Are you also working remotely due to coronavirus? Has your company suddenly trusted you to work remotely, even though they didn’t support it until recently?
Remote work is the only weapon for businesses to continue operating during the coronavirus period. However, we wonder why this has not been implemented until now. Perhaps because in remote work, each side saw another “face”. Each face reflects a factor, the business, the psychological and finally the cultural.
How have these factors affected remote work to date, and by extension, us?
Business
In the past, remote workers had a “bad reputation”. Employers believed that workers from home would be easily distracted and that their superiors would not be able to supervise them closely and directly. Companies have often hesitated to address the issue of “free time” and feared that their employees’ performance would decline if they were not monitored frequently and closely.
According to a study by Buffer, 75% of remote workers say their employers do not pay for their internet. Most employers have mixed feelings about remote work, which is why the results they see in their employees are mixed. 44% of companies do not let their employees work remotely at all.
Thanks to technology, remote work has changed its form and structure, and more and more companies around the world are now choosing their employees to work remotely. However, many companies before coronavirus were facing trust issues with their employees, and had not even invested in technology to have the services or “tools” that support remote work.
However, it was observed that small businesses were twice as likely to hire remote workers as it costs them less to not have offices, electricity and so much equipment. In fact, in 2015, teleworking provided employers with a total of $44 billion.
Psychological
A study by psychologists from the American Psychology Association suggests that when done right, teleworking can improve productivity, creativity, and employee morale.
To learn more about the impact of teleworking on our psychology, psychologists are conducting several studies on its advantages, disadvantages, and the best way to implement it. It also seems to be a focus of interest whether a team that works remotely can function productively.
The positives of teleworking are that you don’t have to use transportation to get to work, and you can take care of home and family needs more easily. However, this doesn’t work for everyone. Some people get distracted when they’re not in a corporate environment and are distracted by family factors. Boundaries seem to be something that many people struggle with, and there needs to be visible boundaries set around where work and family responsibilities begin and end.
Research also shows that telecommuters work overtime and work more hours than they would in the office, which can lead to burnout. When they are at home, their sense of time seems to change as they no longer feel the need to return home once they are already there.
However, the feeling of a familiar environment to work in, such as home, is appealing to many people. In a workplace survey conducted by the International Workspace Group, remote workers reported being 24% happier and more productive. 76% would also be willing to stay in their job if they could work their own hours.
Cultural
So, after we have seen that the psychological factor plays a very important role in teleworking for employees, and after we analyzed the concerns of employers about the productivity of their employees in the teleworking model, the following question inevitably arises: “does geographical location play a role?”.
All markets are different, and this is because we as people are different, different religions, different cultures, different traditions, different rules for clothing, different foods, different customs, different weather, different raw materials… this list can be continued for another 10 lines, but one message is that we are the same but at the same time completely different. A factor that made businesses want employees to live in the same place but also work in the same space.
However, under the circumstances of the invisible enemy, COVID-19, the purpose is common and all differences are put aside. All countries are now adopting the teleworking model and all businesses are slowly starting to realize that their employees do not need to be on the company premises or even at the same latitude.
Don’t fight the inevitable change
In the long run, it is now obvious that fighting change will only bring harm. The pace of life has changed, the demands and choices are now many, and technology is galloping. Next is that our needs change and we adapt to new conditions.
99% said that at some point in their career they would like to work from home for a while. This percentage has increased compared to last year’s corresponding survey. So the demand for teleworking is rising rapidly, while businesses are still struggling to accept it.
So instead of resisting it, let’s welcome this much-needed change.
You went to:
https://www.merchantssavvy.co.uk/remote-working-statistics
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8156-future-of-remote-work.html