Remote working strategy for driving business growth

May 7, 2020

A remote working strategy is no longer about flexibility alone. In 2026, it determines how well a business protects performance, accountability and long-term growth.

Remote working is no longer a response to disruption. In 2026, it is simply part of how modern businesses operate. The real question is not whether teams can work remotely, but how you structure systems, accountability, and communication so performance does not slip over time.

I have now seen remote and hybrid working play out across several very different phases. Emergency response. Stabilisation. Growth. And, more recently, long-term normalisation. The lessons from those phases are not theoretical. They came from running live client work, managing deadlines, protecting delivery standards, and keeping commercial momentum when conditions were uncertain.

What follows is not a remote working checklist. It is what actually matters when you want flexibility without sacrificing output, standards, or trust.

The biggest misconception about remote working

The most common mistake businesses make is assuming remote working is primarily a location problem. It is not.

Remote working is a systems problem.

When teams struggle outside the office, the cause is rarely motivation. It is usually unclear ownership, poor handovers, weak documentation, or over-reliance on informal knowledge that only existed because people sat near each other.

If a business only functions because people can lean over desks and ask questions, the issue existed before anyone worked remotely. Remote working simply exposes it faster.

What actually keeps performance stable

Over time, four factors consistently made the difference between teams that drifted and teams that stayed productive.

1. Clear ownership beats constant meetings

Remote teams do not fail because they lack meetings. They fail because no one knows who owns what.

Every project, task, or deliverable needs:

• A named owner
• A clear outcome
• A visible deadline

Once that is in place, meeting volume can reduce rather than increase. People do not need constant check-ins when accountability is explicit.

2. Written clarity replaces verbal memory

In an office, verbal instructions feel efficient. Remotely, they decay quickly.

Processes that worked long-term were:

• Written once
• Easy to find
• Updated when broken

This was particularly important for onboarding. New starters do not absorb culture and process by osmosis when working remotely. They need structure.

3. Output matters more than activity

Remote working punishes businesses that confuse visibility with value.

The teams that performed best focused on:

• What was delivered
• Whether it met the brief
• Whether it moved the client forward

Time online, green dots, and constant availability were never reliable indicators of performance.

4. Communication needs intent, not volume

Slack messages and video calls are easy to overuse. The strongest teams were deliberate about:

• What required a call
• What could be handled asynchronously
• When silence simply meant work was being done

This reduced fatigue and improved focus.

Tools help, but only when aligned to behaviour

Tools did not fix broken processes. They amplified good ones.

The mistake many businesses make is stacking tools without changing how people work. That creates noise, not clarity.

Here is how different tools actually earned their place.

The tool itself was rarely the differentiator. Adoption and consistency were.

Client delivery is the real test

Internal productivity is only half the equation. Remote working exposes weaknesses in client communication even faster.

The agencies and service businesses that held performance steady did three things well.

First, they over-communicated expectations, not activity. Clients cared far more about outcomes and timelines than internal working arrangements.

Second, they tightened response standards. Not instant replies, but predictable ones. When clients knew when they would hear back, trust stayed intact.

Third, they documented decisions. Verbal agreements are fragile when teams are distributed. Written summaries reduced friction and rework.

What we would not do again

Experience also brings clarity about what does not scale.

We would not:

• Measure productivity by hours visible online
• Replace every in-person interaction with video
• Allow undocumented processes to continue “because everyone knows”
• Add tools without removing others

Remote working rewards simplicity. Complexity compounds faster when people are not co-located.

Hybrid working changed the challenge, not the principles

Hybrid working did not remove the need for structure. It raised the bar.

Once some people are in the office and others are not, unfair advantages appear quickly. Informal decisions get made in rooms some people are not in. Information fragments.

The fix was simple but non-negotiable:

• Decisions documented
• Meetings inclusive by default
• No “office-only” knowledge

Hybrid works when systems assume not everyone is present, even when they are.

Why this still matters in 2026

Remote and hybrid working are now embedded. What has changed is the tolerance for inefficiency.

In 2026, businesses are under pressure to:

• Do more with smaller teams
• Protect margins
• Retain good people

Flexible working supports all three, but only when paired with operational discipline.

The companies that struggle are not failing because of location. They are failing because they never fixed the fundamentals.

The real advantage of getting this right

When remote working is structured properly, it delivers tangible business benefits:

• Wider talent access
• Lower overheads
• Better focus
• More resilient delivery

Those benefits compound over time. But they only appear when flexibility is supported by clear systems, strong ownership, and realistic expectations.

What actually matters long term

Remote working is not a perk or a temporary adjustment. It is an operating model. When businesses treat it casually, standards drift. When they treat it deliberately, performance stabilises.

The companies doing well in 2026 are not forcing people back into offices for control. They are fixing how work flows, how decisions are recorded, and how accountability works when not everyone is in the room.

Location never caused the problems. Weak systems did.

Get those right, and flexibility stops being a risk and starts being an advantage.

About the Author – Martyn East

I’m Martyn East, an SEO Executive at Purplex. I write and optimise practical content for business owners who want more leads from search and social. Remote and hybrid working has changed how marketing teams operate day to day, so I focus on what holds performance together: clear priorities, consistent publishing, and content that answers real questions. If you want a plan that links visibility to measurable outcomes, take a look at our SEO services and social media services.

Connect with me on LinkedIn or read more articles by Martyn East.

This entry was posted in News