Remote working policies can impact both
Many businesses are now making decisions related to their employees and remote working policies. These decisions being made will have short and long term implications for your company culture and this could then impact the future worth of your business in the eyes of your potential acquirer.
COVID forced many business owners to make quick decisions about which employees could work remotely. Now the reverse is occurring in terms of which employees to bring back in to working from your office. Here are questions to ask yourself to ensure you protect your company culture:
- Am I clear on what the productivity has been for my employees that have been working remotely versus when they worked from the office? Can I see this productivity in specific metrics for my business?
- Has my team collaborated and worked well as a single team despite some employees working remotely?
- Am I able to build and protect the company culture I desire despite having employees working remotely?
- Do I have newer employees that aren’t yet acclimated to our company culture and working remotely might impede this?
- Am I seeing any signs of remote workers not supporting my desired company culture?
- When restaurants, coffee shops and health clubs are fully open, will this be a potential distraction for my remote workers in a normal work day?
There is no single right answer for which companies should support remote workers and which ones should not. Each owner must assess their own culture and their own productivity measures. As you do this, think about this from your perspective but as well how a future acquirer might view your remote working policies.
A recommendation at this point is to not yet commit to a long term fixed remote working policy. Let your remote working employees know that this remains a fluid situation and the decision you are making today will be re-evaluated in 3 or 6 months. This will give you more time to understand how markets and communities opening back up will or won’t impact the productivity of your remote workers. Avoid committing to a long-term policy when you don’t have all the needed information yet for making such a decision.
The expression in the Mergers & Acquisition arena is that oftentimes the acquirer invests in the jockey more than the horse. Your employee base is the jockey so be careful making long term decisions related to remote working that could impact your company culture and ultimately your future company overall worth in the eyes of an acquirer. Taking this measured approach could protect and build both.
