The coronavirus crisis has completely shifted the way we live and work. Businesses have had to quickly adopt new ways of working to ensure employee safety whilst maintaining productivity. Working from home has become the norm for many of us and adapting to these new ways of working is essential for business continuity.

Some business sectors, such as law firms, may need their employees to be in the office to work more productively. Paper case files and manual processes were still very prevalent in the legal sector pre-Covid. There is a lot of case paperwork that needs to be handled by multiple people at the same time.

EMPLOYEE NEEDS VS. PRODUCTIVITY
Due to working from home, many law firms have been forced to rethink the way they work due to needing access to live case files from many different locations at the same time. Without a digital workflow transformation, productivity could have vastly reduced due to staff not being able to access these business essential documents from home.

Employers may worry that employees may not be working as productively from home as there may be distractions. Employers can motivate their staff better from the office and monitor them more easily to ensure work is getting done. Some employees choose to work on-site for a change of scenery or to avoid situations that are not favourable to productive working such as children or pets.

On the other hand, many employees believe working remotely can greatly improve focus and productivity. Some employees may find working from home less distracting, rather than working in an office with colleagues. Being at home in a comfortable environment can decrease stress and can improve employee's work-life balance. With the opportunity to de-stress during the day, employees may work more efficiently.

There will always be employees that prefer working from home, and those who don't. This is why hybrid working is an ideal model to adopt in companies as it allows employees to have the independence to work however they work best, improving productivity.

DIGITAL ACCESS IS CRUCIAL
The future of hybrid working depends entirely on how invested businesses are in adopting it. There is a lot of evidence to show that employees work more productively when they have the independence to work wherever they want. For example, according to hibob.com: "Employees that were allowed to work from home reported high levels of productivity, with 66% reporting being productive or very productive."

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"With the majority of businesses returning to working from the office and most adopting a hybrid working model, ensuring there is digital access to documents to guarantee they can be accessed remotely is key. This saves employees time, that could be spent working on other business-essential tasks, and the hassle of having to travel into the office to collect a business essential document needed while working from home and to stop document integrity and security from being at risk."

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However, if businesses are not willing to implement digital processes, it will be very difficult for employees to access documents from home, therefore eliminating the opportunity to work away from the office when they choose to. The Coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated how quickly businesses can adapt to a new working culture, so the transition from paper documents to an electronic archive should be easy to implement within organisations.

With the majority of businesses returning to working from the office and most adopting a hybrid working model, ensuring there is digital access to documents to guarantee they can be accessed remotely is key. This saves employees time, that could be spent working on other business-essential tasks, and the hassle of having to travel into the office to collect a business essential document needed while working from home and to stop document integrity and security from being at risk.

IS HYBRID WORKING SUSTAINABLE?
On the whole, businesses of any size that make the most of outsourced document scanning services and document management systems will see huge internal benefits. With many businesses adopting the hybrid working model and getting rid of filing cabinets that were previously full of paper documents, office space can be downsized. This will save a lot of money on office rental costs. Combined with the increased productivity of staff, businesses should see massive financial benefits.

Due to this, many businesses may choose to adopt a hybrid work model in future as they see other businesses benefitting from it. Office work may even become a thing of the past as the rapid digital adoption driven by the Coronavirus pandemic continues to increase; many businesses have or are starting to implement digital workflows.

BEST PRACTICES
Does your team have the right technology they need to work effectively remotely? A document management system can greatly benefit employees who are working remotely. Documents can be accessed from any location at the same time, 24/7. This allows employees to be able to access the same document at the same time as another employee who is working from home. Keep documents secure and safe when working remotely. Documents are password protected on a computer rather than being a loose sheet of paper that can easily be misplaced, this is especially important when working with sensitive information.

Did you know it can take up to 30 seconds to search for a paper document in a filing cabinet? Turn this into just 4 seconds with a document management system. Awarded Compliance Product of the Year 2020, Storetec's FreeDocs has vast security and search capabilities which means employees can access documents quicker than ever before! FreeDocs has the capabilities of searching through 238 million records in just 4 seconds.

There's never been a better time to digitise your archive in order to expect a hybrid working future. If you have a spare hour today, why not contact our team to discuss how Storetec can help you achieve this. Let us take the hassle away.

Awarded BPO/Outsourcing/Bureau Business of the Year in 2020, Storetec can assist your business in the seamless transition of going paperless. We can even pack and collect your paper archive before your return to the office. It cannot be stressed enough that by adopting a digital solution, your business will greatly benefit.

More info: www.storetec.net