Remote worker ranks swelled during the pandemic. And though less so now, remote work is still three to four times more prevalent than it was before COVID. These numbers, as you’d imagine, are putting pressure on business continuity and business continuity planning.
How, exactly? Read on to find out.
Remote work rates stabilize
Indeed, Pew data from last year show rates of remote work stabilizing at around 35%.
That figure might be down from all-time highs like 55% during the pandemic or 43% in 2022. But it represents a huge leap from 2019, when an estimated seven per cent of workers were remote.
Hybrid workers complicate business continuity plans
And it’s not just exclusively remote workers who need to be factored into business continuity plans. It’s hybrid workers, too.
According to Gallup polling from May of this year, more than half of all remote-capable employees work in a hybrid environment.
Ensuring resilience in remote and hybrid settings
Although the polling is inconclusive, many experts believe remote workers are more productive than their office counterparts.
A Stanford study, for instance, revealed that remote workers are up to 47% more productive than office workers.
Productivity gains, however, aren’t the only considerations for business leaders. They must also consider organizational resilience in a workplace where workers are remote and hybrid.
Are business continuity plans configured for remote work?
How are their organizations faring on that score?
The data, here, is mixed.
The BCI Continuity and Resilience Report 2024 argues that organizations are still behind when it comes to ensuring remote workers have the same levels of resilience applied to them offsite as they would expect in the office.
Looking at the data, one of the issues singled out is the business continuity plan. Fewer than two-thirds of organizations (62.4%) ensure that their resilience plans are there for remote workers.
What would these plans have to account for? Remote working practices might reduce dependence on physical infrastructure. Yet, they ramp up dependence on digital infrastructure, which comes with risk of its own.
As noted in the report: “An ultra-reliance on technology means technology failures can cause significant operational disruption and, with copper telephone lines being phased out globally, back-up channels can also be affected.”
Business continuity strategies to mitigate remote worker risk
What needs to be done, then, to mitigate business continuity risks associated with remote working?
Standards of resilience, including the reach of business continuity software, have to be extended to include employees now working from home or in a hybrid setting since the adoption of flexible work.
More specifically, business continuity plans should be rewritten or updated. And one of the main new contingencies considered must be third-party risk.
What is third-party risk?
What’s that? Third-party risk is the potential risk that arises from organizations relying on outside parties to perform services or activities on their behalf. Those parties can include suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, business partners, redistributors, or more.
To that end, BC Managers must catalogue in their plans how heavily reliant their workers are on technologies to facilitate communication, collaboration, and workflow management. That often means third-party, cloud-based apps and services for:
- Video conferencing
- Instant messaging
- Project management
What are some other measures organizations can take to tamp down on third-party risk as the account for remote work in their business continuity plans? We lay out some leading practices in our article, What Is Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)?
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