Can You Trust A Smart Worker?

Smart Businesses Work Smart

They see the magnificent benefits that can be achieved from Smart Working.  Wider talent pools, easier candidate attraction, increases in employee engagement which lead to increased productivity and reduction in overheads. What’s not to like?

Yet others do not. Why?

Over the years I have found it is the small matter of  Trust that determines whether Smart Working is introduced or not.  Trust in people, data and time.

I’ve lost count of how many Managers have said, “It’ll never work in our industry.  We have to be able to see their work and besides our data has to be secure.” Only for me to find that their competitor is making a really good job of Smart Working – attracting the best talent who then drive productivity higher.

Talent Pool

I have to live with a long-term injury that altered my life style 4 years ago. Although I still travel widely with work, it made me realise just how large the talent pool is of people who cannot do the normal 9-5 commute. It’s huge! Organisations that don’t tap into this rich seam are really missing out. We’re on a mission to assist.

Building Trust

A talented HRD that I worked with a few years ago when Smart Working was beginning to gather speed, told me how she dealt with the Trust issue.  She identified existing workers and trialled a programme of remote workers, measured them against office based workers doing the same role and learned some important lessons.

She explained “When the remote worker programme began, the rather naive manager in charge of the team, felt the need to ring more often.  That actually led to deterioration of trust.”

To stop this, the HRD encouraged her Manager to make sure that contact was seen as supportive rather than checking up. Just as in an office environment, the Manager became familiar with individual styles of working.  Progress was reviewed less frequently and trust built well in the team as a whole.

Result

By ensuring that the manager built trust and rapport, communicated, clarified expectations and responsibilities with their remote workers, this brave HRD told me that the results began to speak for themselves.

Increase Productivity

She had managed to facilitate the holy grail of home working, TRUST, between manager and remote worker and she, delivered great results. The productivity of home workers was 13.5% higher than those the office! The business went from strength to strength across some continents, recruiting native language speakers to virtual hubs of working enabling the support of new client services in Asia, America, Australasia and Russia.

She told me, “Don’t let them tell you it cannot be done.”

We recognise that each organisation is different and what works regarding Smart Working for one business will not work for another but we have a toolkit of proven implementation methods.

We are offering you a free 30-minute home working consultation to determine the first steps to take for successful implementation in your business. Call Ruth on 07976509551 to arrange a confidential conversation.

Ruth is the owner of The Change Directors who will help you build trust necessary to make Smart Working work for you. Ruth also proudly works with Abodoo, a groundbreaking business who are championing Smart Working across the globe.