Making Remote Work Work

Even an old-school organization can benefit with a little effort

My organization is late to the remote work party, but 2020 is the year we’ve decided to leap. It’s part of an overall effort to shift our culture to one of growth and innovation.

Up until now, working from home was a privilege granted on an occasional basis, with strict parameters. We’re now changing to a system where it will be the norm for everyone.

One of the benefits of not being out front — to put it mildly — is that we get to benefit from lessons learned by others. But, no matter how much preparation we do, there will no doubt be a few glitches.

As we work through this process, we have had to come to terms with some issues along the way.

Why change now?
Remote work not only encourages more productivity and flexibility. It can improve employees’ quality of life. It’s no longer a fad or a niche arrangement for those in the tech sector.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve had to recruit for several new positions after a long period of staff stability. We discovered that at least a quarter of our candidates considered our lack of a teleworking culture to be a drawback to joining our organization.

Remote work is an established part of the employment landscape in the non-profit sector like any other, and we need to attract quality employees.

Our clients also expect to deal with us remotely. We have always offered services to populations outside our headquarters city, but they were considered an “add on” to our local activities.

Better technology has allowed those outside our headquarters city to take advantage of our services, and in turn, their expectations have increased. If we’re serving clients remotely, the idea that we must have our team all in one place seems silly.

What are the benefits to workers?

At the most obvious level, working from home takes away the time and stress involved in commuting. But the benefits go far beyond that.

For most teleworkers, remote work brings a more peaceful, comfortable workplace with fewer distractions and…

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