the house to another room for the duration. Couriering equipment and ingredients to each participant comes at a cost. When virtual meets physical The most sophisticated activities combine real-life and virtual elements. White Rhino's Around The World Team Challenge uses a bespoke app to take participants on a journey through 22 countries. Players solve clues, answer questions and complete physical challenges, like learning kung fu moves in China, registered by image-recognition technology. Tasks earn travel credits, tallied up to determine where each team finishes. "The physical element is there by design," says Whitehead. "Many people now know the feeling of sitting at their desk in the morning, then looking up to find it's six o'clock – you've been in the same place all day. Anything we can do to get people up and about and be more active is fantastic, but we're conscious it needs to be suitable for everybody." Reputable events providers have a support team on hand to help with technical issues. They pay heed to security and encryption – guarding against the sort of "Zoombombing" intrusions that captured headlines last year when gatecrashers disrupted video meetings with pornography and other shock content. To get the most out of a virtual activity, teams need to be comfortable using the technology. On this front, Wells noticed a change over 2020. Dr. Grant notes tech-savviness is often generational. While older employees may have smartphones or tablets and find them helpful, they may find it harder to use more complex features. "Young people tend to use their phones for multiple activities, including playing games during downtime," she says. "But it's not so easy for everyone to do that, and you may lose a few people who would have engaged in face-to-face activities more easily. You don't want technology to become an inhibitor – activities need to be accessible to all." The hybrid future of work Keeping participants focused on the task rather than catching up on workplace gossip can also be a challenge. While co-workers may have had much formal contact through video calls with a specific task or agenda, they may not have had the chance to meet more informally – the "watercooler" conversations vital for team cohesion. This prompted Wells' company to make a simple tweak. "Our presenters used to get to the end, wrap up and finish the call. Now we leave the virtual meeting room open, so people can keep engaging and chatting. That's gone down well." Future work trend-spotters suggest "hybrid working" will soon become the norm. A recent survey of employees, managers and senior executives across several countries suggested a typical weekly schedule may involve a mix of remote and office-based work. This chimes with team-building companies. They're developing offerings to accommodate both on-site and remote participants. Whitehead says, "We're anticipating companies will return to running live events but will offer a virtual element as well. So if people aren't able to attend, or don't feel comfortable doing so, they can take part from their own home, playing the same game virtually and contributing to the same score as team members who take part live." Whatever the shape of work to come, virtual team building will remain a part of the toolkit for companies wanting to maintain a happy, connected workforce. Dr. Grant says, "With remote working, agile working or home working, socialization can be a problem. Even if you have on-screen meetings all the time, it's easy to feel invisible and isolated. "You need regular check-ins with colleagues and managers, making sure your well-being is OK, and interaction outside meetings. The organization needs to create an environment for this. We can use technology to help, but we need to make sure we use it to our advantage and deal with its less positive effects." As they negotiate the path to post-COVID-19 work culture, employers must rise to the challenge of maintaining strong connections between teams and colleagues. The fast-evolving remote team building industry provides options to suit many budgets and needs. How will you help your team grow relationships and collaboration skills for their future?
new normal business covid19

Be the architect of your ‘new normal’ in business

  • min read
    • When COVID-19 spread across the globe, it demanded urgent action from every business. For many, working from home was mandated overnight. Others were sent home on paid leave. Spending slowed drastically. It even disrupted the disruptors: Monzo, Deliveroo and WeWork announced devastating job cuts. It also sparked a time of self-reflection. Environmental impact came into sharp focus, and a conversation about work-life balance erupted. According to leading market intelligence agency Mintel, its consumer and social media trends expert Gabrielle Lieberman says coronavirus didn't create behavior shifts. It accelerated them. Global trends in wellbeing, identity and experiences slated for 2030 are on a fast track to being adopted sharpish. Businesses can't slow down. They must grab the opportunity to create a 'new normal' that works for them. There's no place like home unless it's for months on end Flexible working seemed 'solved' as tech giants like Spotify, Facebook and Google implemented longer-term work-from-home policies. Job done, right? Not so fast. It wasn't long before Zoom calls got old, loneliness