Laura Marx of Poly discusses the current state of remote working.
I have worked from home for 10 years. I thought nothing of spending hours a day on video calls and “meeting” colleagues for the first time via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. It was work as I knew it.
However, I was the minority at Poly. Although most people worked from home sometimes, the cohort of always-WFH employees was still the minority.
As a WFH-er, there were times when I felt like a less involved part of a large-group in-person meeting. Covid-19 sent us all into the WFH loop, where 95 percent of Poly employees transitioned to WFH.
Of course, we were not alone. In fact, we were the lucky ones. We had the meeting equipment needed to maintain communication at enterprise-grade levels. That’s not to say we didn’t have the same dogs barking and kids climbing the walls as anyone (in truth, my kids actually learned how to climb doorways during this time), but we had tools to make WFH work.
Every day during quarantine I thanked my lucky stars that I had noise-cancelling headsets and a good camera. Most of the time I was able to spare my colleagues from the chaos happening in my home.
Amidst the global crisis, however, Poly realized quickly there was a mission-critical opportunity that it was uniquely positioned to fill.
The Challenges of WFH
There were two core issues to the pandemic-state of WFH:
- People didn’t have the right devices
- There was no way to centrally manage the devices that were being used
It was from this backdrop that Poly developed its Poly Studio P Series of personal video devices.
These devices bring together professional-grade video and audio technology with gorgeous design elements that you would actually want in your personal space. They are USB-connected devices, so they work with all services like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.
The Studio P Series devices, P5, P15, and P21, work with Poly Lens, a remote management and insights platform geared to giving IT the ability to manage remote workers with the same ease and confidence as they manage conference rooms.
Additionally, each of the devices can be enabled with Poly+, a software subscription that keeps the device fresh with the latest software release plus 24/7 service and extended three-year device coverage.
The long-term value of products like Studio P Series and Poly Lens is strong. According to Metrigy, the WFH trend is almost certain to continue after the pandemic. Their research shows that 74.7% of respondents expect to be asked to WFH or will have the flexibility to choose to.
Almost half (48.7%) wish to remain remote due to improved quality-of-life resulting from their new WFH arrangement – this includes avoiding long commutes and having a more flexible work schedule.
WFH plans vary by region, with companies based in the Asia-Pacific region least likely to require WFH and most likely to offer employees choice of work location or require a return to the office.
North American-based companies are most likely to offer employee choice or mandate full-time WFH. In Europe, there will be more WFH requirements with less employee choice.
The timing may differ, but the goals remain the same. Workers need to “show up” in their meetings looking and sounding their best so collaboration doesn’t miss a beat.
Low-quality camera, inferior audio devices, insufficient network performance, poor lighting, and background noise disrupt productivity.
Author: Guest Author
Published On: 12th Mar 2021 - Last modified: 12th Jul 2022
Read more about - Archived Content, Poly
