In the modern business world, remote and flexible work capabilities is no longer a privilege. Instead, it has become the standard operating mode for at least 50% of the American population. Traditional and contemporary employers alike are finally on-board with the flexible work trend and ready to implement policies for their workforce. As more and more companies function within a flexible work arrangement, businesses will have to adapt to their employees’ tendencies on a constant basis. While this may sound challenging, it’s necessary to stay competitive in today’s talent market. As passing time further reinforces the global shift toward flexible- and remote-friendly workplaces, we’ve compiled some of the best tips for how to keep up and adjust with the trends. 
Learn How to Recruit With Social Media
At this point, you most likely know that your company’s LinkedIn page will be viewed by potential candidates from all over the world and can be a key contributor in catching the eye of prospects. While this is important and can promote a positive company branding, what you might not know is that other social media platforms are becoming just as important as LinkedIn for recruitment. To stay relevant in the current job market, expand your social media presence to include Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube or even Reddit to attract individuals who culturally relate to your company. After all, if someone is already following your company’s social media accounts, there’s a good chance that they align with your values. When posting on your new social media accounts, share with the world an insight into your company’s culture by featuring quotes from current employees and updates on the inner happenings at your business. Instagram is a great place to showcase photos of your office, special events, employees, and benefits such as your flexible work policy, dogs in the office or company-wide outings. Using these tools to show off your company’s perks is one of the best ways to attract employees who are ready and excited to work for a company that offers these benefits.
Upgrade Your Communication Tools and Tech
When updating at least a portion of your workforce to function within remote or flexible options, you’ll need to update your tools and tech to support them as well. While communication tools of the past were limited, newer pieces of technology allow devices to fully integrate multiple channels of communication across devices. These tools, consolidated within a unified communications system, will allow your employees outside of the office to maximize efficiency by opening channels of communication. Unified communications offers the option for your employees to video conference into meetings, instant message team members throughout the day, call clients, answer emails and more all within one system. This will save your team time drafting formal emails and catching up on missed in-person meetings, while also providing them easy ways to stay in constant contact with their coworkers. After all, one of the most difficult aspects of having remote workers is the lack of face-to-face communication, so implementing tools to mitigate that challenge is critical.
Improve Your Company’s Online Security
One unfortunate truth of conducting business online is the presence of cybersecurity attacks and data breaches. Companies of all sizes have fallen prey to these attacks and therefore have tightened their grip on security policies and tools. Luckily, the implementation of flexible work arrangements falls in line with increasing cybersecurity as well. A good place to start is developing unified security policies for both in-house and remote workers; limit access to classified information to those only on private Wi-Fi networks. Because 61 percent of organizations have reported that their employees connect to public Wi-Fi networks from company-provided devices when working off-site, this can make a big difference in your business’s resilience to online theft. In the current age, where digital flexibility is encouraging remote work, it’s important to be aware of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities and act against them. Although your company will face some risks with remote work, implementing policies such as using a VPN, providing employee cybersecurity training, and ensuring local resources are locked down will increase your organization’s overall cyber defenses and give you peace of mind that your remote employees aren’t inviting unwanted guests to your servers.
All current signs indicate that we are nowhere close to hitting the flexible work plateau. Businesses across both public and private sectors are more frequently recognizing the benefits of hiring and retaining remote workers and are already acting on it. Trends show that the younger generations are prioritizing work-life balance and pushing for at least a partial telecommuting benefit in their future employers. If you are looking to stay competitive in the modern business world, now is the time to transition to flexible work.
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