Although remote working is not utterly ubiquitous, with the rise of the mobile phone, more people than ever currently telecommute, presenting new challenges for business owners everywhere. An estimated 59% of employers offered to telework in 2011 according to CBI, a sharp increase from 13% in 2006. This is an increase that is almost definitely assisted along by the more robust mobile communication network that we have today.
For all its benefits, remote working can cause confusion and increase opportunities for tasks to slip through the cracks and not be picked up by the right people. As a result, the mobile phone has created new risks and helping to exaggerate existing ones with its rise to prominence.
Business functionality risks
There is a risk that important things will not happen thanks to the mobile phone. Someone working remotely is only going to pick up on every task if your processes and communication abilities are flawless. Can you honestly say that they are?
Internal communications frequently scupper businesses large and small and taking a member of the team out of the office itself can cause an extra strain. It is rare that someone can work truly remotely all of the time and someone only being accessible via smartphone at a critical moment can be an issue.
Although the infrastructure to support smartphone use is mostly there, it is far from perfect and as for the processes that most companies have in place, standard methods of dealing with remote workers are rarely fit for purpose and still break easily.
Work ethic
Last year, Yahoo! made the decision that none of its staff could work from home because they are not as productive when they do. This raised a few eyebrows and sparked a debate that still rears its head from time to time.
The risk of low productivity of staff and team members has always been around, although the smartphone making it easier to work remotely means this can become a much larger issue. Monitoring over-all productivity is something employers would be advised to keep an eye on as it could mean that this particular people issue is brought a bit more to the fore.
Distraction
There is a risk of your team being distracted by their constantly connected devices. Whilst there is a positive fact that you have the ability to be connected anywhere you go so long as you have your smartphone, on the other hand, so long as you have your smartphone, you have the ability to be connected anywhere you go. Some people even feel compelled to pick up the phone when they’re driving between locations.
With a smartphone fastened to all of your team members, there’s a temptation to be in constant contact to the detriment of their overall productivity and it can inspire destructive levels of micromanagement.
Technology lifts and creates burdens
Technology often creates as many new problems as it solves existing ones. With the smartphone, we are always contactable, always online, always connected and in many cases always on the clock, but whether this outweighs the risks inherent to remote working will depend very much on your individual business needs and situation.