{"id":4305,"date":"2020-11-19T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T18:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/?p=4305"},"modified":"2022-08-23T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T18:17:11","slug":"shared-services-remote-workforce-curse-or-cure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/2020\/11\/shared-services-remote-workforce-curse-or-cure\/","title":{"rendered":"Shared Services Remote Workforce \u2013 Curse or Cure?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The aggressive move to a remote workforce model<\/a> in early 2020 was dramatic and sudden, caused by a global pandemic that required immediate and, in some cases, risky and extreme actions. This was a situation where everyone had to leap off of a burning platform to survive \u2013 there was no other choice.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What have we learned? How did companies Shared Services organizations<\/a> respond to the required changes in People, Processes, and Technology while maintaining a focus on business controls, cost containment, and customer satisfaction?\u00a0 When getting a critical mass of resources at large Shared Services centers with hundreds or thousands of people is the norm, can we maintain that design as a strength, or are smaller, more dispersed operations now a new requirement?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Remarkably, during the COVID<\/a> pandemic, companies have generally reported a high degree of success with their work-from-home models and their ability to continue serving customers. Is remote working now going to become the new normal?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Company Experience<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Recently Peeriosity member companies attended a panel discussion of their peers to better understand and discuss the approaches members have taken to this issue, including lessons learned.\u00a0 Peeriosity members can access a recording of the PeercastTM<\/sup> at any time in the member’s area of the Peeriosity website.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here are some of the questions we discussed during the panel discussion:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Talent Management<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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  1. Does your Shared Services organization have the right talent to enable WFH?<\/li>\r\n
  2. Are there changes to your performance review and development process<\/a> that were needed?<\/li>\r\n
  3. How do multiple supervisors\/managers get visibility to performance to support rankings?<\/li>\r\n
  4. How will WFH change your approach to recruiting?\u00a0 Do the challenges vary based on individual differences with people, or is it by job level?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Process Design and Technology<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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    1. Are there specific process areas that are more difficult to support with remote workers, and how do you overcome the difficulties?<\/li>\r\n
    2. What factors inhibit working from home?<\/li>\r\n
    3. What technologies are most effective for collaboration?\u00a0 Zoom, Google Meet, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, standard email?<\/li>\r\n
    4. How do you approach technology security?\u00a0 Issues with VPN, connectivity, and response time?<\/li>\r\n
    5. Are you fully electronic or is there some paperwork routing that happens?<\/li>\r\n
    6. Are employees using dedicated computers, or can they work using a home computer, and if yes does that raise security concerns for cyber-attacks?<\/li>\r\n
    7. Any security breaches or concerns?\u00a0 What changes has Internal Audit made?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      iPollingTM<\/sup> Results Review<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      The results from a recent Peeriosity poll created using the iPollingTM<\/sup> technology indicate that as of October 2020, only 10% of member companies report that 75% or more of their workforce has returned to the office in a manner that was customary prior to COVID-19.\u00a0 For 64% of companies, less than 10% of the workforce has returned to the office in a manner that was customary prior to COVID-19.\u00a0 Here are the details:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      \"percentage<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      The second poll question explored the expectations of members regarding working from home after the dangers of COVID-19 have passed.\u00a0 Only 10% expect that employees will return to the office as they were before, with an additional 27% fine-tuning this response to suggest that most people will return to the office, but others will have more options to work from home.\u00a0 The balance of 63% of member companies has the scale tipped towards greater work from home options for most employees with times where employees are also scheduled to be in the office. So for most, a significant shift in where work is performed is expected to continue, even though the underlying reasons for the shift in the first place no longer apply.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      \"scenarios<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

      A few of the comments from members include:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n