Remote working: trust is a key factor

Companies will have to learn to trust their staff more and introduce new management techniques if the use of remote working is to be a success.

Flexible working is being rapidly adopted across the world, but companies are struggling to fully accept it because they are still applying traditional management methods, according to research by the London School of Economics (LSE) on behalf of mobile network operator Orange.

'We are not saying employers don't trust staff, but one of the key factors in achieving remote working is stability based on trust, on both sides,' said Dr Carsten Sorenson, senior lecturer in information systems at the LSE.

'The existing ways of managing people are based on being in the same room at the same time. It's time to change this so we can start living with this technology,' he said.

The mobile phone and the laptop are the major technologies in use by workers when out of the office, but Sorenson says businesses need to do more to help travelling staff.

'Remote working is already a reality to some extent, but we need to be much better at providing people with better access to systems in their offices,' he said.

If remote working and trust is to improve, guidance must be provided to staff relating to what they can or cannot do, he says.

'Some of the things that will happen will be much more detailed improvements about what data is used for what purposes and at what level people will allowed to be flexible,' said Sorenson.