The move to remote working has opened many doors for employees to manage their work/life balance. The removal of the weekly commute, and the ability to apply for any job without geographic constraints, are just a couple of positives that have come from a terrible two years.
However, one of the regular features of business life that has not been affected by COVID-19, and has intensified in many cases, is meetings. Instead of scheduling a room for when everyone is in the office, team leaders have the ability to call everyone to attention almost instantly, giving employees nowhere to hide, unless they already have a meeting planned.
But many a time these meetings can be just as productive if they take place in a different form, specifically asynchronously.
If the colleagues working on a project agree to do so in an asynchronous style, different contributors can add to a project in their own time, when they are able to devote their undivided attention to it, rather than be forced to engage at a particular moment, regardless of how their day is going so far.
As 2600Hz product marketing associate, Clint Mohs, details, the communications provider have worked on projects in this style, picking up where a colleague left off.
“From my vantage point, I think the move to working asynchronously has made us a much more productive business. Giving people the tools to choose when they work is going to lead to employees who are more engaged and have a sense of ownership over what they are doing.
“Although for colleagues like me and Alisa in different time zones and different states, it's great to be able to instantly chat back and forth, this Slack culture interrupts our day to day tasks. Therefore it's also really nice to have the ability to know that I don't need to immediately respond when I'm deeply focused on writing a blog post, recording a podcast, or carrying out some of my other tasks.”
Wasted time
One of the key reasons why allowing businesses to work on projects in their own time is a great idea, is the efficiency savings each employee can make.
According to data collected by Otter.ai, ineffective meetings cost employees 31 hours a month which equates to one working day per week. Mohs went on to explain how these employees can save that time by managing their days better.