took hold and employees started to fear taking a break under the eye of productivity monitoring. Parents faced a crisis as their home and work life collided. Flexible working has proven benefits. It means different things to different people. Definitions include remote work, compressed hours (working longer days but a shorter week) and split hours (for example, working early morning to afternoon, then again in the evening.) It's hard to pin down because it means work designed around an individual to optimize their balance and productivity. Most people want to keep working flexibly post-COVID-19, according to the World Economic Forum's July 2020 research. They want more autonomy and want to split their time between the office and remote work. Senior managers agreed flexible working has benefits but stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings. Where those face-to-faces aren't possible, collaborative tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams can build positive vibes with dedicated channels for humor and memes as well as work-related chat. Workplace design can make us healthier To help companies prepare their workspaces for life with COVID-19, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) created a WELL health-safety rating. It's an "evidence-based, third-party verified rating" for new and existing buildings and spaces focused on "operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder engagement strategies." But can businesses go further with their office spaces and use them to improve employee health and wellbeing? IWBI also works with companies to help them meet the WELL Building Standard. This rating system recognizes that buildings, and everything in them, can enhance people's health and wellbeing. It encourages organizations to pay more attention to things like light, nourishment and biophilic design: Interior planting with species that improve indoor air quality and filter pollutants. Just as flexibility benefits both business and employees, remember flexible office space can liberate the budget. For example, having a more compact office with hot desks, workshop spaces and meeting rooms can reduce costs. Retain more people by building leaders' emotional intelligence To help teams cope with change, World Economic Forum research shows empathetic, supportive team leaders are more important than ever. And we're not there yet – more than half of managers need training in skills to support employee mental health. And it might just turn out to be a staff retention boon: Employees don't leave companies, they leave managers. Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych, founder of MyWorkplaceHealth, a consultancy helping businesses make their workplace more psychologically healthy, puts communication at the center of the empathy and support team leaders can give. She says, "Have one-to-ones with direct reports more often to understand their stress points. It may be money, children or caring for an elderly relative. Adapt expectations to each person's needs. I'm asking my managers to have more contact to find out who's OK and who's struggling, so we can give them early support." The flex appeal of freelancers Tapping into the global freelance market can be a cost-efficient way to scale up or down, reacting to the market quickly. Steve Folland, host of the Being Freelance podcast, has seen his community grow in numbers and strength. On the best ways to work with freelance talent, Folland recommends, "Give clear briefs, realistic deadlines and listen to their advice. When it's all done, pay promptly. Bring freelancers on with as much notice as possible. You'll get the best results that way. As with all relationships, communication is key." Owning the Zoom Knowing your way around video chat software has proven essential if you accidentally turn yourself into a potato. Employees thrown into the deep end during the COVID-19 pandemic with software like Slack, Trello and Asana are keen to keep developing their knowledge. Invest in learning and development, including when it's best not to Zoom and when to take a digital detox, helps retain talent and make your business more resilient. Remote working is a big change in the way people work and caries serious cybersecurity risks. To keep data secure, train freelancers and staff working remotely to be cybersafe. People, planet, profit Overnight changes in reaction to COVID-19 gave many of us time to reflect on our environmental impact. While the pandemic initially presented us with clearer skies and cleaner waterways, the focus on hygiene has derailed the war on single-use plastic. Businesses shouldn't wait to use their corporate influence for environmental change. As well as looking at processes across your company, including the services and products you buy and organizations and non-profits you partner with, look at how you can reduce your company's IT carbon footprint. The UN Global Compact also has frameworks, resources and guidance on how to improve your business practices for a better future. Amongst uncertainty, it's natural to feel conservative and cautious. But for visionaries, it's time to rip up the rulebook and embrace the opportunity to create a new normal that works for your business. It's time to be the architect of your future.
security home working

Securing home workers isn’t just about technology. It’s about business culture.

