Last Updated on 21 October 2025 at 09:49

This article provides some general recommendations to facilitate the cultural acceptance and operational implementation of remote work projects.

 

Note: this article appeared for the first time on the blog of the Swiss newspaper LeTemps, in the “Business” section. You can read the full French version here: https://www.debbaut.solutions/fr/dynamique-teletravail/. Hereafter you can read the English summary and download the full document.

Introduction

I began with remote working at a time when this concept was very little known and there was even a strongly negative opinion about it. It was in the spring of 1991.

The remote working process

I see the remote work more as an evolutionary process and not at all as a simple

Crisis management and remote working

In theory, a company should apply specific actions during a crisis management situation and especially when a company needs reliable business processes.

If an emergency is present across a company, region or country, there is a very negative impact on employee productivity. This result is predictable because it is humane to pay attention to other issues. So we have to keep in mind that remote work during a crisis management situation is not going to solve all previous problems.

The main difficulties of remote working

As the size of the company increases, the implementation of remote work processes becomes more difficult. Why is that ? Because there are more employees and additional requirements such as process harmonisation, communication, general coordination, or technology. A smaller business organisation can adopt remote work more quickly and accurately.

The organisation of the company and the employees within a remote work setting

Within large multinational business organisations or in long-term oriented industries, there is a particular dynamic.

The staff working for

How to identify suitable candidates for remote working

An employee may express a sincere desire to move to go remote, but after one attempt, it may fail. The wish alone is not everything; neither does experience with remote work. These two elements can potentially facilitate the process.

From my experience, I notice that the work

How to organise the company for remote working

For many people, working at the company’s premises means much more than just performing tasks: it means being seen, socialising, drinking coffee or eating together, as well as sharing a few juicy rumours.
Where it can be applied, remote working increases productivity and, despite misconceptions, cooperation between teams.

The establishment of a clearly defined working environment offers a competitive advantage to any company.

The concept of “trust” in remote working

Remote working is trust-based, and this is something that a process cannot report, let alone measure. A business organisation that trusts its employees may seem counter-intuitive, but in my experience, it is something that works.

A company can apply different forms of remote working and with varying rates of occupancy. Employee preferences quite often dictate these choices. However, the organisation of the company and the level of trust will decide on the success of remote work projects. Constraints and risks vary according to the predominant operational organisation within the company.

According to my observations in the field, there are three main categories of business organisations. Hereafter are their main characteristics and the ability to move towards remote working.

In such a context, any hiring error is also more expensive because even the interviewing and employee onboarding is done remotely.

Conclusions

As you can observe, there is no “perfect model” for organising remote work. Neither is there a “perfect candidate”, even though some typologies of people are more suited to this style of work. Above all, the organisation of the company and its culture will decide on the success of “the remote working”.

You may also click the following link to download the French version of the original article [Paper EDCT-202003-17-The remote working dynamics: understanding how a company can succeed with its remote work project, by Elena Debbaut] or read the original article by visiting this website: https://www.debbaut.solutions/fr/dynamique-teletravail/