Many organisations are currently investing in remote and flexible working practices in order to reduce operating costs, improve team efficiency and make smarter, more efficient use of corporate accommodation.
This article describes the top 7 things that should be measured in assessing the long term performance of your strategy.
We would suggest that scores are assigned to the following 7 key areas regarding a team efficiency at the start of the change programme, then after 3 months and after a year. It is difficult to gain an insightful appreciation of the actual impact of something when you are 'on the ground'. Being able to refer back to a documented record of prior performance and predicted/actual impact of a change can give a much truer picture.
1. Productivity
There are many factors which make up the 'productivity' impact of the introduction of remote working. How long does it take to carry out the business process compared to the 'old school' method', quantity and quality of team collaboration ? What level of control does the team leader have now they are not in the same location as the team members.
2. Quality of Information
Centralisation of data is key to ensuring maximum benefit in this area. Any duplicate entry of key corporate data locally will introduce additional human error. If an increase in error/poor quality work is a major concern, data duplication and synchronisation solutions should be investigated as well as the use of web services to provide secure access to centralised data systems.
3. Speed Of Response
Access to information is key to the effectiveness of remote and mobile work practices. The availability of the right data at the right time to the right members of staff. Security concerns will remain central to some industry sectors and therefore the availability of data need to be balanced against the approach taken to authentication and user roles and permissions.
4. Systems Acceptance and Usage By Staff
Simplicity of user interaction, immediacy of the right information to the right individuals and sufficient appropriate training and education will combine to either create a solution which is accepted and adds value to the employees or one that is despised by employees and avoided at all costs.
5. Return of Investment
The bottom line here is that any investment needs to be justified. For revised patterns of working, innovative communication technology or education and expert external consultancy in mobile/remote working should be no exception.
6. Customer Satisfaction Perception
Where the service provided by the teams involved are customer/consumer facing it is important to measure customer satisfaction levels before and after the change of practices. Our evidence has been that although savings have been made in other areas and teams efficiency can be improved - that with careful handling customer service levels can be sustained.
7. Staff Perception
The impact of a change of working practice and associated adjustments to a revised way of doing things can have a profound impact of personnel. It is important to understand the initial perception of staff prior to the introduction of any changes, ensure that they are well informed and provided the necessary training throughout the programme and given and robust readily available mechanism for passing back feedback during the process.
In summary, there are a key set of delivered objectives and milestones which should be considered during the process of remote/flexible working adoption and careful thought should be given prior during and after implementation in order to ensure that maximum benefits are achieved.
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