Below Are 10 Of The Top Remote Work Trends For 2023 Year

No matter how challenging 2022 turned out to be, some business trends continued to solidify their positions. Today we want to delve deeper into the practice of remote work, which over the past three years has firmly established itself among the main types of business collaboration. In this article, we’ll focus on the main trends in remote work for 2023 in terms of what to expect, which aspects to pay attention to, and how the remote work market will change in the coming year.

Trend 1: comfort over money

Back in 2021, Ivanti conducted a survey that found that the majority of employees – 71% of those surveyed – would prefer the opportunity to work remotely over a raise or promotion. The main reasons cited for such a decision were saving time on commuting to the office, more comfortable working conditions, and a better work-life balance.

And even though two years have passed, most employees have not changed their stance on this subject: many people would still rather choose a job with the option to work remotely than one with a higher wage.

Trend 2: growing number of freelancers

Even before the pandemic, many employers were gradually reducing the number of full-time employees in their companies in favor of freelancers, who are contracted for specific projects or even individual tasks.

Such an approach enables managers to hire exactly the specialists they need for certain projects, thus saving money on salaries, staff training, and taxes.

Trend 3: data loss prevention as one of the main priorities

Last year, the average cost of a data breach amounted to $4.24 million. Given that remote work creates favorable conditions for such leaks, it’s not surprising that 85% of companies all over the world cite cybersecurity as one of their top priorities.

At the same time, we’d like to point out that the main technological means of data protection – encryption, multi-factor authentication, and other cybersecurity tools – provide little protection from the main risk factor, which is malicious intent of the company’s own employees. Unless you are a large enterprise, it is rather unlikely that someone will intentionally try to hack you, whereas a sleazy go-getter who decides to leak the company’s database sadly is a reality for many businesses.

That’s why when you’re devising a strategy to protect your company from cyberthreats, you should ensure that you are able to supervise your own employees. Kickidler employee monitoring software enables managers to monitor all actions of both their office and remote employees. The solution records video of employees’ activity at their PCs and alerts on any suspicious behavior on their part, thus making it possible to truly monitor everyone without spending too much time on it.

Trend 4: home offices

If your employees work from home, one of your primary worries could be a potential drop in their productivity. That’s a genuine concern – with too many distractions at home, it’s not always possible for specialists to concentrate on their work-related task at hand.

Over the past couple years, the world has embraced the concept of the home office, which is essentially a room or, for example, an area in the living room, furnished and equipped like an office. It usually includes a desk, proper lighting, and minimum unnecessary distractions. Educate your remote employees on this concept and potentially even help them put it into practice. It will definitely be worth the productivity increase you’ll observe using Kickidler.

Trend 5: focus on wellness

As the popularity of the WFH concept grows, more and more people are finding themselves confronted with the so-called occupational diseases of working remotely. Potential issues might include:

psychological discomfort due to a lack of communication with other people;
problems caused by a sedentary lifestyle;
disturbed sleep and rest patterns.

In this context, a responsible employer is a hands-on one. If you don’t help your employees take care of themselves, their performance will decrease noticeably, which in turn will reflect poorly on the company’s overall performance.

Pay particular attention to the schedule of your remote specialists, monitor their activity using Kickidler, ensure that your people are not overworked or subject to disruptive work schedules (such as overnight work stints), conduct meetings and phone calls to make remote employees feel like they’re still part of the team. That said, consider that there are various types of people – such as night owls or lone wolves, for example – who might feel more comfortable in conditions that are challenging for the rest of us.

Basically, what we’re saying is, if everything in Kickidler reports seems to be fine in terms of employee’s productivity and they are being their usual selves, then simply don’t interfere. Instead, let them work in a way that’s comfortable for them.

Trend 6: globalization of remote work

The increase in the volume of remote work has automatically led to a proportional increase in the number of people who prefer to take full advantage of the benefits such employment provides. These people choose to travel around the world and visit numerous countries, most of which also express great interest in attracting such specialists. New visas for digital nomads are being introduced, old visa restrictions are being lifted. The world as a whole is becoming more and more open for such specialists.

For businesses, this trend means that employers can offer more compelling motivational programs for their people. Another advantage for executives is that they can look for new specialists all over the world, without being limited to the geography of a single country or city.

Trend 7: remote work transcends office boundaries

Nowadays, remote work is typically associated with an office job that’s performed at the computer. Nevertheless, hybrid jobs are also appearing within other industrial sectors, such as manufacturing.

Technological advancements in remote control of various types of equipment make it possible to perform physical work remotely as well. While it’s still too early to consider the transfer of production to a remote work mode, this possibility should definitely be taken into account when strategizing future operations.

Trend 8: hybrid work as a compromise

Regardless of all the advantages of remote work, its specific nature leads to a certain distrust on the part of employers. While the vast majority of employees are interested in remote employment, an overwhelming majority of managers in turn are reluctant to fully shift to remote work.

Such a conflict of interest forces a compromise, which is usually reached through the introduction of hybrid work models. If you also have doubts whether you will be able to adequately supervise your remote subordinates yet you recognize the perks and possibilities of remote work mode, you can propose to your team a hybrid model of sorts: for example, they might choose to spend three days working at the office and two days working from home. That way, you’ll be able to get accustomed to all the nuances of remote work. At the same time, you’ll see for yourself that Kickidler is equally efficient in collecting data on both your office-based and remote employees.

Trend 9: corporate culture challenge

Among notable challenges of remote work, 66% of managers cite the low involvement of remote staff in maintaining corporate culture. Remote employees feel less connected to the team and the company, and therefore they tend to be less efficient in group projects.

There is no definite solution to this problem yet, but we are nevertheless observing certain progress in this regard. There has been a sharp increase in demand for virtual task boards, internal corporate communication platforms, and “corporate achievements” services, to name a few.

It only makes sense to keep a close eye on this particular software segment, implementing and testing various solutions in your company (and in turn, Kickidler will help you monitor the impact of these new products on your employees’ productivity).

Trend 10: growing demand for employee monitoring software

The market for employee monitoring software is constantly evolving. In-person direct supervision of employees is finally receding into the background due to its counterproductive nature. After all, it’s much better to automate monitoring processes, thereby saving the executive’s time for more important strategic matters.

Some of the key features monitoring software should include are detailed productivity reports, keystroke logging and mouse clicks recording, as well as screen video recording and the ability to connect to a real-time video broadcast of the employee’s screen.

We are delighted that Kickidler is on par with all the above-mentioned trends. But we’re not stopping any time soon as we continue to work on the development of our platform! We’re fully committed to helping your company’s remote employees work more efficiently.