Optimizing Natural Gas Operations For a Remote Workforce
I hear it in the News almost every day … employers grappling with employees over continued remote working vs. returning to the office. Across nGenue’s user base and the many evaluating businesses who engage us, we witness this debate firsthand. More than ever, employers must evaluate the business impact of “where” and “how” work is performed, ensuring that tools are in place to ensure the needs of the business are served.
Interestingly enough, this topic has been debated for many years. Ford Motor’s former CEO, Jim Hackett, dubbed a work environment where one must physically be to do their job a “place-dependent workspace” and, largely, this is how the business of natural gas operations has been undertaken, with functional team members collocated within a common office space. But in recent years, a new paradigm stared us down, begging the question, are we more productive at home, together in an office or is the optimal answer a combination of the two?
With technology advancements and the increasing globalization of business, the convention of a physical work location has evolved considerably, spawning many studies detailing the pros and cons of remote working. Here is a snapshot of gathered data:
Pros:
- 77% of remote employees report higher productivity
- Average increase of 13% in employee performance
- Companies with remote employees report 25% lower attrition
- 82% of remote employees report lower stress
- Remote employees are 52% less likely to take time off work
Cons:
- 21% of remote employees report struggling with loneliness
- Collaboration and communication challenges were a concern for 21% of remote employees
- Management’s inability to track productivity and lack of employee discipline
- Concerns about the inability to see work being timely and properly completed
While this data reinforces the potential business benefits of remote work, it also underscores challenges to overcome both technologically and in terms of individual worker motivation and performance. As we know, the two are intertwined in terms of how they affect each other.
In my conversations with natural gas business leaders, I routinely hear the biggest challenge is the quality and accessibility of business data; data pertaining to the support of and required for billing end users, managing supply, enabling trading and risk functions, and managing logistics both before and behind the city gate. In many businesses, too much of the work with such data relies on spreadsheets or single-function applications involving a huge amount of data reconciliation and requiring constant coworker communication throughout every business day – distancing coworkers from each other only compounds the problem.
In my mind, this reinforces the importance of having a centralized repository of operations data that every employee can access, as and when needed; a single version of complete and accurate business information, updated in real-time. With such in place, whether operating with an in-office or remote workforce, worker productivity is unencumbered, fueling business productivity and efficiency. Without it, in-office frustration of chasing information across a slew of spreadsheets or disparate systems is only exacerbated by employees and managers working remotely. If you’re experiencing this, you’re not alone – it’s more common than you’d think, but it need not be this way.
If the current debate doesn’t challenge us to rethink the way we work and where we do that work, nothing probably will. Every business has different needs; some require employees to be in a specific location to do their job, but most of us in the natural gas industry aren’t dependent on a geographical location – we simply need suitable tools to do our job, no matter where we are. There are solutions in our industry proven to enable superior productivity and enhance employee morale, yielding top and bottom-line performance improvement. If your Natural Gas business isn’t operating this way, contact us to explore transforming your natural gas business operations into a model of efficiency and resiliency. It’s what we do for natural gas companies, and we are experts in our field. nGenue enables Natural Gas Operational Excellence!
~Ken
