Why remote work is still the secret sauce behind small business success

Small businesses are integral to the economic strength and growth of the communities they serve. From mom-and-pop stores to smaller specialized product and service providers, these businesses use local talent to add value. 

In terms of economic strength, however, they also tend to be more fragile. Whereas larger firms often have easier access to human and financial resources to support their activities, smaller firms are typically constrained in both areas. Leveling the playing field by innovating more effectively (and rapidly) and building stronger bonds with customers are baseline requirements for small businesses. Also important is managing employee productivity and accessing the talent needed to support business activities. 

Enter remote work.

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Aberdeen surveyed 610 business leaders across all industries to determine their top priorities influencing customer interactions, including sales, marketing, service, operations, and commerce. The findings revealed that small businesses (defined as firms with fewer than 50 employees) are heavily leaning on remote work to support their activities. 

Data shows that 61% of small businesses utilize remote work, with another 12% planning to do so this year, bringing anticipated adoption of remote work to 73% by late 2025. What’s more, the average duration of remote work programs was cited as 4.3 years, coinciding approximately with the early days of the COVID pandemic, when almost all businesses needed to incorporate remote work within their activities to ensure business continuity.

While the surge in remote work after the pandemic makes sense, as the economy recovered to resemble the “old normal,” business leaders in small organizations seem to have recognized the profound impact remote work has on their activities. Ninety-two percent (92%) of all companies with a remote work program reported that they plan to continue these programs, with 7% indicating their plans remain tentative. Only 1% of small businesses said that they plan to cease their remote work programs.

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Interestingly, 27% of small firms already using remote work have also reported that they plan to shut down physical offices and go fully remote, with the remainder opting for a hybrid approach of in-office and remote work. While going fully remote is not an option for all businesses, the fact that one quarter of small business leaders report such plans signals that we’ve reached a point where companies can rely on remote connectivity to ensure achieving their business goals and long-term health.

While the productivity impact of remote work has been a highly contested topic for several years, Aberdeen’s research shows that water cooler conversations in an office are not a requirement for businesses to elevate employee productivity. In fact, data from Aberdeen’s latest State of CX survey shows that 61% of business leaders across small organizations have observed measurable improvement in employee productivity that they associate with their remote work programs. A further 45% reported that they haven’t seen any change in employee productivity after deploying remote work — that is, they haven’t observed any decline or improvement — leaving only 4% of small businesses reporting a decline in employee productivity as a result of their remote work programs.

Considering these self-reported productivity results, one can safely state that well-managed remote work programs are an invaluable tool that boosts employee productivity and amplifies organizations’ ability to achieve goals.

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When deployed in a way that incorporates some necessary building blocks but is not planned and managed well, remote work helps small businesses maintain their productivity levels while providing an opportunity to downsize in physical space, thereby saving operational costs.  

Meanwhile, when remote work is not planned or managed well, which Aberdeen’s research shows is a rare occurrence given the abundant connectivity tools available and most employees’ proficiency in using these tools, firms see a decline in their productivity. It’s important to note that such decline is easy to fix with a recalibration of the remote work program to help employees do their jobs just as effectively, regardless of their physical location. 

Findings from Aberdeen’s research shed further light on this. Data reveals that 28% of small businesses are not monitoring employee productivity at all, while the most popular way to monitor employee productivity across small businesses remains the speed to respond to workplace communications (37%). The latter is a poor metric to gauge productivity considering that employees may be managing a task or interacting with a customer at the time of an internal communication, and judging based on the speed of reply to a communication at that time would require employees to solely monitor and focus on internal communications (e.g., email, phone calls, chats) versus doing their job.

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Inefficient ways to gauge productivity include tools that measure speed of response to messages, remote surveillance that monitors employee keystrokes, facial recognition that identifies whether an employee is sitting in front of a computer for a certain time, or applications like Microsoft Teams or Slack that show active/online status. 

These encourage presence/activity rather than results.  

A better way for all businesses, including small firms, to manage employee productivity is a well-designed and managed performance management system that aligns company goals with employee KPIs, and monitors employee contribution to those KPIs based on established internal and industry standards. 

                                                                                          Source: Aberdeen, May 2025

While activity and presence indicate that an employee sits in front of a work desktop during work hours or produces an average number of keystrokes per hour, they don’t mean that the employee takes initiative or is fully engaged in driving desired outcomes such as customer satisfaction, innovation, and creative thinking. 

Small businesses must distinguish themselves from their larger counterparts by being more customer-centric, innovative, and agile. To achieve these results with remote work, it’s best to plan and manage a performance management system that enables employees with easy access to the tools and knowledge they need to excel and that tracks employee performance based on the outcomes they generate versus mere employee presence or activity.

Also: The death of spreadsheets: 6 reasons why AI will soon be the dominant business reporting tool

Savvy business leaders across small organizations are rapidly building customer trust and loyalty while cementing their market share and growing into new segments and markets. This is not because of luck but rather because of the strategic use of business processes combined with technology, which allows them to drive top-notch performance without being confined to physical boundaries.

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Source: Robotics - zdnet.com