In this hyper-connected world that emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic, coming together for work at the same place and the same time is history. Nowadays, most white-collar workers usually work together with their telecommuting colleague counterparts at various distributed offices, including remote workers and freelancers.
However, according to a recent survey, even if some companies had a return-to-office policy, like Amazon and Goldman Sachs, 67.8 percent of employees working in the tech industry worldwide were full-time or mostly remote in 2023. The same goes for those in consulting and finance sectors, wherein 50.6 percent and 48.7 percent of the workforce, respectively, are primarily employed remotely. This highlights the significance of virtual teams.
Introduction
Job applicants these days should not only hold information needed in being able to perform their specific tasks; they must already be capable of working, communicating, and networking with others, while at the same time gathering constructive feedback and mentorship. These are some of the most vital competencies in the development of people and teams and yet have seen little research in how these apply to the distributed or hybrid work site versus the in-office, face-to-face, and entirely synchronous equivalents. Therefore, there is a need to assess ‘remote-readiness’ as the world of work takes on a hybrid model.
The Quotient of Remote Readiness
There was a time when the intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) were the criteria against which employees were judged, along with their technical abilities. In this day and age, however, each team is also measured according to its team’s ‘remote-readiness’ quotient.
In fact, this remote-readiness quotient, what can be referred to as ‘virtual intelligence,’ can very well tip the scales between being hired or terminated. For instance, a prestigious white-shoe law firm, recently dishing out layoffs to two fine solicitors, who are distinguished by their superb legal minds, is said to have included not knowing the unwritten etiquette on projecting professionalism in remote meetings with new clients as a reason. Or it’s the sales development representative, who occasionally made video calls with new prospects where part of his background was religious objects. Or a person who does not realize that time zones have some implications when setting up calls and deadlines with people from overseas. These stories abound and have a way of keeping talent away from finding, holding, or performing well in their jobs.
Geopolitical Effects of Virtual Intelligence
Proving virtual intelligence or remote preparedness at scale, however, could have larger geopolitical dimensions. A growing strategy by higher youth unemployment countries in Africa, the Middle East, and some parts of Asia would be to groom their world-class talent to be prepared to work remotely in digital jobs. Governments, universities, and youth organizations have formed partnerships to train young people as coders, marketers, sales representatives, customer support agents, financial analysts, and prompt engineers for companies abroad. The thinking here is that if you invest in their skills in specific in-demand roles, fresh talent will be prepared to enter a global workforce.
According to this study, certain market trends have favored this analysis even as the world moves into the age of AI. The World Economic Forum has projected an overall increase of 26% in global digital jobs by between 2023 and 2043. Emerging markets will reap the most reward from this trend as sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow 71%, the Middle East by 33%, and South Asia by 19%.
However, there is no easy way of assuring HR leaders with respect to finding the right candidates when hiring for new places they haven’t been before. Most importantly, good judgment includes working in global, diverse teams. As stated by remote work expert and LinkedIn ‘Top Voice’, Cali Yost, “In this flexible today’s work reality, ’employers want to know if people know how to float and high-fly across places, spaces and time zones just by their skill sets’.”
Employers want to know how to assess talent for skills critical to this new world of work — collaboration, communication, feedback, and mentorship at a distance. As the head of HR with a global cybersecurity company and more than 10,000 employees in distributed offices put it recently, “How do I know that this talent is ‘remote-ready’?”
Employing a Remote-ready Workforce
Interviews for virtual intelligence or even work simulations can do it. The question led my social enterprise Localized to recently work with ETS-the world’s largest assessment organization and creators of TOEFL and GRE tests-on a launch of ETS Any where pro, that is assessment for digital workers, remote ready. Co-developed by the experts at ETS with that of Localized’s behavioural scientist-in-residence and based on conversations with hundreds of employers over the last year, this assessment is just one way of helping people badge the virtual intelligence to work with hybrid and distributed teams. Obviously, we want it to make it easy to authenticate talent with the right skills, but more importantly, for those who do not pass the assessment, there are many questions-which would offer a rich opportunity for additional learning and reflection.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the 3 types of virtual teams?
You might have heard of some types of virtual teams like networked teams, parallel teams, product development teams, service teams, management teams, and action teams. All these kinds of teams have specific purposes with different life spans and goals within an organization.
How are virtual teams different from traditional teams?
The Organizational Structure of Virtual Teams differs from that of Traditional Teams. Virtual Teams work much more flexibly and decentralised, as they do not confine members to a specific locality and time zone.
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