The Rise of the Chief Remote Officer

Social distancing measures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the prevalence of remote working to heights that would have been unfathomable before the virus struck. Now, as companies across all industries struggle to adapt to this new environment and the challenges that it has brought about, some business thought leaders are calling for the institution of a new role in modern organizations – the chief remote officer. 

This hypothetical new position would be responsible for a wide range of roles related to facilitating remote work within an organization, including developing and introducing new strategies to remote employees as well as those in charge of managing them, connecting with remote workers, and ensuring that they continue to feel as if they are a valued and appreciated part of the team, and working with remote employees to help them create a work environment at home that will be as enjoyable and productive as possible. 

In essence, a chief remote officer would be in charge of helping navigate all of the various challenges that working remotely on a large scale creates. For companies still struggling with the fallout of no longer being able to gather all of their vital employees under one roof, this type of service may be exactly what is needed to help them develop the right approach to managing remote employees. Others, though, are bound to see hiring an additional executive as a hard-to-swallow expense at a time when budgets are strained. 

Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly created new challenges, and new challenges often require an innovative approach to solving them. With the trend toward remote working unlikely to disappear any time soon even if the virus is eventually defeated, look for roles such as the role of a chief remote officer to become more and more prominent in organizations across the globe. 

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