Due to recent events, remote working has become the forefront challenge organisations are having to face. For many, this has brought on new experiences, especially for the end-user who may have never worked remotely before.
A call for IT Service Desks to help has never been more needed than now, due to the new wave of remote workers needing guidance and advice through these troubled times, and to lead them on the road to a positive Remote Work Experience.
There is an urgent need for companies to have visibility on how remote working tools and practices are performing, in order to support employees with this adaption to a new way of working.
This article and on-demand webinar episode has been made in order to bring to you quickly the first indicators of what seems to be the matter with Remote Working.
Watch the full episode on the findings below:
What's being said about Remote Work?
In September 2019, a study was made into remote work by OwlLabs. This research study was conducted in the USA and surveyed 1,202 full-time workers between the ages of 22 and 65.
From this survey population group, 62% of people worked remotely at any frequency. This leads well to the quote that "Remote work isn't the future - it's the present" - OwlLabs.
Another interesting study that we have found is from Jaxenter. They found that 71% of remote workers say that they are happy with their job compared to 55% of onsite workers.
An interesting thing to also consider here is that both of these studies have been conducted before the pandemic outbreak. This suggests that remote working tools should be accessible and utilized as many people find remote working more productive than working onsite.
How Did We Collect Our Data?
The data collected has been from our Happiness Score™ Report. However, these current findings are just a sneak peak into what has happened over the last 8 days. The whole report will be published in Q2.
We gathered this data by adding an extra survey question after end-users reply about their service experiences. This question asks how if the person is currently working remotely, how happy is the person with remote working tools, followed up by different factors to identify the reason for their experience.
Over the first 8 days, 28 enterprises joined, leading to 5,567 responses from 80 different countries.
Happiness Score™ Remote Work Experience
We found that across our customer base there has been an increase of 25-30% more tickets overall. However, the average score of the IT Remote Work Experience was +36. This actually means that there has been 4 times the amount of people rating the service they received either with a 9 or 10 compared to people rating their experience with anything from 7 and below.
This means that even though people may have had more issues and problems with remote work, they are generally happier with the IT service they are receiving. This could also mean end-users also more content with working from home than onsite.
What are the Biggest Complaints From End-Users?
One of the biggest complaints that end-users are having is in relation to VPNs, for example "my VPN doesn't work", "my VPN is too slow", "I can't connect through VPN". This can be due to the increased usage and connectivity of companies VPNs due to the increase in remote working. One company we spoke to said they had to increase their VPN capacity by 6 times in order to maintain the situation.
Our recommendation at HappySignals is to ditch the VPN and migrate across to cloud services. For example, HappySignals being a smaller company, we use two-factor authenticators to login to different accounts, creating quick and easy access to information.
However, if you still need to use VPN in your organisation, then establishing when a VPN should be used is highly important and can boost your end-users productivity.
Another main problem as well, of course, was related to devices. This is due to a lot of people having to now work from a portable device such as a laptop, instead of their desktop computer or extra screen they may be used to working on in the office. As well as this, the accessories that may of accompanied this hardware, such as mouses and keyboards were also a recurring negative topic.
Not only were there hardware problems, but there were also new software problems. End-users have now had to start using new software or downloading new software for their devices. But the problems we keep seeing is that they do not have the access to install applications themselves, therefore needing IT support or permission to do so.
Putting work and technology to one side, people appear to be adjusting to remote working and enjoy the freedom and space that this style of working offers. However, social distancing can become an issue. Some people really need the social interaction that an office offers.
In order to overcome this, we have started having a 'virtual coffee session' everyday at 15:30. This essentially mimics the conversations that may of been held in the office or at the coffee machine, and allows people to interact and not feel so isolated.
Work on Culture. Get the Best Results.
Remote work shouldn't be feared and should be embedded in the culture of a company. Culture is the keyword here, as you are going to need to develop a culture that allows and accepts remote work.
This can be anything from developing new processes, to how to arrange meetings so everyone is active, to understanding whose network connection is better than others. A term that we believe is now more important than ever is "Remote First". This is just the same as "Mobile First" where everything needs to be built and designed for mobile devices before anything else can be developed.
"Remote First" means that company practices and processes are built to work remotely first before they are made to work within the office. If this is done, then when people do go to work remotely they will be able to do this with ease.
Developing these company cultural norms and values can lead to a happy and positive employee experience.
