Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Lead the Transition to Working from Anywhere

Rhea-AI Summary

RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) released its 2021 State of Hybrid Work report, revealing insights from over 1,000 small and medium businesses (SMBs) adapting to workforce changes due to COVID-19. Key findings indicate that 60% of businesses are partially remote, with 67% not expecting to return to full-time office work. The report highlights a shift in attitudes toward remote work, with 66% viewing it positively. Despite a rise in disconnection, productivity levels remain stable for most respondents, emphasizing the effective use of various communication modes.

Positive

• 60% of SMBs are already partially remote.
• 67% do not plan to return to full-time office work.
• 66% view remote work positively.

Negative

• More than 25% report decreased interactions with coworkers and customers.
• Only 29% of respondents expect in-person interactions to remain high, down from 44% pre-COVID.

RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG), a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications, video meetings, collaboration, and contact center solutions, today announced the findings of its 2021 State of Hybrid Work report, an in-depth look at how small and medium businesses (SMBs) are managing their workforces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report includes findings from interviews with over 1,000 respondents from companies employing from one to a hundred employees. It suggests that the majority of small and medium businesses have already embraced people working from anywhere and plan to support a mix of in-office and remote working for the long term future. According to these findings, while the majority of organizations plan to support a hybrid workforce post-pandemic, smaller businesses are the early movers today.

“The way businesses connect and communicate has fundamentally changed and perhaps contrary to popular opinion, SMBs are at the forefront of this change,” said Faiza Hughell, senior vice president, SMB at RingCentral. “The pandemic forced small businesses to rapidly adapt causing a shift in attitude towards remote work. Now SMBs have emerged as early adopters of hybrid work, leading the charge when it comes to supporting employees working from anywhere.”

Five major themes in the report include:

1. SMBs are shifting to hybrid work, now and in the future: Small and medium businesses were typically operating either completely or mostly in-office pre-COVID. According to the data, the majority of businesses are already shifting to hybrid work, with 3 in 5 businesses partially remote. Most respondents expect their organizations to eventually return to work in a less office-dependent way, as 67% say they don’t anticipate returning to the office 5 days a week post-COVID.
   
2. Attitudes toward remote work have evolved: SMBs, and especially companies with 51 to 100 employees, may view remote work as more of an asset than a hindrance. According to the study, 66% of respondents view remote working positively and 1 in 3 view their workplace as “extremely remote-friendly.”
   
3. Disconnection at work is on the rise: Interactions at work have clearly dropped, as more than one-fourth of respondents say they have less frequent work interactions with coworkers, customers, and prospects. However, most expect the amount of in-person interaction to increase slightly in a year’s time, but according to the data, interactions won’t return to pre-COVID levels. Pre-COVID, 44% of respondents said that more than 75% of their job involves interacting with coworkers and customers in person. Now, it's dropped to 29% and respondents expect it to go to 36% in a year.
   
4. Productivity levels remain mostly consistent: According to respondents, the amount of work they are able to accomplish has mostly stayed the same, with 3 in 5 reporting that their productivity levels have remained consistent during the past few months, while only 1 in 4 businesses have experienced a decrease in productivity.
   
5. Businesses are using a variety of communication modes to work productively from anywhere: Businesses conveyed that they are using phone calls, texts, team messaging, and video meetings more frequently, with younger employees (age 18-39) preferring team messaging and video and older employees (age 55+) preferring email and phone communication. One third of respondents have a more positive view of video meetings vs. six months ago.

RingCentral has published a full overview of the report online, along with a blog that provides a detailed analysis of the study, and dives into the actions that employees and business owners are taking in light of these findings.

Methodology

• RingCentral and Bredin Inc. conducted an online survey among US companies with 1 to 100 employees.
• A total of 1,000 individuals completed the survey.
• Research was conducted between October 8–19, 2020.
• Characteristics of survey respondents:
  • The majority of respondents hold a principal position or are individual contributors.
  • Companies fully open for business represented 61%, companies open on a limited basis represented 34%, and companies closed with plans to reopen represented 5%.
  • 62% of respondents are aged 56–74, 18% aged 40–55, 10% aged 24–39, 9% aged 75+, and 1% aged 18–23.
  • The majority of respondents represent companies that are 2–20+ years old.
  • Industries represented include professional services (32%), retail/wholesale (27%), personal services/training (22%), and manufacturing (19%).

About RingCentral

RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG) is a leading provider of business cloud communications and contact center solutions based on its powerful Message Video Phone™    (MVP™) platform. More flexible and cost effective than legacy on-premise PBX and video conferencing systems that it replaces, RingCentral empowers modern mobile and distributed workforces to communicate, collaborate, and connect via any mode, any device, and any location. RingCentral offers three key products in its portfolio including RingCentral Office® , a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform including team messaging, video meetings, and a cloud phone system; Glip ®  the company's free video meetings solution with team messaging that enables Smart Video Meetings™; and RingCentral cloud Contact Center  solutions. RingCentral’s open platform integrates with leading third party business applications and enables customers to easily customize business workflows. RingCentral is headquartered in Belmont, California, and has offices around the world.

©  2021 RingCentral, Inc. All rights reserved. RingCentral, Message Video Phone, MVP, RingCentral Office, Glip, Smart Video Meetings, and the RingCentral logo are trademarks of RingCentral, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005150/en/

FAQ

What are the key findings of RingCentral's 2021 State of Hybrid Work report?

The report indicates that 60% of SMBs are partially remote, 67% do not plan to return to full-time office work, and 66% view remote work positively.

How has the pandemic influenced SMB attitudes towards remote work?

The pandemic has led to a positive shift in attitudes, with 66% of respondents viewing remote work as an asset.

What changes in work interactions were reported by SMBs?

More than 25% of SMB respondents report decreased interactions, with only 29% expecting high in-person interactions moving forward.

What communication modes are SMBs using during hybrid work?

SMBs are increasingly using phone calls, texts, team messaging, and video meetings to communicate effectively.

What impact has hybrid work had on SMB productivity?

Productivity levels remain mostly stable, with 60% of respondents reporting consistent productivity.