  • min read
    • In recent years we've become accustomed to hearing how new technology is changing how people think and interact. But throughout most of history, it's been more a case of needs must – we've created technology to overcome challenges our environment has thrown us. The technology that lets us work from home is good for more than carrying on business in a crisis. Employees escape cramped cubicles and noisy open offices. They cut hours (and pollution) from their daily commute. We work at times that suit us, in a place we're most comfortable, closer to loved ones. Businesses can tap into talent around the world and reduce the cost of assets and buildings. They also benefit from home-based employees being more productive, engaged and loyal. Change your culture as well as devices There's more to enabling working from home than giving employees a laptop and corporate smartphone or introducing a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy. It's a culture change. Business executives must lead by example and administrators must find ways to stay in control of digital assets. Charl Ueckermann, CEO of Kaspersky's Africa Partner of the Year 2020, AVeS Cyber Security says: "You want the best of both worlds: minimize business disruption and open opportunities to create new business models." Business leaders may fear losing control. Taking devices outside company buildings expands attack surfaces substantially, giving cybercriminals many new opportunities to exploit your most valuable asset – data. And when people connect to company resources over unsecured home networks, the risk multiplies. Ueckermann goes on to say: "You have to get the core things right to keep the lights on. Leadership will play a crucial role in setting the organization's cultural tone. "A new talent pool becomes available if your business is set up for teams who can work from anywhere, at any time. Highly-skilled people who were previously limited by family responsibilities or geographic location now become potential candidates to recruit." We're guilty of appalling security habits Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky, David Emm, says: "Our ability to communicate, work and transact online has never been more critical. We also have to face the reality that where people go, cybercriminals follow. If there is an opportunity to exploit a situation and lure people into disclosing personal data or sending money, you can guarantee cybercriminals will be working on it." With the number of Internet of Things-connected devices at 3.5 for every person on Earth and growing exponentially, information security must be scalable, multilayered and centrally managed. Let's face it: Many of us are guilty of some appalling mobile security habits. Despite using our smartphones for everything from business email to personal banking, over a quarter of us don't even lock our smartphone screens. When you consider how often these devices are lost or stolen, it's a big problem. Losing the device is nothing compared to hackers or other unauthorized third parties having access to every connected account and file on the device. Here's three ways you can help your home and remote workers to work more safely. 1.  Start by laying down the ground rules Check and update your cybersecurity policy so it fits the current situation for remote work. It should say clearly which devices and apps employees may use, which security measures they must adopt and how they can share corporate data. For example, you probably won't want remote-working employees accessing your data from a jailbroken iPhone or an ancient laptop with a long-obsolete operating system. Having employees well-versed in policy is essential, but we all make mistakes. Remote workers shouldn't be living in constant fear of opening the door to cybercriminals. Focus on cyber-awareness training so homeworking employees understand their responsibilities to protect corporate data and what risks they may be exposed to from social engineering. Kaspersky's David Emm's warns that, "Staff should be especially wary of messages that claim to give important information about current events, as cybercriminals are known to use this tactic." 2.  Secure employee devices To protect your corporate data, give your employees, and contractors who can access your network, the tools and hardware they need to work safely at home with easy access to IT support teams for troubleshooting. IT administrators must maintain visibility of their digital assets across an expanding array of devices and operating systems. Mobile device management (MDM) technology should accompany your cybersecurity policy to help enforce the rules. It lets administrators monitor, manage and secure devices used for work, and grant or revoke access rights. If a device is reported lost or stolen, they can remotely wipe it and revoke access rights to any online accounts from that device. Device encryption is also a no-brainer; it's vital to prevent data being compromised if the device falls into the wrong hands. 3.  Level up your data protection 90 percent of cyberattacks include social engineering, exploiting human foibles rather than technological weaknesses. It's often dead easy for scammers to dupe victims into giving away confidential information over unsecured channels by impersonating a colleague, client or business partner. If an employee gets an email masquerading as a technical support agent from a known service provider asking for remote access, there's a good chance they'll fall for it.  They can then gain access to confidential data if it isn't secured. According to Kaspersky's 2019 research about digital clutter, 72 percent of employees store documents at work that contain personally identifiable information or sensitive data. From this, the attacker can gain access to the entire business network from compromising that one employee-owned laptop. As well as educating your employees, keep all devices updated with latest versions of endpoint security. Automate measures for better data protection, like password protection and data backups. David Emm also advises to "make sure operating systems and apps are always updated. Provide a virtual private network (VPN) staff must use to connect securely to the corporate network and restrict their access rights once connected. They should protect corporate devices, including mobile devices, with security software that allows remote wiping of data from devices reported lost or stolen, segregates personal and work data and restricts app installation." Cloud-managed security can drive innovation Working away from the office is critical to be able to innovate. With business apps and data hosted in the cloud, IT administrators can enjoy centralized management by maintaining full visibility of their digital assets. Instant protection comes with reduced reliance on endpoint security since all confidential data is kept in a secure data center rather than on local devices. Business leaders no longer have to depend on their policies and device-level endpoint security – though this is still essential. They can instead build a centrally managed, software-defined computing environment where adding new users means simply creating an account, then letting the remote-working employee access everything they need through the web. This approach is not only better for information security; it reduces the need for remote workers to exchange files over email or unsecured file-sharing services. Make sure your cloud set-up is configured with the relevant level of cybersecurity protection for your company's data needs, don't expect this to be installed or run by the cloud provider. Work anywhere, secure everywhere Remote working shouldn't be a source of fear. It's not about losing control. It's about decentralizing your workforce and letting them work in new ways. In the long term, it delivers enormous value for the whole business. Today's security solutions let you control the security and compliance of your digital assets. No matter where your workers are, you can keep your corporate data safe.
