We’ve talked previously about the large study McKinsey did on remote productivity in our article about which job activities are compatible with remote work. There are many great insights in the study, and we wanted to talk about some of the insights that talk about the importance of increasing remote productivity, now that we have had millions of workers performing their duties remotely for more than a year now.

Remote Productivity Statistics

The McKinsey study includes an analysis of 2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries. And it had a lot to say about productivity in the remote work environment.

First, 41 percent of employees who responded to a McKinsey consumer survey in May said they were more productive working remotely than in the office. This is a stark contrast to previous data, which showed that before the pandemic, productivity has been declining as a whole since the 1960s.

So let’s go through some of the biggest technology issues impacting remote work productivity.

Internet Speed

Connectivity is one of the main factors contributing to productivity issues in remote settings. When your teams are not centrally located, working from home or from anywhere means the internet connection may not be optimal.

There is a myriad of ways in which you can help your team boost their connectivity, but you’ll likely have to do some brainstorming to see what will work best for your company’s size and remote tech needs.

Skill Gaps

Moving people to fully remote workspace solutions is more than just packing up the office and setting up a workspace somewhere else. The access, equipment, setup and support systems all go through transition as well.

A lot of the transition to remote solutions requires you to introduce new technologies to help bridge the gaps that are created by allowing your team to be more geographically diverse.

Collaboration tools are great at helping keep your remote teams organized and communicating in an effective and productive way, but not every team member is already familiar with the latest and greatest collaboration tool technology. But there are tons of great resources out there for you and your team, in the form of e-learning, live learning sessions, microlearning libraries, and train-the-trainer programs.

Remote Work Best Practices

Remote work looks different for everyone. When you are working from home or from a public space where the surroundings differ greatly from the office or warehouse, implementing some organization and productivity-based best practices is critical in keeping your teams motivated and avoiding burnout.

We shared a blog post last year with some great tips for maintaining remote productivity, and we wanted to revisit some of them here.

One of the most important ways to keep yourself and your remote team on task is to recognize and limit distractions. It may not be feasible in every home, coffee shop, library, or other remote work location to dedicate a room or space to accommodate your work. The easiest place to set up your work computer may not be the best place. Noise, pets, children, and other visual clutter can severely impact one’s remote productivity.

It’s also helpful to establish communication boundaries and expectations. When you work remotely, it’s easy to see work devices and time as personal, and personal devices and time as helpful for work. As your team ramps up their remote operations, one priority should be the discussion around communication. Where are you sharing your project files? How are you reaching out to specific teams or employees? Do you want to work in group chat threads? Work exclusively through email? There’s no single right answer, but increasing remote productivity means knowing where your assets are and what is expected of you in terms of remote communication.

Hold Engaging Training & Education Classes

It’s hard enough to get your team on the same page when they’re all in the same conference room. To help you make sure your team is connected and well-informed, Meet Me In The Cloud has a range of training services that cater to your team’s needs. Buying the latest collaboration technology isn’t enough. We’re passionate about reaching and teaching people in ways that ensure every individual is comfortable and enthusiastic about using your new collaboration suite – regardless of experience level or technical ability.

Contact us today for more information.