Virtual teams, especially when managed effectively, can avoid unnecessary distractions, experience more effective and uninterrupted workflow, and achieve productivity gains. A 2021 study showed that:<ul><li>83 percent of employees working remotely agreed that working from home enabled them to work more productively.</li><li>The average office was shown at 64 percent.</li><li>Outstanding workplaces were at 78 percent.</li></ul>

Productivity

It’s likely that flexible work and workplaces are here to stay. More than half of corporate and government employees say they would like to work from home at least three days per week, and the number is higher for innovation talent. Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, organizations seeking to innovate are doubling down on the benefits that new approaches to innovation present.

Widening the pool of innovation

Over the past two years, innovation and digitisation have been happening at a record-breaking pace. As a result, companies accelerated the digitisation of customers, supply chain, and internal operations by an average of three years. Most people collaborate remotely, leveraging technology in different ways.

Accelerating innovation

<ul><li>Many organizations can get physically closer to their customers as hiring is no longer connected to geographic location.</li><li>Proximity to the customer, instead of a physical office, can help organizations’ innovation talent avoid the corporate echo chamber and identify and test new ideas faster.</li><li>Workers can get closer to target communities.</li><li>A lack of physical proximity can fuel innovation. Although it may surprise some, boldly innovating through remote collaboration has been a fixture in the scientific community for decades.</li></ul>

Customer-centricity

Innovators recognise that increased diversity and greater inclusion results in better innovation. A McKinsey study found that more ethnically and racially diverse companies outperform their less-diverse peers by 36 percent. As a result, innovators are using virtual work to attract more specialised and diverse talent and are building more inclusive workforces.