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Remote working – what does it mean for your team and your customers?

by | Jan 23, 2023

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Purple background with white marketing for breakfast logo top right. Below is a marketing breakfast cereal box. Main header in white text 'join us for breakfast?' Subheading in purple text on a green background 'remote working - how it affects you and your customers'

We asked two questions in this session. 1) How has remote working impacted how you manage your team? 2) How has it changed the behaviour of your customers?

  • When it came to managing teams in a remote working culture, one thing was clear. There is no single solution that suits everyone. Members spoke of different appetites for being at home in the office, dependent on role and personal situation.
  • A number of people mentioned that there was a mixed appetite for home-working, often influenced by role and personal situation. In particular, younger employees often had a greater appetite for not being confined to the office, but ironically, they were seen as the ones who potentially had the most to lose. Participants talked about the importance of face-time with senior colleagues and how so much learning early in your career takes place from simply being around others. This led to an interesting moral question – is it fair to force new starters and younger workers to be in the office more than more established colleagues for their own benefit?
  • The importance of staying connected was also brought up, especially with functions that couldn’t work from home, such as call centres. It was suggested that marketers need to improve their relationships with call centres in general as they can be your best friend – or your worst enemy – and that its more important now than ever to stay in touch.
  • Customer behaviour has also changed as a result of new working patterns. Call centre traffic is now more evenly spread across the day, rather than concentrated around early morning and lunchtimes. Changes are also notable in website traffic, with many customers having more freedom to do personal tasks now they’re no longer in the office.
  • There was also a feeling that direct mail was gaining in importance, with customers how on first-name terms with their postman and having more time to look through their post. This was coupled with a general consensus that email was no longer the force it used to be, due to its massive overuse by the marketing industry and that new channels were needed to provide cut-through.