A revamp in the way work is done had always been expected, but the most unexpected of all would be its catalyst—the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the novel virus, countries across the world have implemented various health and safety measures including lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, so as to forestall the spread of the virus. As a result of these measures, organizations around the globe also advised their employees to work remotely, if their work description allows.
Remote Work Prior to COVID
It is important to point out that remote work is not entirely alien to the work culture. In an SHRM report,((Andrew Burmistrov, ‘ How Coronavirus is shaping the future of remote work.’ https://geekbot.com/future/how-coronavirus-is-shaping-the-future-of-remote-work/)) there was a 300% increase in companies that took on employees that worked remotely from 1996 to 2019. Before the pandemic, companies across the world, especially middle-sized and small startups are used to outsourcing their projects to remote workers to minimize the cost of employing an in-house personnel.
Current Trends in Remote Work
From the Americas to Europe, Africa to Asia, companies around the world, including big tech companies, have advised their employees to work from home. This is made possible with technologies like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Dropbox among others for video conferencing and collaborations.
For companies like Twitter and Fujitsu, the remote working is permanent while for others like Google and Facebook, it extends till 2021.
Jack Dorsey , the CEO of Twitter announced that all the company’s employees whose roles permitted them to work remotely could do so permanently.((Nicolas Vega, ‘Twitter employees can work from home forever; CEO Jack Dorsey says.’ https://nypost.com/2020/05/12/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-says-employees-can-work-from-home-forever/)) Google, Slack, Amazon among others also made similar announcement and in fact moved their recruiting exercises online. A LinkedIn report has revealed that remote job postings had skyrocketed by 28% since the start of the pandemic.((Chris Westfall, ‘New Career Opportunities During Coronavirus: LinkedIn Shows 28% Increase For These Job Postings’, https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2020/05/25/linkedin-remote-work-from-home-online-job-search/#3bf74afe6606)) Companies like Shopify have also offered their employees $1000 allowance((Annie Palmer. CNBC. Shopify is giving employees a $1000 stipend to buy supplies while they work from home during the coronavirus pandemic’, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-shopify-gives-employees-1000-stipend-to-work-from-home.html)) to buy office supplies, like lamps, desks, chairs, etc.
Concerns for Remote Work
However, some concerns have been raised regarding work from home or anywhere apart from a physical office space. Executives have shown worry about the risks involved in having full-time employees work remotely permanently after the corona virus pandemic. Some of these concerns are perceived reduction in productivity of the employees, lack of determination and motivation among others.
Although, these concerns cannot be easily sidelined, Covid-19 has demonstrated that full-time remote working arrangement can be effective and even more productive.
A study carried out by Nicholas Bloom, a professor at Stanford University and Trip, a China based company, found that 13% of worker were more productive working from home than those in a physical office.((https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200710-the-remote-work-experiment-that-made-staff-more-productive))
Going Forward: Future Projections
Gartner, a global research and advisory company, in a report finds that 74% of CEOs and Business leaders plan to move their workforce to remote positions permanently after the Covid-19 pandemic.((https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-04-03-gartner-cfo-surey-reveals-74-percent-of-organizations-to-shift-some-employees-to-remote-work-permanently2)) This is because remote working is cost effective and saves the company a lot on real estate expenses and on-site technology maintenance. Research has found that typical employer can save about $11,000 per year for every person who works remotely half of the time.((Nick Routley, ‘6 charts that show what employers and employees really think about remote working’, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-covid19-remote-working-office-employees-employers)) Remote working option also allows the company to hire the best talents across the world regardless of location.
A recent research by Gallup shows that around 54% of workers are willing to leave their current job for on that offers a flexible time.((Jeniffer Robinson,’Is working remotely effective? Gallup report says yes’, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/283985/working-remotely-effective-gallup-research-says-yes.aspx))
On the part of the employees, working from home saves them more than $4,000 a year which ordinarily is used for commuting, office lunch, and other expenses.((Sammi Caramela, ‘Working from Home Increases Productivity’, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html))
With remote working option, companies will be making a huge contribution in reducing the amount of carbon emissions that is deposited to the environment. A 2017 FlexJobs’ report estimated that 3 million tons of greenhouse gases are avoided each year and oil savings reached $980 million due to the 3.9 million people working remotely at least half time. That’s the equivalent of taking 617,000 cars off the road.((https://www.flexjobs.com/2017-State-of-Telecommuting-US/))
With more companies transitioning online globally and already reaping the benefits, the future of remote work is brighter than it was before the pandemic. Therefore, corporate leaders and managers need to be strategic in offering remote working options to employees.
As a CEO, would you allow your employees to go remote full-time? Please, share your thoughts in the comment box.
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