Most Australians want to continue remote work, survey finds

Most Australians forced to work from home during COVID-19 (86%) are happy to keep doing so, and half claim their productivity won’t drop if they have the right digital tools, according to a survey by Redback Connect.

In fact, 33% of respondents say that with the right technology their organisation could increase its productivity while working remotely.

Virtual meeting and webinar tools were among the most popular technologies at 55%. As were tools which enable workers to share and edit documents, projects or work schedules with team members in real time.

Nearly half (46%) of respondents want to see the ‘availability’ of other remote team members, while 45% say they want to share work-in-progress schedules and status reports. Forty-two per cent say they need to present work to stakeholders in the same way as in an in-person meeting.

Redback Connect Founder and CEO Jeff Downs said the survey findings help point the way to a more sustainable and long-term remote work model — something which up to 64% of IT leaders have struggled with during COVID-19.

“While simple video and teleconference communications have been used widely by many organisations during the shutdown, if working from home becomes permanent, organisations will need to onboard a suite of remote-working digital tools to replicate, as far as possible, the ‘in-office’ experience,” he said.

“Our research reveals that more purpose-specific virtual technologies that offer a broader range of secure, interactive platform features — such as online polling and live Q&As — would help maximise the productivity of at-home offices.

“Redback Connect offers fully managed webinars, for example, which enable organisations to engage large, dispersed audiences in real time with interactive polls, live chats or Q&As.

“Town halls and studio broadcasts are also ideal for those who need to present to company executives and stakeholders in the same way they would an in-person meeting — another digital capability our data reveals employees feel they need.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Andrey Popov