Personal Blogs

Thank-you Simon for collating .

Thank-you for your questions , I  have answered below , Mandy

• perhaps it depends if all the other workers are remote from each other?

Anecdotally and from the some of the survey monkey questionnaire there is a difference  in  responses between those who are remote workers . This group appear to be more aware of communication issues and also  want to resolve this – as the literature suggests feeling isolated , . This is one of the reasons why in the pilot workshop I opened out  the discussion to focus on the pros and cons of each group. The danger is it could become two factions so hence why trying to create a community of practice  to share and learn with and from each other and move towards a new way ,

• My work team all work in the office, but our group WhatsApp is invaluable. You can guarantee than someone will be on leave when you urgently need a quick question answering.

I agree , the team I  lead and the other international colleagues in other teams this  our number one method  – we can quickly utilise  the chat  function or do a call with or without video . This is very immediate and is useful for both formal and  informal communication . We often set up mini groups for time specific projects or when we are at conferences to share meeting times or a social get together . Interestingly  the whole team WhatsApp set up my line manager very minimal use and the last few postings have been made from remote workers.

• the feedback suggested some pre-workshop activity would be useful? have you considered any post-workshop activity? to steer participants into that community of practice?

To be honest I had not considered that – I think I was so focused on the here and now and so II will now add that to my planning – thank-you .

• When people work remotely is is more often their choice or an economy of the company?

Great question – I think it is a mixture of both  when I started no UK office and  so convenience . There was a  move  that folks when employed should move and we have seen folks relocate but the last few appointments at very senior levels e.g. Vice President  remote working so II sense a shift . Most of the international teams are based remotely as if you work in X , why not live there or close by . HR have said that the costs of remote workers are like those at  the  office as you add in their  costs , travel , internet , office ware – so maybe it is about serving the community you work with and for,

• sorry if I missed this - were the remote workers participating in this workshop remotely? did the remote and home office workers interact with the workshop in the same way?

Therefore, the pilot  was  so crucial – I assumed that those in the office would have joined remotely – they did not  and were in a teaching   room with the rest signed in individually  so this was something that I will change . As a remote worker myself my assumption was they would sign in like me – so it shows how sometimes you  have to pause and step back . .

• yes, they should all have sat at their desks to log in to the workshop

Agreed ….. reflection on action moment for me