Dutch people apparently deserve their renown for being practical, go-to-it workers. Their talent shows in the fact 14.1% of them were already working away from the office when the coronavirus arrived. This is apparently down to the right combination of technology and attitude. We might benefit from taking note of the remote working lessons from the Netherlands, so freely available to us.
Remote Working Lessons from Netherlands 101: Attitude
Organizational psychology professor at University of Leiden, Aukje Nauta explained the secret to BBC. Democracy and participation have deep roots in Dutch culture, she says. One of the most important remote working lessons from the Netherlands is employers have more trust in workers than elsewhere.
Take Dutch bank ING for example. They are allowing selected pilot groups of workers to take as much leave as they want. The only requirements are they deliver the goods, and their quality does not suffer. Aukje Nauta sees a post coronavirus future where people work from home, but meet in real life.
Fundamentals of Successful Work from Home: 102: Infrastructure
Approximately 98% of people in Netherlands have high speed internet access. Advanced technology combines with right attitude to create an enabling culture for working from home. Having the right urban infrastructure is another clincher.
Public libraries transformed to modern working spaces. Quality coffee shops provide breaks with WI-FI on tap. Moreover, strict sick pay legislation in Netherlands encourages employers to ensure employees can work from home safely.
We have heard a U.S. poll found 59% employees working remotely, would like to continue when the economy returns to normal. But will they have the same empowering infrastructure that makes remote working successful in the Netherlands? We shall have to wait and see how their employers react.
Related
Remote Working is Not for All of Us
Mental Fight or Flight Responses to COVID-19
Preview Image: Places to Work Remotely
