Remote working: 'If any group can deal with it, graduates can'

Aira Gonzales, 21, was one month into her first graduate role when her new employer adopted a company-wide work-from-home policy after briefly reopening its offices as lockdown restrictions eased over summer. “I was lucky that I started my job when offices opened up after lockdown, so I had a brief taste of an office environment for the first time, and that helped me settle in,” she says.

Remote working is here to stay
Remote working has increased as a business priority for just over half (52%) of the UK businesses surveyed by software provider and consultancy Advanced for its Digital Business Report, while most respondents (60%) agree that the workforce of the future will use remote working.

Gonzales found the sudden move to a home-based role bittersweet. “It meant not having to wake up early to commute, but I missed the buzz of being around my colleagues.”

That “buzz” is more important than you might think for graduates adjusting to the workplace in 2020. Richard Stone, managing director of technical and digital PR agency Stone Junction, likens it to what social network theory calls “weak ties” – the idea that our connections with acquaintances and colleagues (distinct from the “strong ties” we have with friends and family) are a vital part of our work lives and wellbeing.

“This year’s graduates are moving from university, where they had hundreds of these important weak ties, to a work-from-home environment where they have zero natural ones,” he says. Without informal face-to-face encounters with colleagues in the workplace, graduates are missing out on many vital opportunities to engage with new ideas and information.

Keeping in touch with colleagues from home
Stone is working hard to replace those lost weak ties for graduates joining his team, but says it’s impossible to replicate them entirely in the current Covid-affected work landscape. His firm recently started publishing a print magazine, which it mails to its employees.

“We’ve sent personalised mugs, notebooks and postcards to everyone, and we have a fantasy football team and a book club – we’re trying all the classic things to get everyone chatting,” he says.

“We also have morning and afternoon mini-meetings with three to six people to ensure everyone feels involved, and we knew this was having the desired effect when people began leaving their cameras on so they could chat to each other throughout the day.”

New workplace rules don’t disadvantage graduates
Despite the challenges of the current workplace, Stone doesn’t think graduates are disadvantaged. If anything, he says graduates without workplace experience have a head start, since they’re only adapting to home-working, not dealing with the loss of the office environment.

Stone thinks many graduates possess an “innate comfort with change” meaning they’re more adaptable to new patterns of working and able to achieve more in a fluctuating environment compared with their more experienced coworkers. “The disruptions created by Covid-19 have been a huge leveller in that regard,” he says. “They’ve forced many companies that didn’t have meritocracies to put them in place.”

Related: Seven questions about applying for a graduate job – answered by experts

Grads are well placed to adjust to the new norms
Kim Connor Streich, marketing director of jobs app Debut, agrees: “For graduates heading into the world of work, not having the energising environment of a new workplace to go to is daunting, but if any group can deal with that, graduates can.”

His advice to graduates is to maintain the mental attitude and routines they applied to student life. “There are many factors of university and student life that will keep you motivated and help with the transition to working from home,” he says. “Remember to take short breaks regularly, interact as much as possible with your new colleagues and – of course – get dressed every day.”

Don’t forget to look after yourself
Gonzales urges graduates to focus on their wellbeing, too. “I experienced a lot of rejection and knockbacks after graduating, but practising self care in between sending out CVs and attending interviews helped,” she says. “Starting a new job is scary enough, but doing so remotely makes it harder for graduates. We’re an adaptable bunch, but we’ve been through a lot of uncertainty and change during a transitional period in our lives.”

Graduates are already expert remote workers – it plays to their strengths
Recognising the value graduates bring to a business is also key, according to Mel Joseph, founder of Mente, a workplace mental health platform. She recently recruited two graduates and plans to hire more as the firm expands.

“Graduates have been actively doing blended and remote learning for years while studying, so don’t assume it won’t work,” she says. “Giving them the right tools and support is crucial to making remote working a success – and trust them, because very often graduates have a new way of thinking that you might not have.”

Gonzales – whose degree was in biomedical science but whose new job is in PR – urges graduates to go into the jobs market with an open mind. “With working from home the new norm, you can widen your location search considerably,” she says. “And don’t limit yourself by narrowing your job hunt to a strict criteria of what you think a graduate job should be – be open to new experiences and roles that you might have brushed off in different circumstances.”