How remote work can boost productivity like never before

Office meetings may be “a waste of time” but remote work gives employees new, better ways to collaborate to get the job done.

Collaboration and productivity are more important than ever in this digital age, with an even greater focus on them since remote work became unexpectedly mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While some naysayers have been critical of how effective remote work is for collaboration, at least one study has actually found that company culture rather than remote work impacts collaboration.

Instead, remote work creates the potential for innovative new ways to increase productivity and maximise collaboration. And, according to global tech business Zoho, holding more meetings isn’t it.

Here are 3 better ways remote work is boosting productivity:

 

1. Instant messaging

When working in an office, it’s easy to get sidetracked by a chatty colleague or tempting water-cooler gossip that takes up a lot of your time or makes it difficult for you to focus on the task at hand.

With remote work, it’s less easy to slip into long-winded conversations with instant messaging apps that encourage teams to get straight to the point.

Chatting in person may be easy and feel like it’s not taking up too much time, but if someone had to type that entire conversation out, chances are they’d rather skip the small talk and leave everyone more time to finish their products.

 

2. Access to calendars

When the time does come for meetings, remote work also makes it easier to coordinate instead of scrambling to organise schedules and find out who’s available when.

Shared calendar availability at the click of a button facilitates meetings and collaboration without the extra time and hassle of chasing down team members in different departments.

This is another way how remote work is actually making collaboration easier, faster and more efficient.

It’s also a great way to help colleagues stick to the point by scheduling a specific amount of time to ensure everything gets addressed without taking too much time away from respective projects.

 

3. Document sharing

Remember the not-so-good old days when inter-departmental projects took weeks to finish because of the long, sometimes complicated process involved in collaborating to that level?

Remote work gets rid of that time frame with document-sharing that gives everyone access to certain projects and their updates in real-time.

Instead of having to transfer back and forth, anyone working on the project can easily retrieve the latest version, continue their work and leave feedback without having to schedule a meeting or try to catch up with the other team members working on the project.

All in all, as Zoho suggests, remote work is indeed more collaborative than ever, so it’s no wonder why it’s the preferred way to work for most people around the world.

Find the latest remote jobs in the UK via RemoteWorker.co.uk.