The idea that the office should be a place where workers work from 9 to 5 is a thing of the past. Employees today think in a different way. Millennials, who might be referred to as the movement's drivers, are altering how people view and conduct work. And it's fantastic!

Employees have discovered that they desire a work-life balance. They want to be able to go for a morning jog, brunch with friends, and a mid-afternoon walk with their dog. In fact, about 82% of millennials have expressed that they would be more loyal to their companies if they were allowed to work remotely. Is not this a solid reason to go remote? 

Remote team bottleneck 

People have been compelled to leave their jobs due to the pandemic. Companies are currently encouraging workers to work from home and take all necessary steps in order to avoid the infection. Employees who work from home are becoming more common. That means there are a lot more people trying to work together online — calls, meetings, conversations, brainstorming, and everything else that used to be too tough to accomplish without being in the same office is now being done remotely.

There is no one to blame; we've all been caught off guard. But, it's simple enough to fix. You can follow these strategies to fix the frequent issues that arise when working with or managing remote teams.

How to eliminate remote team scalability bottleneck 

Solve the communication problem 

One of the most difficult issues for remote teams is effective communication. Miscommunication is common while communicating over virtual channels such as emails, chats, and video calls. Employees who work remotely will have to put in more effort to cooperate than those who work on-site. Therefore, you should invest in intranet software that can meet all of your communication needs. For instance, AgilityPortal is an innovative and all-in-one solution to your organization's communication troubles.

Gain employee trust and boost morale

Another problem that remote-first businesses encounter is keeping remote employees happy.

It's tough to build rapport between team members when there isn't any face-to-face connection. About 70 percent of remote employees feel alone at work (Igloo Survey, 2019).

Another key issue is trust. It's tough to effectively communicate the mission, vision, and goals to the entire workforce in a fully remote workplace. It's challenging for remote teams to stay on track with the common aim. They can have a hard time believing in the management's vision and aspirations. Intranets, like Agility Portal, provide various employee engagement and encouragement features. For example, AgilityPortal's Gamification and Social Media Portal are perfect for keeping employees motivated, informed, and engaged.

Improving employee productivity 

Employees who work from home or from a remote location may be less productive. People who are new to working remotely may feel particularly lost. It may be difficult to distinguish between home and work environments, and working from home may feel like there are too many distractions.

Remote employees may experience a lack of motivation if they don't have a team to support and motivate them, which could reduce their productivity. These problems can be solved by using break times and social media engagement in a digital workplace.

Remote work scalability: possibilities and challenges

People are unsure about remote work's future and whether they can scale it effectively. This is largely due to their lack of experience with the remote work. More importantly, it ignores a more important question: does colocation scale well?

Many people have had success working with a small group of people who are working remotely on a short-term basis. This could be a school assignment, preparing a trip for friends or family, or putting together a wedding. There are fewer examples of big remote teams succeeding, yet this is changing as a result of a number of variables, including changes in internet technology, rent in metropolitan cities, and more.

An interview with an expert about remote scalability 

The CEO and co-founder of GitLab, Sid Sijbrandij, shared his views about remote work in an interview with Prof. Raj Choudhury of Harvard Business School. He talked about the scalability of remote work and said:

"It scales better than the other model." Says Sijbrandij."It's not that we [as an all-remote company] have to defend against the question of 'Does this scale?'"

Sid Sijbrandij continues to explain with real-life examples, "A team in one room works really well. A team on one floor probably works OK." However, the problem starts when teams get bigger. Similarly, it will get even more difficult when teams are operating at an international level.

Sid Sijbrandij compared the traditional and remote workplaces while highlighting the benefits and scalability potential of remote work:

"There's very little benefit to colocation if you're such a big company. While the benefits of remote — writing down your processes, stimulating cross-company informal communication — those get much more pronounced at scale."

According to Sid Sijbrandij, the remote work is superior in terms of scalability:

"It's not just that [all-remote] scales. It scales way better."

A rapidly developing company can grow even faster if they start working remotely. It is because leadership can focus completely on acquiring and onboarding the right individuals. There are no meetings to discuss office growth, no demands for family relocation, and no real estate budget allocations.

Sid Sijbrandij also says the same"

"The more widespread an organization is, the less it benefits from being collocated. An all-remote organization will have to adopt the processes you'd use to control an organization at scale."