Working in the physical office was the ideal thing; everybody understood there was a 9 to 5 setting, but when only 3% of employees want to work from the physical office, you know that something dramatic is happening. 2020 was a turning point in the way businesses were conducted; people started telecommuting; it was the year that gave WFH the prominence it now enjoys.

WFH rides the wave of effective communication channels and collaboration tools, which saw a great boost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statista, companies implemented a 3.5 average number of new communication channels.

WFH has become the norm; but how efficient is it? Does it solve all the problems, or do you still need to implement some success factors to make it efficient?

Any transformation needs a strategy to work efficiently, and WFH must go with some success factors. Employees must be at the heart of a successful WFH model.

You may need to integrate software such as SuccessFactors that come with cloud human capital management (HCM) solutions that are centered on how employees work, what they need, and what motivates them for an efficient WFH. Such software that is designed around employee experiences will engage your employees by adopting step-by-step directions that can be delivered via tip balloons and other tools.

This enables your employees to have intuitive instruction, as well as ensure processes are automated anytime and anywhere your employees need them.

1. Increasing self-sufficiency

The WFH model requires a lot from employees, the dedication, focus, and commitment must be total. One of the success factors you need to ensure this is self-sufficiency; self-sufficient employees can proactively assess difficult situations and discover ways to tackle such problems on their own.

You must seek out ways to empower your employees so that they don’t need their human resources business partner (HRBP), manager, or support to carry out their tasks, and this you can do by leveraging success factors. Any organization needs strategic plans to forge ahead; there may be problems of implementation if your employees are not self-sufficient, and that’s when you may need the HRBP who are professionals to step in.

The funds you put into getting professionals can be better utilized for some other important things in the growth of the company. As one of the basic success factors an organization needs, increasing your employees’ self-sufficiency ensures you don’t need any external help to implement your strategic plans.

This has become more important now that almost all organizations are focused on digital transformation. The success of any digital transformation initiative is aided by the organization’s digital strategy; if your employees can key in and execute these plans, it’s better and healthier for the organization.

This will give you a better competitive edge since everything is done in-house.

2. Cybersecurity awareness

Apart from digital transformation, the other priority of CIOs is cybersecurity. Looking at the way the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global economy, it should not be a surprise that cybersecurity has been pushed to second place in the 2021 budget priorities of CIOs and IT professionals.

While digital transformation has taken the central focus, cybersecurity awareness is still one of the very important success factors. Digital transformation ensures that you remain relevant in the market; one single cyberattack can ensure that you disappear from the market, depending on the gravity.

One area cyberattackers focus more today, is phishing attacks involving digital messages. With remote working and digital transformation at their peaks, a lot of digital messages will be in transit, and this is a golden opportunity for cyberattackers.

Employees are lured into clicking links that can install the malware; this allows them to easily access your sensitive data. If your employees have good cybersecurity awareness, they can refrain from clicking suspicious links.

3. Increased inter-departmental collaboration

The WFH model can be said to be relatively new; some employees are still finding the necessary adjustments for efficiency difficult. This hampers productivity. In the physical workspace, it was easy to move from one department to another; communication among employees could be at the snap of fingers.

Physical meetings were organized regularly to sort out issues. The situation has dramatically changed; employees now need to do telecommuting, which is not easy. But, tasks must be carried out, and you need some success factors to achieve this.

If you ensure the free flow of information across different departments, your problems can be solved to a very large extent. Employees need to exchange ideas and know what is generally going on in the organization.

Collaboration tools and platforms are the success factors that will aid effective telecommuting. Video conferencing tools can be deployed for virtual meetings to replace face-to-face conversations.

There is a need for rapport among employees; they don’t need to see themselves working in isolation. The spirit of everybody working towards a common goal must still be maintained, although they are now working from different locations.

4. Increased customer experience

The major reason you started WFH is to ensure that you maintain your customers; if you lose them, the competition gains them. You may have some customers who may be sympathetic to your problems, however, it’s not their business.

They want quality products or services, and that’s what you should give them. They don’t want excuses; after all, they are paying for what you offer.

One of the basic reasons for any transformation in the business landscape is to give customers value, WFH is a transformation that may be necessitated by the pandemic; however, improving customer experience is a surefire success factor. If you had solely depended on your human employees to address customers’ pain points, you can consider integrating AI, machine learning, and Chatbots among other technological advancements to maintain around-the-clock customer service.

This is very essential now that your employees operate from different locations. An efficient WFH model must be customer-centric; focusing on the customer, and being consumer-centric, is your success factor.

Conclusion

Employees must focus on giving customers value; they should not waste valuable time on irrelevancies. They should seamlessly integrate success factors into their tasks. Without depending on HRBP, they should be able to intuitively find solutions to problems. Automating tasks where necessary is a step in the right direction to enhance a better customer experience.