PHM's Journey From Office To Fully Remote Working - What Have We Learned?

Established 30+ years ago with offices in London and a workforce in commuting areas, PHM has always taken pride in being a client-first organisation. Our team was office-based, commuting five days a week, and would travel to client sites as required for meetings, event facilitation, and training delivery. Like many, our infrastructure was supported by on-premises data centres.

Our environmental impact was higher than we would have liked, so we offset it as best we could through car sharing, recycling, and remote meetings where suitable for our clients.

Fast forward to 2024, and the change has been substantial.

Our team is home-based, our workforce is UK-wide, we have a remote-meeting-first approach, and our infrastructure is cloud-based.

Our environmental impact has reduced, and we continue to look for ways to be a more sustainable organisation.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that we remain a client-first organisation. In fact, we truly believe the positive impact of this change has benefited our team, our work, and, in turn, our clients.

This article shares some of the considerations and challenges we have addressed when adapting to remote working. We take an honest view of areas that constantly require attention and share how our journey, although maybe not unique, has benefitted us with a unique view of our organisation and ourselves.

Productivity

The debate around remote working and productivity is rife. It's important that each organisation structures and monitors outcomes based on its business model. As a consultancy and service organisation, we have been able to monitor key measures of performance through:

• Client happiness and feedback

• Project delivery - through tasks completed, deadlines achieved

• Quality of work - through Quality Control measures

• Timesheets - monitoring project versus non-project time spent

• Staff turnover and feedback

• Financial performance

However, there is a balance to be struck. Team members working from home should be able to focus on tasks without the interruptions an office environment can present. Remote working can result in more scheduled and unscheduled calls and meetings, which could, if not approached properly, decrease productivity.

We ask our teams to combat this by:

• Holding start-of-week project milestone reviews - where critical deadlines and meetings are agreed upon to minimise change to weekly schedules once underway

• Holding start-of-day check-in calls - where individuals can escalate issues and address queries in one forum to minimise the need to check in constantly throughout the day

• Having weekly 121s with line managers - to escalate any matters which are not for weekly/daily check-ins

• Utilising MS Teams status and status messages - to ensure it's visible when someone is focusing, on a call, in a meeting, or away from their laptop

• Communicating on project-specific channels - to ensure all project stakeholders can quickly respond to queries, share updates

• Reviewing tasks assigned to them via our online project management system at the start of each week and day - updating task statuses to ensure progress is visible to PMs without the requirement for follow-ups

• Abiding by company policies and procedures in relation to file and folder management - this ensures project stakeholders can easily find and review project documentation

• Taking annual leave regularly and across the year with notice given - to ensure plans can be put in place to cover required workloads and to ensure health and wellbeing  

Wellbeing

As an individual, the benefits of remote working can be vast; the school drop-off is doable, the morning dog walk does not involve crossing paths with the milkman at 5am, and your first thought of the day is not to check if the trains are running on time. However, there are considerations needed for the challenges remote working brings; we have to be honest with ourselves and put steps into place to monitor and overcome these challenges to appreciate the benefits.

Some of the key challenges of working remotely are:

• Limited face-to-face (F2F) time with colleagues - with less time to connect and collaborate

• Difficulty accessing information - with more time spent searching for project resources

• Loneliness and isolation - with some team members feeling as if they can’t reach out for support

Overcoming these challenges is a constant focus for us as a business. We are fearless in evolving and listen to our team to understand what is and isn't working. We believe that fostering an honest and open dialogue with team members is paramount and that supporting each other practically and emotionally helps team members feel fulfilled and excel in their roles.

Our current approach to the above challenges is as follows:

• Limited F2F time with colleagues

We hold quarterly face-to-face social events, incorporating an event that is not work-related. These events are in addition to the project-focused team meetings, line manager 121s, and our monthly virtual company meetings and informal catch-ups. The objective of our quarterly events is to bring us closer together as a team of individuals who enjoy each other's company; therefore, switching off the laptops is a mandatory requirement on these days.

• Difficulty accessing information

Our team work primarily with SharePoint online, MS Teams and Wrike for project management. We have defined folder structures and resource folders, which make finding what you need in the moment of need easier. Remote infrastructure is vital to ensuring success; team members need to be able to access the information they need to complete their roles quickly and without issue. We are currently scoping further enhancements to our infrastructure in response to team input. We have set up internal focus groups that capture each team's thoughts and needs to ensure a collaborative approach versus systems or cost-only focus.

• Loneliness and isolation

All team members were issued a wellbeing support guide when we moved to remote working; it includes headings such as:

• Make a Dedicated Workspace

• Keep Your Routine

• Give Yourself a Break

• Keep Active and Eat Well

• Set Boundaries

• Stay Connected

• Practice Mindfulness

• Useful Links

We ask that our team leaders and managers reinforce the importance of such guidance and take specific care to hold regular team catch-ups and 121s to observe team happiness and productivity.

Environmental Sustainability

There is an assumption that working from home is always better for the environment, but more is needed to represent a sustainable approach. There are contrary views which highlight that energy footprints and increased shorter journeys cancel out the positive impact working from home can have on the environment. When considering how to minimise our environmental impact and promote positive change, we have to consider many different factors and behaviours; those of immediate focus to us have been:

• Transportation

• Energy

• Technology

• Waste

One of our biggest learnings when focussing on these factors is how each can impact the other. The best example to bring this to life is Energy, Technology, and Waste.

• When moving to remote working, our overall energy footprint would remain the same; each individual still works, requires light and heat, and uses a device to work.

• Our focus then shifts to technology. To help mitigate our environmental impact, we use laptops rather than desktops.

• We enforce a device management policy, including shutting down machines when not in use and allowing BYOD with enhanced security instead of using additional mobile phones.

• However, we must also consider that laptop lifespans can be shorter than desktops, and as a remote consultancy, technology is key to achieving our business objectives.

• Our focus then shifts to waste, to ensure that device management and upgrades do not increase our waste footprint.

• We securely wipe and repurpose all suitable devices and donate them to organisations that will benefit from them, such as schools and charities.

The example above is one of many challenges that will arise from the move to remote working.

It would, therefore, be naïve to assume that working from home is, in itself, better for the environment. The only way to ensure environmental sustainability is to address each challenge head-on, considering the chain reaction for each and the steps that can be taken to manage and offset environmental impact.

Summary

Remote work does not work for all organisations. Many organisations that cannot support remote working are indispensable in everyday life. As members of society, we have to understand and support this. It is also important that we acknowledge that a changing profile of office versus remote-based businesses has a wider-reaching impact on what our larger city centres look like. We feel strongly that those who can work from home should champion their local economies, supporting small businesses and local community groups.

Our move to remote working has been challenging, enlightening, and empowering. But most of all, it has been rewarding. It has enabled us to champion our core values, diversify our workforce, and better support our team members in maintaining a work-life balance. All while growing as a business and supporting our clients through their own change journeys.

Our key takeaway for any business considering a move to remote working is to never stand still, be prepared to respond to unique challenges, and be open to change!