"We should see this crisis as an opportunity to introduce homeworking widely and accelerated"

One of the measures against the spread of the COVID-19 virus is for organisations to enable their employees to work from home. But how can you organise this properly? And does it really work? Can projects continue even if employees do not meet physically? Improven consultant Jacco van de Griek works almost exclusively remotely. In recent years, he has been working as a project lead or PMO lead in large international transformation programmes in FMCG. Two-thirds of the colleagues he works with, he never meets live. Jacco talks about his experiences and gives tips on how to properly handle this so-called remote working. Van de Griek: "First of all, it is important to give employees the right tools to work from home, but that's not all."

How far along are Dutch companies and organisations with remote working?

Jacco van de Griek: "The level of maturity varies enormously. Remote working demands a lot from systems and people and this sometimes also involves substantial investments. In these special times, we notice that as a result of the corona measures, many large government institutions in particular are already quite digitally equipped. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), remote working is relatively new. There, this period of uncertainty does not help accelerate investments. Fortunately, some of these companies are already catching up. Finally, you have the multinationals and large 'corporates'. They don't really do anything else. Global digital cooperation, there, is the rule rather than the exception so that's where I fit in well."

What is involved in professional remote working?

Jacco van de Griek: ". When working remotely, you miss the direct contact. Quickly catching up at the coffee machine is not possible. This requires a different, more assertive and proactive attitude from everyone involved. First of all, establish a clear rhythm in the contact. For instance, you can agree to start each day with a short 'call' with the whole team, so you can discuss what everyone is working on. And later in the day you repeat that to see whether what was planned succeeded or not. But even outside scheduled appointments, you have to keep taking initiative. This is where remote working differs from the situation in the office."

What should organisations and employees pay attention to when working from home?

Jacco van de Griek: "Two things are important. Firstly, the tools to work remotely. And secondly, the set-up of the home office. For many companies, choosing the right instrument is where most attention is paid. This involves questions such as: which tools are on the market? Which ones are most suitable for our organisation? And how can I best use the tool of my choice? But you can have such great tools... if a colleague can't concentrate at home it won't work. It is important for employees to have a good workplace. Where they have documents, notes and other things to hand. It is also relevant to make good arrangements with any partner who may also work from home. Who works where? If there are children: who takes care of them? Is there a work schedule and a good division of tasks? If there is then a call or video conference, that the working parents are not disturbed."

Working remotely is everyday for you. What can you tell us about your experiences in that area?

Jacco van de Griek: "It is an excellent solution and not only under the current circumstances. We should see this crisis as an opportunity to introduce this way of working widely and accelerated in the Netherlands. In the international projects I do, I always pay attention to a number of important aspects. First of all: who are on my team? Who should I have daily contact with and who should I have weekly contact with? So I bring structure. Another aspect is the process. For example, do I want to incorporate a day-start? And do I want there to be an end-of-day meeting? Do I want to organise meetings throughout the day on other topics? What it comes down to is, make sure meetings take place at set times and are in the calendars of all team members for the entire period it is needed. So now with the corona crisis, I schedule all meetings digitally and in advance until the week after 6 April. And I make sure everyone is aware of that."

What about the systems being used?

Jacco van de Griek: "Exactly. A key focus is, of course: which systems do we work with to connect with each other and carry out the project. For conference calls, this could be Skype, but also MS Teams or Zoom. There are also all kinds of other tools that are suitable. But there will also be tools like Agile Teams, JIRA and Planner from Microsoft. It can also just be your own action list. What matters is that everyone knows what is being worked with and what makes work processes manageable. So that team members know where to look to know what the action items are."

What steps should organisations take to properly initiate remote working?

Jacco van de Griek: "To start with, look at what systems and tools you already have in place. Then make sure employees know they can work with them. Let each team challenge themselves and experiment with them to master certain functionalities. Furthermore, make sure there is a clear 'drum-beat' so people know when digital meetings are being held and experiment with fun things. Why don't we do Friday afternoon drinks via Skype one day? That evokes a positive atmosphere."

What can a customer count on when engaging Improven?

Jacco van de Griek: "First of all, we recognise the situation. Remote consulting has been daily business for us for a long time. We guide various companies in remote-working issues. First, we determine the current situation and ambition together. Then we come up with practical proposals and, of course, the actual implementation follows. Everything we then do is done remotely. If things need to be installed or adapted, we do it online. Physical contact is not necessary. So we adhere to government guidelines at all times. We can set up remote working and make it operational in a short time, allowing organisations or enterprises to get on with their core business at lightning speed."

More information?

For more information on this topic, please contact Jacco van de Griek at jacco.van.de.griek@improven.nl/ 06 11 52 98 20 or Masha Hennequin at masha.hennequin@improven.nl/ 06 20 60 43 25.