UK businesses have rapidly adapted to the ‘new normal’ of widespread home/remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, there are strong signals that working from home is set to become a more permanent fixture for the majority of businesses, according to a recent study.

Why work remotely? What are the wider benefits?

Whilst businesses may have initially felt like their hand was forced in adopting home working, many are beginning to see the wider benefits it offers business and employees. And when 9 in 10 British workers who have recently started working from home say they would like to continue to do so in some capacity, it would appear that a hybrid solution of shared workspaces and home working is likely to become the new norm.

Challenges of home working

Home working is not without it’s challenges, however. There’s a reason the status quo for businesses is to have all their staff in the one place. For many businesses there’s no substitute for team members sitting beside each other to solve problems more efficiently. There are also opportunities for informal face to face networking and development that is so important in the early stage of careers.

Despite all the amazing technology we have to facilitate the work from home life, a lot of business still rely on traditional means such as in person meetings. Small to mid size businesses, in particular, have expressed concerns of communication breakdowns between staff and clients who are working in several locations.

Remote telephone answering and how it can help

With a workforce distributed around the country communication between clients and staff has been put under more strain that usual. With many of us transitioning either fully or partially to home/remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, the answering and forwarding of calls to the relevant person has become more of a challenge.

A dedicated call answering service ensures that businesses never misses a call which can then be seamlessly transferred to the relevant member of staff working from home. Alternatively, a detailed message can be taken and forwarded to the relevant person via email and/or text message. Usually there is no additional charge for sending you messages by email or text message.

With home working set to stay it’s vital that business, big and small, put in place more permanent solutions than the temporary fixes to home working many have been applying in 2020. A telephone answering service may go some of the way in helping businesses achieve that goal.

The Answer Centre team of virtual PA’s are highly experienced in call handling and on hand to help ensure your business continues to operate effectively, especially in the current climate of home/remote working.