Covid-19 turned everything remote
The Skype call is starting in a few minutes. Hana is logged in already. She has set up her laptop on the veranda of her home – this is where she is programming account orders and equipment imports from abroad. Maria is calling in from Romania. Time zone difference, but no problem. The remote work model is working fine from anywhere. While it was once a given that employees should have a fixed desk at the company office, today it is increasingly a case of the end-result must be right, where it is generated is irrelevant.
Glove Retail staff will be more productive
Due to the pandemic, we know that the Glove retail teams will be working in a mixed model, some in the office, some from home. But contrary to the general wisdom that if an employee works from home, can’t be productive, we don’t see it this way.
Study after study after study has shown that employees who work from home are more productive than in-office employees. For example, a Harvard Business School study measured employee productivity of employees at the US Patent Office who were allowed to live anywhere. Staff allowed to work from anywhere were 4.4% more productive than their in-office counterparts. And a Stanford study found that work-from-home employees are more productive — by nearly a full day’s worth of work!
We should probably get used to this new reality that the pandemic has bought to us and exploit the advantages of tele-working. People will not have to commute, feeling less pressure and time-anxiety. They will increase their competence to handle the unexpected and show to each customer’s project that they are there, energetic, active and always ready to deliver.
Their emotional health will increase, and this is important for our company and out Customers. Well, a healthy workforce means a more productive one, with fewer personal days taken off to go to doctors’ appointments, or worse, avoid the fatigue from staying too many hours in office.
Our people are working with Glove Retail for many years because they share our common Values and beliefs and above all our customer-centric approach. We do not know how this pandemic will go on, but one thing is sure: we trust that both our remote or in-office staff will continue to deliver and show exceptional performance.
When you give your employees the ability to customize their schedule so that they can better balance their professional and their personal life, while not losing sight of customers’ projects, an interesting thing happens: they become more committed! Not only this can lead to a form of loyalty towards the company, but it makes us all turn to even more responsibility. Also, you know, loyal staff equals great productivity…
In the start of Covid-19 I was wondering, how on earth we will stay active and collaborative while being apart by following health measures of each country. But now I know, that it’s not the technology or the tele-working per se! Only our people matter, being safe, and continue collaborating as we do in every office of Glove Retail; no matter how, when, where!.