01 Jul
The form of work outside the workplace was implemented at the end of the last century, then it was a response to the rapidly growing number of employees in the developing telemarketing industry. Remote work turned out to be a success, both employees and employers were fond of it. The savings in time and money encouraged other companies to experiment with organizing their work outside the office. Over the years, the form of remote work has changed. With technological development, it has become more accessible and simpler. More and more companies allowed willing employees to work from home, but the percentage of remote workers was much lower than those working locally. This has changed in 2020, a real revolution has taken place in the world’s labor markets. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a huge number of employees switched to remote work, which completely changed its perception and functioning. More than a year has passed since the beginning of the pandemic. It seems that we are slowly returning to the pre-pandemic times. What does this mean for the organization of work and employees?
The inconvenience of remote work
The sudden need to limit human contact surprised employers. For many, safety and health were the most important. All of this made that an important issue was ignored. Laws and regulations concerning work were written with employees working in the workplace in mind, and they do not apply to remote workers. There occur problems like tax issues and underdeveloped laws – some countries don’t even have a definition of remote work in their labor code. Work on the regulations is still in progress and meanwhile, there are more and more questions and inconveniences related to it.
Another problem of remote work is the combination of work and private life, as a result of which the border between work and private time blurs. Research confirms that remote work can extend the working time by up to 8% which is almost 50 minutes. That’s probably due to spontaneous breaks from work, which are caused by circumstances related to domestic duties. In the case of limited direct contact, it is natural to communicate through other channels. After switching to remote work, employees sent 5.2% more emails per day, these emails had 2.9% more recipients. The extended working day thesis is being confirmed, as 8.3% more emails were sent outside of working hours.
Many opponents of remote work also claim that it causes problems with concentration and decreased productivity at work. The culprit, however, is not necessarily the workplace. The implementation of remote work took place during a period of additional stress caused by the dangers of the COVID-19 virus. It was an extremely stressful period for all of mankind. Sudden restrictions and living in a new reality, had an impact on many aspects of our lives. Remote work also requires a good organization of the work system, not only one employee but the cooperation of the entire company, so that it runs without major problems. For this, you need practice and experience, which many companies didn’t have at the time.
The growing popularity of the Home Office
Remote work has attracted many fans. According to Statista, 44% of respondents say that they would like to work remotely 5 days a week – before the pandemic, it was only 17% – while as many as 98% of respondents would like to partially continue working remotely until the end of their career.
No wonder, as working from home has many advantages. One of them is flexible working hours. The average worker is only productive for 2 hours 53 minutes of an eight-hour working day. Flexible working hours can be a solution to this problem, it is especially important when work is based on concentration, creativity, or innovative thinking. This form of work can also relieve employees who have other responsibilities, such as children or a sick family member. It is also an ideal solution to reconcile work with interests in free time. 32% of employees working remotely appreciate the possibility of flexible working hours the most, and 26% believe that the main advantage of working remotely is the ability to work from anywhere.
Remote work undeniably also saves money, both for employers and employees. Research estimates that a typical employer can save about $11,000 a year for each employee who only works half the time remotely. Employees also save on gas, clothes, cleaning, and also on time.
Work, as well as remote education, is a huge benefit for people with disabilities or various psychological disorders (e.g. social anxiety). Excluding such people from society is a very serious and common problem. The possibility and access to work is a fundamental right of every human being and for people with disabilities and disorders, it is a key part of becoming independent. Thanks to remote work, they have the opportunity to choose a workplace without the existing limitations, such as transport or exposure to trigger factors.
The impact of remote work on the world
Migration from offices to homes has influenced not only the world of work as it may seem but also everything around it.
- Positive impact on climate change, when people work from home, they move less and fewer vehicles on the road means less gasoline consumption and less CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.
- Office buildings, if people do not have to come to the office, renting office space makes no sense. In addition to lower costs for the employer, it will also lead to a reduction in the demand for office space, which may be associated with the conversion of commercial spaces to residential space, and maybe even lower real estate prices in the city center.
- Fewer people in commercial areas unfortunately means fewer customers for restaurants and other businesses in the retail industry. Cafes, restaurants, and local retailers who rely on the daily purchases of employees from nearby businesses will suffer severely.
- Migration to the suburbs, without the need to travel to the center - more people will benefit from the possibility of having a bigger and cheaper home in the suburbs. More people moving to the suburbs will also significantly increase the number of investments in these areas.
Remote work in a post-pandemic world
With the pandemic slowly calming down, more and more employees may return to stationary work, but there are fewer and fewer willing to. Recent times have changed our views on the concept of the workplace. For employees, the priority is now, above all, a comfortable place to perform their work. Employers saw a lot of room to save a few pennies by employees working outside of the company. The mutual benefits of remote work for workers and companies have popularized several trends with which we will meet more and more often.
- Coworking spaces offer amenities adapted to office work, such as soundproofed rooms, good lighting, constant access to electricity, common rooms for relaxation, and much more.
- Working on the road is simply traveling and working remotely. It develops primarily among employees of the Z generation. Combining remote work with travel allows employees to maintain a permanent job while traveling around the world. In this way, employees are not tied to one place, they can fulfill themselves privately while maintaining financial stability.
- The flipped workplace is the favorite option among employees and employers and is about getting work done outside the office, in your own time, in your own place, and at your own pace. As a consequence, the office is transformed into a space devoted only to tasks that cannot be completed remotely or that are more effective when done in a professional office, for example, meetings with colleagues, joint brainstorming, or tasks for which specialized equipment is needed, etc. This type of work focuses on the productivity of individual employees and not only on their presence in the office. The employee has greater freedom of work, becomes more independent, which may result in better work efficiency and bigger satisfaction.
How safe is remote work?
Working from home is comfortable and, as we already know, has many advantages. At the same time, it exposes both employees and companies to a number of threats related to cybercrime. One of the most important aspects of remote work is compliance with cybersecurity rules at home. Lack of knowledge about cybersecurity is a big problem that could have even greater consequences. More than half (56%) of employees do not know what steps to take in the event of a breach of the company’s security. Employers should take appropriate steps to educate their employees on this topic. It is especially important today in a world where the developing digitization of work and popularization of remote work can be a challenge to the cybersafety of the companies. It is best to reach for professional help from people who specialize in cybersecurity.
At Fully-Verified, we can offer you this help. We are specialists in the field of security, identity verification, and onboarding of new clients. We will help you ensure the security of your company.
Image source: Freepik.com (1), Fully-Verified (2,3)
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1 Comment
Mark
I appreciate your skills and style in elaborating on the topic. I have liked everything that I have read in the article so far. Nice content!