Remote working is an old acquaintance
I joined Telefónica 27 years ago. One of my first assignments was to collaborate on the launch of the T-Motion solution, a two-way pager from RIM and predecessor to the BlackBerry.
I remember being at an event where the RIM people told the story of how many detractors of their solution wondered: Who would want their email to arrive on a mobile device on their belt?
A couple of years later, it was commonplace to read and reply to emails from the first smartphones. The first BlackBerrys were equipped with full keyboards to facilitate this. You no longer had to wait until you got to the office to reply to your emails.
RIM grew a lot during that time and began hiring people outside of Canada. Some of them were in the United States and others in Bogotá, working from home! This seemed like something out of this world to me, because when I got married, I moved into what would be my first flat and it took me an hour to get to work every morning.
Even then, you talked to many of them and they explained some of the downsides of remote working.
Remote working and its peculiarities
The first things my friends at RIM told me were that when working remotely, it was important to separate the space. You had to have a place to use as an office, put your documents, and ensure some privacy when necessary.
The next thing was to get ready for work. Some of them dressed in office clothes to get in a better frame of mind for work. It was also necessary to establish a routine to get used to keeping to a schedule.
Separating domestic issues. Especially those with young children had to manage their domestic issues so that their families understood that, even though they saw them at home, they were not actually available for daily chores.
The fear behind remote working
Long after those first encounters with the concept of remote working, the topic began to be discussed at Telefónica Venezolana. Around 2017, some ‘pilot programmes’ began to be implemented, but at that time there was a lot of fear surrounding the issue.
The initial belief was that if we weren’t monitoring our employees, the work wouldn’t get done. Those first pilots required us to make weekly work plans with the person who was going to work from home and document the results obtained.
Of course, the benefits of those first attempts were evident. I remember that for that pilot programme, I gave the opportunity to one of my colleagues who lived in a commuter town near Caracas and had to leave her home at night to get to work on time. Her productivity multiplied, as did her well-being, thanks to all the time she was able to use in a different way.
The pandemic changed everything
When the COVID pandemic hit Venezuela, the government decided that the population had to shelter in their homes, and we were forced to activate teleworking for the entire company.
The demands of that situation reinforced the benefits of remote working. By managing your time correctly, you could spend more time with your family, and in my case, I was able to accompany my youngest daughter on her adventure of doing her first year of primary school digitally. I remember sitting her next to me so she could take her classes while I was working.
It was necessity that forced us to take that leap of faith that the work would get done, and the results proved it, so much so that when the pressing situation ended, the hybrid work model emerged.
With the hybrid model, employees work two days from home and three days in person. The days at home allowed us to manage many more things at the same time, while the days in person gave us focus and the opportunity to network with colleagues.
Leadership in the hybrid model: What have been the challenges of this hybrid work?
Time management is one of the first things that needs to be addressed. When we are at home, we may tend to be more flexible with our schedules, and I began to notice that my colleagues were not responding to me instantly, as they would when they were sitting next to me. The solution: schedule time slots. When working remotely, it is important to schedule calls or short alignment meetings.
From those initial misunderstandings, another aspect of remote working quickly emerged: flexibility. Hybrid environments benefit from being flexible. Allowing everyone to manage their own time through management by objectives enables them to capitalise on the benefits of being outside the office.
In the case of hybrid environments, it is also necessary to plan face-to-face time. On the one hand, to have one day a week to bring everyone together and, on the other, to ensure that the area always has team members on hand to respond to any needs that may arise.
Finally, continuous monitoring and feedback. Since contact is no longer as continuous as before, it is advisable to have a weekly space for reviewing results and planning work, no longer from that old fear, but from the understanding that remote working requires a little more coordination to deliver the best results.
Remote working is work
My eldest son is studying computer engineering and finished his academic workload this year. The company that hired him has a hybrid working model and assigns him one day a week to work from home. The first day he had to work from home, I also happened to be working from home, and I had to go and wake him up to remind him that remote work is work. Just because you are at home does not mean you work fewer hours or deliver fewer results.
Remote work is work, which means that I have to be able to work from home. I must have the space and tools to work. One of my colleagues started having scheduled power cuts every Tuesday, and of course that day became one of her fixed days for working in the office. We are currently conducting some tests that can only be done from the office, and we have been coming in every day for two weeks.
Let’s lead the change!
Remote working is a very beneficial trend. It saves us commuting time and allows us to have a different mix of work and personal time that benefits our well-being.
Leaders can view and manage this reality with flexibility, closeness and monitoring of objectives, developing problem-solving skills and autonomy in their work team.
