2 Case study: virtual team working versus relocation
Following the global pandemic and the ‘stay at home’ directive given in many countries, you may already have some experience of working in a virtual team. If not, you may know someone who works in this way and have heard them talk about some of the benefits and also some of the issues that can arise.
Take a look now at the case study of Lauren and consider why she has made the decision to work at home and why some of her colleagues decided against this.
Case study 1: Lauren
Lauren works for a global publishing company. Four years ago she was office-based but when her local office (in Reading, England) was closed to make financial savings, Lauren was one of a group of workers who did not want to relocate to the main office located some 150 miles away. As she had worked for the company for 15 years, they did not want to lose her experience and knowledge. Along with Lauren, a number of experienced employees were offered home working as an alternative to relocation.
While some of the Reading team did not feel this would suit them and decided to look for other work in the area or accepted relocation, a handful of Lauren’s colleagues decided to try working from home. Since then the company has closed three more offices and even more employees have taken up the home working option.
In Activity 1, you’ll have the chance to consider your own feelings on this option.
Activity 1 Your thoughts on virtual team working
While you may not have had a similar experience to Lauren, you can probably imagine what thoughts you would have if this happened to you. Take a moment now to consider:
- Why do you think Lauren chose home working rather than relocation?
- Why do you think some of the workers felt that they did not want to take the option of home working?
- What benefits did the option of home working offer the company?
- How would you have felt in this situation?
Comment
Lauren may have chosen home working because relocation would have led to significant change, but she didn’t want to leave her job. Perhaps she had family commitments to consider or didn’t want to move away from her local community. She may have found the idea of remote working quite attractive – giving her greater flexibility to balance her home and work life without having to commute.
Colleagues who chose to relocate or leave may have had concerns about feeling isolated or perhaps they saw this as a good opportunity to move on to something new.
The company obviously found it beneficial as they went on to repeat the change in other offices. Closing offices can lead to significant financial savings which could be used elsewhere in the business.
What did you decide would suit you best? You’ll explore some of the pros and cons in more detail next.
For some people, there are clear advantages to working from home. Frequently-cited examples include:
- greater flexibility
- more autonomy
- fewer work distractions leading to greater productivity
- increased job satisfaction
- reduction of travel time and associated costs
- health benefits.
Of course not every remote worker is based at home. Many people choose to use the shared office spaces that are increasingly available in towns and cities across the globe.
These advantages would certainly apply to many established individuals moving from the office to a remote working environment. But for those who don’t yet have strong connections with existing colleagues, such as new hires, the problems might be different.
Reasons for not choosing to work from home might include:
- lack of office space in the home and the struggle to keep home life and work life separate
- concerns about motivation outside the team environment
- feelings of loneliness or isolation
- too many distractions in the home, particularly if there are children or pets living in the same house
- problems with technology or connectivity if the home is in a remote area
- reduced opportunities to network with new, or existing, colleagues.
One thing that the global pandemic has demonstrated more clearly is the pros and cons for employers in embracing a remote workforce.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Greater flexibility | Risk of employees overworking and becoming stressed |
| Reduction of office space and associated costs | Risk of reduced communication and ‘water cooler’ opportunities |
| Ability to retain experienced staff who might have care or other commitments | Potential loss of staff who are feeling isolated and lonely |
| Increased diversity and global reach | Lack of awareness of different cultural norms |
| Ability to cover different time zones | Challenges of working across different time zones |
| Ability to recruit employees in different locations | Challenges when welcoming new staff |
A review of research into home working, which has unsurprisingly increased since the pandemic (Hall et al., 2024), makes the following recommendations to maximise the benefits:
- employers should ensure that staff have the right equipment and training to work safely and comfortably from home, e.g. through online assessments of workplace ergonomics
- employees should be regularly reminded to view home working just as they would office working, taking regular breaks and leave, including sick leave when required, and avoiding extensive sedentary behaviour
- line managers and employers should be proactive in encouraging and providing time for team and organisation social activities, e.g. using regular team meetings or ‘water cooler’ type online informal chats – this is particularly important for new starters
- working from home should be reviewed at intervals to ensure that appropriate informed decisions are made as to whether people go back to work, stay at home or have a hybrid arrangement
- managers may need to be more proactive in discussing and supporting career progression and future goals.
In the next section, you’ll focus on some of the challenges experienced by Vanessa, when working remotely with colleagues in another country.