Synchronous remote working

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to improve their climate literacy so as to understand the projected impacts from the expanding climate crisis and how to adapt their workplaces in the face of these impacts.

Check this data point from a survey done recently by Robert Half of more than 2,800 senior managers and more than 1,000 workers in the U.S.

Raise your hand if this has been your experience!

Many teams that have come from traditional in-person environments and who have been forced to work remotely because of the pandemic are still, almost 2 years in, attempting to “copy and paste” synchronous ways of working into a digital environment. 

“Synchronous remote working” can be done of course but it is highly inefficient and is the root cause of video fatigue and burnout which is being reported with increasing frequency by those who are attempting this.

Synchronous video calls play a critical roll in a well designed work-from-anywhere workplace, BUT they are used judiciously and often only for certain things like, 1-on-1 catchups or when something complex or sensitive has to be discussed. 

Successful work-from-anywhere teams have a very strong bias towards asynchronous ways of working where there are less video meetings not more.