We All Have the Choice to #SmartWork

Today’s #SmartWorking Employee Story

I started working in a hybrid office/home pattern a number of years ago. The technology was less connected but as archaic as it might feel now, looking back at that time it was still possible to embrace home/hybrid office working, then. My phone made phone calls only, my internet connection worked (just about) and I was given ‘exclusive’ access to use the CRM system.  Working in recruitment is very much a people culture and back then the expectation was that you were only doing your job if you could be seen (which probably applied to a lot of professions). I have always honoured a level of high work ethic and it really didn’t matter to me if I was sitting on the moon to do it, as long as I worked with inspiring people and I loved my job and got rewarded and recognised for my efforts.

SmartWorking is still ‘frowned’ upon in some places, mainly due to lack of trust.

I saw so many very successful individuals leave their jobs, to go travelling or start a family and never return or even be asked to return.  Why would so many companies prefer to let great talent go? People who had tremendous customer or stakeholder satisfaction and retention, just walk out of the door.  It makes you wonder why all that knowledge and personality is let go?

From my experience finding the right company to work remotely with can take time.  I moved from agency to in-house (RPO) talent acquisition, Alexander Mann Solutions, and this business was operating light years ahead. They had the latest connective technology, they were agile, they used video for meetings, virtual presentations, cloud technology, they were smart.  It was a creative and enjoyable time in my career. My learning experience continued as I realised that I loved working but just couldn’t continue to do the commute to London any longer. I had spent 4-5 hours of travelling 3 or 4 days a week for nearly a decade just got too much. I really had no work: life balance and by the end of the week, I was totally exhausted after spending hours on end on public transport, standing weekly on trains enduring the painful delays, carrying laptops, bags and coats.  I decided to give up my ‘London’ “quality” of life (and city salary) to join the ‘game-changers’ and go fully remote. The best decision I ever made.  Everything that Abodoo is about, in terms of the platform connections, smart working education and the promoting they’re doing, is what many of us believe in.  Doing a job that I am proud of, being able to fetch my children from school, getting down to the seaside a few times a week, and never missing a deadline or missing a commitment.  I can actually work all the time, anytime but with a healthy balance in mind.

More and more, companies are changing their way of thinking. They can access the most amazing talent for their roles. Which arguably isn’t always possible when a company factors in all the skills they want to be filled, plus the locations their staff have to get to. A  friend of mine who is Head of Talent at a company told me recently that she’s been trying to fill a particular role for three years now! But with more business leaders and human resources departments championing remote working, the less chance we have of companies losing ludicrous amounts of time, skills shortage and team motivation because they haven’t found ‘the talent they need’ due to the requirement that they need to be based in a particular office and location.

It’s time to Embrace SmartWorking with Abodoo

Guest Blogger: Tanya Macy