Remote work has become established since the coronavirus pandemic. According to Statista, ⅔ of companies in Germany now offer remote working, although this puts it at the bottom of international comparison table. An end to working from home has even been authorised by the courts. However, the home office and teleworking are only one part of remote work, which promises a number of advantages and appears to provide an answer to current problems.
New work, remote work and the healthcare industry
Remote work refers to the localised independence of work and thus supports aspects of ‘New Work’ from the social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann from the 1980s: ‘freedom’ and ‘self-responsibility’. Bergmann was a visionary with his concept of work and is being heard again in today's world, which is characterised by uncertainty, fragility and complexity (VUCA and BANI).
The pandemic has also acted as a ‘catalyst’ for the idea of New Work in hospitals, as the Ärzteblatt writes. The Marburger Bund even held its Annual General Meeting on November, 4th 2024 under this banner and decided to strengthen New Work concepts for salaried doctors.
After all, in order to counter the growing staff shortage, the needs of employees must be addressed. The hope is that an increase in personal responsibility and flexibility will lead to greater satisfaction. This could retain employees and attract new applicants. After all, the next generation of doctors in particular is demanding new concepts.
Of course, local independence in the sense of remote working in hospitals is most likely to be considered for administration or radiology, for example. The magazine bibliomedmanager, for example, reports on a senior medical technologist for radiology (MTR) who works remotely from Frankfurt at the University Hospital of Munich (LMU).
However, increasing digitalisation could lead to further solutions that are already well established in the pharmaceutical industry.
Digitalisation and remote work in the pharmaceutical industry and medical technology
The pharmaceutical industry is already well advanced in terms of digitalisation. Electronic Case Record Forms (eCRF, also known as Case Report Forms) or the data collection form for clinical trials and electronic Trial Master Files (eTMF), a collection of documents for checking the integrity and compliance of a trial, are already available for data collection. However, the coronavirus pandemic has also fundamentally changed the situation for research, with visits being conducted online, for example. Other digital solutions are already in use.
In research and development, for example, the digital twin helps to imitate patients with personal medical data or drug production processes. Real-time data is collected in this virtual replica, for example to test the tolerability of a drug.
In order to generally predict the binding affinity of biomolecules (molecular docking), tests are carried out in silico (in the computer) to support the development of new therapeutics. Larger data can be determined with the aid of computers, which can then be validated experimentally (in vitro or in vivo). These are just a few examples to show that the conversion of work processes to virtual platforms is well advanced in the pharmaceutical industry. IT specialists and medical technicians are essential for this and can work remotely in some cases. Laboratory 4.0, which is already taking over entire night and weekend shifts independently, will ultimately take the lead. Remote laboratories already exist, still more for study purposes.
Technical requirements for remote work
Some technical requirements are fundamental for any remote work:
- High-performance internet connection with a secure network (VPN)
- The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) must be ensured and complied with by everyone
- Cloud technologies with specialised security priorities, which also affect the entire ‘ecosystem’ of data transmission and storage, are also important for compliance regulations
- Communication platforms must be available for employees
Digitalisation enables remote work for a wide range of jobs if a powerful network and the right hardware are available. There are models for backing up data that either allow the hardware to boot onto the network via a USB stick or make the computers available for work. The compliance rules must be communicated and checked regularly. This requires centralised storage of the data, which must also be available in the event of an inspection.
The prerequisite for a constant supply of location-independent work is therefore the functioning technological means. The advantages for employees are a sense of autonomy and therefore increased self-efficacy and flexibility.
Challenges of remote work
However, there are also disadvantages for employees, mainly due to social isolation and communication difficulties. For families with children, for example, it can also lead to a lack of boundaries and excessive demands. In the same way, working hours are often exceeded and there is no end to the evening, as the Hans-Böckler-Foundation found out in a study on working from home. Haufe therefore calls remote work a ‘double-edged sword’.
Remote work not only requires a high level of self-discipline, but also self-care in order to maintain a work-life balance. It makes successful communication within the teams by their management all the more important. Company agreements are just as important as the opportunity to exchange ideas so as not to lose touch with career opportunities. The extent to which remote work influences the working atmosphere in teams must be analysed individually and is a challenge for management.
Remote leadership
As the lack of presence means that a great deal of trust must be built up in employees, fearless and agile communication is important. Communication skills can and should be learnt by the management for remote leadership. At the same time, goals and plans must be clearly communicated or teams must be given sufficient autonomy to ensure that they are involved in setting goals. Distractions caused by household chores and the effectiveness of virtual meetings can be factors that make remote work stressful and less purposeful. The solution is to organise working hours individually and flexibly. Virtual meeting tools should be used for communication in the same way as collaboration tools to mimic physical presence. This is because social isolation can also lead to a lack of motivation and fewer career opportunities, as Nicolas Bloom has discovered. The same applies to feedback, which is best given at eye level and therefore has a motivating effect. For employees, a regular meeting in the morning can be just as useful as an informal get-together in the evening so as not to lose contact.
Managing a remote team therefore requires empathy and open leadership, as well as the ability to adapt quickly to the needs of employees. The world of work is in a phase of transformation and agile communication is the best way to cope with the adversities of the VUCA-BANI world. In this way, employees can be given both security and creative freedom without falling into rigid structures.
Conclusion
Remote work should therefore be accompanied by competent management and does not have to apply every day and to every employee. Hybrid forms are meanwhile established in and minimise the social isolation that this form of work entails. A high degree of flexibility and personal responsibility, organisational talent and motivation are required of employees. These are important topics for recruiting, which can then also be checked during (virtual) Onboarding. Company agreements also help to organise the home office, as described here. But it's not just about setting up an office at home. Remote work also involves flexible working hours and open communication. Remote work therefore reflects the New Work approach and is very important for professionals in both hospitals and the life sciences sector.
With the right technical equipment, agile communication structures and the safeguarding of sensitive data streams, the challenges of remote work can be overcome. If the disadvantages of social isolation are minimised, future employees will benefit from being able to work independently and freely.