telecommuting cybersecurity

Cybersecurity for home working in a hurry

  • min read
    • Rushing to make decisions that have security consequences is never ideal. Equally, there are times when we get thrown a curve ball and must act quickly. If home-working is new for your company, and you need to get policies and systems in place fast, you'll want to know the cybersecurity risks and how to reduce them. Start here to make sure your staff are securely set up to work from home as soon as possible. Home internet connections can be vulnerable When your employees work in the office on the local network, your security solutions handle data exchange processes. But when employees work from home, there's an extra variable – internet service providers (ISPs). You can't control their ISP's security, which may mean their home connection is vulnerable to attack. The solution: A reliable virtual private network (VPN) For your employees to connect remotely to corporate resources, set them up with a reliable virtual private network (VPN). This makes a secure channel between their workstation and your infrastructure. You'll also need to disallow connections to corporate resources from external networks without a VPN. Behavior changes make attacks harder to spot When people work from home, their routines change. Telecommuters can't just walk over to a colleague to talk about something. Expect an increase in correspondence, including new participants – people with whom communication used to be purely verbal. These changes give attackers more opportunity, in particular for Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks – for example, using an account with an address similar to the victim's. In other words, a fake message asking for data will not seem as unusual as it normally might. The more relaxing home environment can make many people less vigilant. The solution: Using protected work email only, and staff knowing why First, employees at home should use only work email. This makes it easier to spot a cybercriminal's attempt to impersonate a colleague from an account on another domain. Second, protect your mail servers with technologies that can detect attempts to change the message sender, like our solutions for both mail servers and Microsoft Office 365. Third, before employees start working from home, make sure they get a crash course in cyberthreats. Use of leaky collaboration tools can rise Without face-to-face contact, employees may start using other ways to collaborate. Some might not be the most reliable – and must be set up correctly. For example, a Google Docs document with certain access permission configurations may be indexed by a search engine, leaking corporate data. The same thing can happen to data in cloud storage. A collaboration environment like Slack can also leak, and a randomly added outsider could get access to the whole history of files and messages. The solution: Choose a better collaboration environment Choose a collaboration environment with suitable security and features. Participants should need a corporate email address to register. It's often worthwhile appointing a dedicated administrator to issue and revoke rights as needed. Most important, before employees work from home, hold an awareness session – which could be remote. Insist they use only the approved collaboration system, and reiterate their responsibility for keeping corporate secrets safe. Risks of home computer use Generally speaking, not all employees have access to corporate laptops. And mobile phones are not suitable for all tasks. Employees might start using their home computers. This can pose a serious threat for companies with no Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. The solution: Protected corporate equipment or BYOD policy If possible, give home-working employees appropriately protected corporate laptops and phones. These should be protected with solutions that allow remote wiping of corporate information, keep personal and corporate data separate, and restrict the ability to install applications. Make sure the devices also automatically check for the latest critical software and operating system (OS) updates. If employees must use their own devices, introduce a BYOD policy for managing corporate data on those devices, for example, partitions for business and personal data. Insist employees install home antivirus software. Allow devices to connect to corporate networks only after confirming they have a security solution installed and an up-to-date OS. Others accessing employees' equipment It's one thing for employees to work at home alone during the day, but another if they go to a café or coworking space, where risks of leakage or compromise are far greater. The solution: access policies and awareness Security policies should require a password and automatic screen lock. And as with other cybersecurity issues in telecommuting, awareness training is a must to maintain overall vigilance. This article was published in March, 2020.
