Human capital
leap-frog previous obstacles, and everyone is more connected to the mission.”
The innovation imperative For starters, Kahai believes that remote work will have an adverse impact on innovation. Why? Because innovation, he explains, is the result of a collaboration between two people who think completely differently. “For instance, somebody in finance and somebody in marketing might come up with a brilliant idea no one thought of before,” explains Kahai. “Or somebody working in IT might talk to somebody in HR, and together they invent a way to make employees more satisfied by using technology. It’s all about unrelated people who have not been talking to each other on a regular basis coming together and sharing ideas.” To put it another way, innovation requires informal social interactions – chance encounters that traditionally happen at the lunch table, over the water cooler or during an office social hour. However, these interactions are few and far between in a digital environment. “Spontaneous innovation comes out of spontaneous interaction,” emphasises Kahai. “The best ideas aren’t those you plan. They emerge naturally from interactions with someone else who thinks differently from you, who is in a different domain altogether. That cannot happen online.” So how can companies preserve innovation in a remote climate? One strategy, suggests Kahai, is to host in-person social gatherings throughout the year. “Even if someone is working from Iowa, make a point of saying ‘please visit us’,” he says. “Once every three months, four months, six months – whatever it is, you’ve got to do it.”
41%
UK employees would rather resign than return to the office.
Owl Labs 12 Consider the social media management company
Buffer, which has been fully remote since 2015. Before the pandemic, it was hosting at least one team retreat per year in locations across the world, from San Diego to Singapore. “It’s remarkable to see the impact a week in the same place has on our team,” notes Buffer’s chief of special projects on the company’s blog. “After a week together, remote work is smoother, teammates are more energised and forgiving, projects
Of course, Covid-19 has made it nearly impossible for coworkers to meet in person. As a result, video conferencing platforms like Zoom soared in popularity, providing a way to connect from afar. But Zoom calls aren’t a long-term solution, says Kahai. “Social chit- chat is missing on these calls, and that’s not natural,” he explains. In person, colleagues can pair off and have informal side conversations while waiting for a staff meeting to start. The same can’t be said for video calls: platforms like Zoom also fall short when it comes to providing spontaneity. While many of the best in-person interactions aren’t planned, video calls by their very nature are organised and regimented. As Kahai says, this is a major problem. “Human connection comes from spontaneity and the fact that you care,” he says. “You cannot plan that.” Sure enough, many executives are struggling to strike the right balance for virtual communications. Some businesses, like HSBC and Citigroup, have piloted ‘Zoom-free’ days as a potential solution to employee burnout. “The blurring of lines between home and work and the relentlessness of the pandemic workday have taken a toll on our wellbeing,” explained Citigroup CEO Jen Fraser in a March 2021 memo. “It’s simply not sustainable. Since a return to any kind of new normal is still a few months away for many of us, we need to reset some of our working practices.” In the long run, simple measures like this may even help businesses protect their bottom lines. According to one estimate, disengaged employees cost the UK economy an average of £340bn each year – so keeping staff happy and healthy should be a top priority in the virtual workplace.
Mind the gap
In a similar vein, enterprises have to proactively help employees preserve their humanity in a world of Zoom calls and Slack channels. After setting staff up with the right technology, says Kahai, leaders often make the mistake of thinking their work is done. But this is only the beginning. “So many leaders think that switching to virtual work is all about giving employees technology so they can connect to the network, email, make Zoom calls, and function as if they were sitting in their office,” he explains. “That’s not the end of the story. Virtual work means that the person on the other side is still a human being, and that person is missing the human touch.” In other words, technology alone can only take companies so far. “There’s enough research telling us that technology is only a part of the solution, never a complete solution,” adds Kahai. “One has to combine that with being human. Because with technology, you are only creating distance or the potential for distance. The only way we can bridge that distance is by being human.”
Finance Director Europe /
www.ns-businesshub.com
Inspiring/
Shutterstock.com
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