A recent American study showed that 33% of the workforce can work from home producing 44% of output. Yes, all industries are not geared for a 100% work from home policy, but the myth of presentism is now totally debunked by the “forced work from home” that the world had to go through in the last few weeks. We also need to be cognizant of the benefits of teams and meetings and social interactions, allowing for a mix of remote and face-to-face working. The lock-down has proven that work can indeed be fitted around the new norms of remote working. Within days, Zoom, Loop, Google Meets and other online video meets, were no longer alien concepts for the remote workers. Going forward, some caution needs to be exercised around the 24*7 culture enabled by technology and many organisations are giving more attention towards a better work-life balance.
Remote working also means upskilling of leaders. Team leaders will have to learn to motivate and monitor remote workforce through innovative ways – virtual coffee meets, scheduled updates, would become part of the work routine. This will lead to more empowered employment and more personal development across levels. Remote working will also lead to more use of analytics to personalize people’s experiences to the work situations, which make individuals more productive and lead to better retention. Economists at the University of Warwick have stated that happy employees work 12% harder. Empathy will be key in nurturing a decentralised workforce and coaching, whether peer or external, will be beneficial.
In the short term, a socially distanced economy is inevitable. The way of doing business during this term will be a little different – some sectors having to adapt more than others. Workplace design will change as will the concept of face-to-face meetings. The need to invest in broadband and turbocharge the online platforms has already been highlighted and these will be the top priority of all tech teams. Virtual offices will become more prevalent with technology settling down and providing a better real-time experience.
In essence the results will be positive with flexible working boosting productivity. There will be diversity of workforce with more far-flung and stay-at-home workers joining remotely. Decentralised workforce will mean that teams will benefit the most from diversity – cultural background, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity as also people having mobility issues.
Collaborative working will gain momentum and diverse skill sets tapped into, from remote locations. Companies and employees both will become more flexible and up/reskilling will lead to personal development.
Very well analysed and articulated. We all need to recognise, explore and fully utilise the potential gains from experiences of Work from Home (WFH) – be it in private sector, govt. sector, civil society or any other segement. This theme needs to be elaborated more. There are immense savings, flexibility and efficiency gains if we work in WFH mode in a disciplined manner. However, for WFH to work out well, we should have some do’s and don’ts. Some Do’s that come to mind are try and keep to regular office timing, have a good internet connectivity, keep a separate working space at home, take some small breaks to do whatever you like doing and interact with your team. The most important Don’t is not to take it easy during working hours and then try to make it up during what should have been your off hours. It is important to keep the gap between work and home even while working in a home setting.