working from home research girl laptop coffee sofa

Working from home: The research is in

  • min read
    • Remote working, telecommuting, working from home. Whatever you call it, since the pandemic more workplaces are offering or even expecting employees to work from home at least some of the time. Is home working just a trend, or is there evidence to support whether it works? I decided to find out what the research had to say. Here are eight crucial findings. 1. Remote work is common Gartner's 2021 survey of 10,000 digital workers found remote workers represent 32 percent of the workforce worldwide. 64 percent said they were more likely to consider a role that allowed flexible hours over one that didn't. What's the opportunity? Offering flexible working is now the norm. If your business isn't there yet, you may have to have some tough conversations to get things moving. Today's the day to start. 2. Homeworking could give you an extra day per week A Stanford study that monitored around 500 employees in China's largest travel agency for two years found working from home increased productivity by over 20 percent. That's equivalent to an extra working day each week. The increase in productivity came from several ways employees changed how they were working. They took fewer breaks and less time off (such as sick days), but mostly, they just got through more work. Professor of Economics, Nicholas Bloom, explained these findings in his TedX Stanford talk. What's the opportunity? If you want to improve productivity, make sure home working is on the table. If you're already doing it but it's not delivering, your policy may need review, so the next point is salient. 3. It's not for everyone The same Stanford study found that after the trial work-from-home period, around half the participants decided to be office-based in the future. What's the opportunity? Everyone's an individual, and your business homeworking policy should reflect this. Flexible or home working also means taking into account each employee's role, needs and preferences. Reconsider an 'all or nothing' approach to home working. 4. Remote workers struggle to 'switch off' Two large studies during the pandemic found home-workers were working longer hours than they had in the office. They reported taking shorter breaks, working through sickness and not logging off until as late as 8pm. 55 percent wanted their employer to communicate and expect work only within the usual hours. What's the opportunity? Switching off and unwinding makes us better at our work. We should see it as part of our job. More so if we work from home, because the research suggests it's harder to do. Review your organization's health and well-being policy. If it doesn't place value on employees taking breaks and switching off, it should. No matter your seniority, you can cultivate a culture that values unwinding and doesn't expect your employees to be 'always on' just because they're at home, particularly if you're working with team members across multiple time zones. 5. The value of homeworking may depend on the type of work A 2021 study of over 700 academics working from home during the pandemic found nearly half reported being less efficient while working from home, but 70 percent thought they'd be more efficient if they could decide in the future when to work from home. The academics seemed to think the ideal scenario is choosing when to work from home and when not to, depending on what work they had to do. They thought home working made them less good at sharing with colleagues, keeping in touch with the team and collecting data, but better at writing papers, reading the literature and analyzing data. What's the opportunity? Hybrid working – combining remote and in-office work – is a great option, especially for those teams whose work varies between requiring focus and requiring collaboration. Let your staff choose as much as possible when to work where, but make sure there are opportunities for sharing with colleagues. 6. Cybercriminals have noticed more people are working from home Researchers noted the first wave of coronavirus-themed attacks used the situation to spread scams, by way of phishing, ransomware and malware. But it's not just individuals who are vulnerable. Whole organizations can get distracted. Banking on a lack of IT resources and vulnerabilities like legacy software, targets have included educational institutions and government agencies that have been in the news for conducting learning and business remotely. What's the opportunity? Kaspersky's white paper Remote working: How to make the laptop lifestyle flow sweetly (and securely) for your business is a good place to start for security measures that enable remote working. In the event of a cybersecurity incident, prioritize good communication. The World Health Organization's (WHO) response to coronavirus email scammers pretending to be them is an excellent example of a promptly issued statement in plain language that raises awareness of cybercrime. 7. Young talent values working from home, but needs much face-to-face time too Ipsos Mori and Nationwide 2021 research found Gen Z and Millennials were more likely than any other group to want to work from home three or more days a week. On the other hand, half believed working from home was straining their health and wellbeing and similar numbers said they needed face-to-face time with colleagues to be effective at work. What's the opportunity? If you're having trouble attracting early talent like graduates and apprentices, it's another reason to look at your flexible-working offer. Ipsos Mori's Dr Linda Papadopoulos suggests, "championing a flexible working approach on where and when staff work, by helping them to find a work pattern which balances their work and life." 8. Offering remote working helps attract and retain more diverse talent Being more supportive of remote and flexible working will help companies attract and retain more women, in part because women are far more likely than men to shoulder care responsibilities. As this Felstead and Henseke research shows, working from home helps employees adapt to personal circumstances. But what about other groups under-represented in your workplace? Seekout describes remote working as "the single best secret of diversity recruitment." They cite the desire to work remotely as at the top of the list for many job-seekers, attracting more applicants overall, and homeworking has apparent attractions for women and disabled people. Where's the opportunity? You can only gain more top talent by making sure your job adverts highlight flexible working as a benefit. It's in the top two employee benefits applicants care most about. Attracting more applicants is, of course, just the first step in building a more diverse workforce. Minimizing unconscious bias helps make sure the best applicants get hired. Every company's needs are unique; many industries need the presence of people to make and deliver goods and services, serve customers or devise ideas together. But consider if your non-frontline staff could benefit from having the option to work at least some of the time remotely. These findings can support you in finding the best way to harness the power of remote working and guide you around common pitfalls. The one that gives me the most pause for thought (pun intended) is the importance of switching off and taking a break. No matter who you are – from apprentice to chief executive – your most important work might not just happen in your home office. It might be when you're doing nothing at all.
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Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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