A year of working from home – how businesses are embracing the change
It’s been a year since we received the instruction to work from home, where possible. In that time, how have businesses embraced the change? And is the concept of an office no longer a reality?
Our MD Pippa was asked by Natural HR, a Cloud HR Software company, to share comments and learnings about how flexible and remote working at Plain Speaking PR has benefitted the business and our clients.
Alongside HR experts and other business leaders, Pippa shares her thoughts on why working remotely has been embraced as an opportunity for us at Plain Speaking PR. And offers advice for how to look after employees and maintain good personal connections when working from home.
She says; “After this imposed period of lone working, some businesses will decide to make it permanent. We switched to working from home in 2016. And the change has definitely paid off for the business and for our clients. It has made Plain Speaking PR more attractive as an employer, and I’ve recruited brilliant senior level PR consultants as a result. My team members have families and other commitments, and it means they can save time commuting to and from work, and spend it with their loved ones or doing the things they enjoy most. For clients, we’re more available. We have more regular contact than ever before, because we’re not constantly planning for physical meetings which take up so much time in people’s busy schedules.”
“That’s not to say it’s an easy way of working. Running an effective and motivated home-based team takes investment, time and careful thinking. And it won’t work for everybody. You need to consider if your team members have everything they need, to work efficiently and to take care of their wellbeing. A phone headset, for example, is essential as we spend increased time talking on calls or on screen.”
“That said, we do miss face to face contact here at Plain Speaking PR. There’s no real substitute for it. Being PR people, we’re naturally social beings! And every week, pre-pandemic, we’d have client meetings, events, and team get-togethers in the diary. While home-working suits us and our business, we cannot wait to see people in real life.”
Read the full article here, which includes some interesting views from small and large businesses about how the world of work has changed, potentially forever. And how discovering a different working configuration could spell an exciting new era for your business.
Thank you Natural HR for including us in the article.
