Whether you call it “remote work,” “working from home,” or “telecommuting,” there is not doubt that the use of physical office spaces will decrease in favor of these alternatives. According to Global Workplace Analytics, the number of remote workers since 2005 grew 140%, and just one year, 2017 to 2018, accounted for 22% of that growth. The president of Global Workplace Analytics, Kate Lister,  estimates that by 2021, approximately 25%-30% of the workforce will being working from home multiple days of the week.

Despite the growth of remote work and the apparent advantages, there is often lingering hesitation from executives and management concerning the transition.

Here are 4 concerns about remote work and how property managements can overcome them:

Supervision

When your team isn’t in the same building as you, how do you manage employees? To keep your team accountable, remain in communication, even if it’s just through weekly emails, request updates, and use audits to check the progress of tasks online. Steady communication and online reports can help management keep an eye on progress virtually. 

Access to Information

Remote workers may be concerned about the speed and ease of access to information but one easy way to solve the problem is through an online database. An organized, online property management platform or portal will provide users with on-demand access to data they need with the same convenience at home or on the road as in an office. A platform integrated with all other users in the company can facilitate fluid connectivity between teams and overcome departmental divides.

Morale

Loneliness resulting from isolation is one of the most emphasized drawbacks of remote work. It can cause morale and job satisfaction to suffer while causing increased employee stress. To avoid loneliness remote workers should be reminded that they’re part of a team by management. To do this you can allow partial work from home days such as 3 or 4 days out of the week. The Upwork, 2018 Future Workforce Report, found that 63% of U.S. companies offered flex options. Regularly scheduled one on one or team video meetings can also help to relieve feelings of isolation to boost morale.

Security

It’s hard to guard your organizations information when your employees are accessing data from their personal WiFi connections. A simple solution for security issues is to provide remote workers with a software platform that is protected by encryption and VPN to maintain the integrity of sensitive data inside and outside the office.

Distractions 

It makes sense to for employers to be worried about distraction in the home that they cannot control like family, doorbells, the internet. The truth is while the distractions at an office may be different, they exist there as well. In the office employees are not at their desk on average 50%-60% of them time, so while there may be distractions at home, it’s likely not as frequent as in the workplace. Having employees report progress to management can help them stay on task and try and find their own solutions for distractions, you can also offer solutions like listening to music, staggering breaks into shorter more frequent time slots, or working an hour extra to make up for other breaks during the day.

There are many reasons companies elect to transition a significant portion of their team to the remote work force. For property managers, having the infrastructure in place to be mobile outside of the office better suits the nature of the job by providing employees to visit different sites more freely. Remote work offers employees greater flexibility in their schedule, where they work, and how they work.