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Friday, March 29 2024
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Opinion

Work from Home may be the new Normal

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Figure 1inkflo (pixabay.com)

Currently, we are dealing with a very serious Pandemic disease – COVID 19 or the Corona Virus. It has literally brought the world to a standstill as scientists, doctors and administrators are grappling with the situation on how to save lives and restore normalcy at the earliest. This has been one of the most significant shutdowns in the history of mankind.

The situation has demanded that we self-quarantine as it has been found that Social distancing is the only way to combat this deadly virus attach. This has perforce mandated that people stay at home.

It has also meant that in order to ensure Business Continuity, employees are required to work from home. Millions of employees now work from home and are holding the fort for their companies and their customers.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution – with its convergence of emerging technology developments in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, the Internet of Things and virtual reality – will change the future of work for every organization in every industry during the 21st century,” says Peter Miscovich, Strategy & Innovation practice lead for JLL.

“The emergence of these advanced technology platforms and dynamic new business and workforce models will require organizations to rethink their workplace and CRE [corporate real estate] portfolio strategies,” says Miscovich.

The co-evolution of online communities and smart workplaces, within the context of unprecedented connectivity, cloud computing, and immersive digital experiences creates a best-of-both-worlds scenario – the virtual office.

A virtual workforce was once difficult to manage. In the last few years, tools like the following have made managing a virtual workforce far more practical and much easier to manage.

Slno Purpose Tools
1 Chat/Team Communication/Collaboration Hub Slack, Chanty, Flock, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts Chat
2 Video Conferencing /  Meetings & Presentations Zoom, Google Hangout, Skype. GoToMeeting, join.me, Aircall
3 Project Management/Task Management Jira, AirTable, Asana, Pivotal Tracker, Trello, Wrike, Monday, Kanban
4 Calendar Management Google Calendar , I Done This, Pocket Saver RescueTime computer, Toggl Time
5 Design & Development GitHub, Adobe Creative Cloud, Atome Text Editor, Chrome Dev Tools, Invision, Trello
6 Writing & Editing Grammarly, Evernote, TextExpander WorkFlowly, LibreOffice
7 File Sharing Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive
8 Appointment Calendly
9 CRM Help Scout, Intercom, Avoma
10 Productivity & Reporting Klaus

While there is clearly a human dimension to the process of digital transformation in business, it was enabled by technological advancement. Four technologies SMAC (Social Mobile Analytics Cloud) have triggered and determined the success of digital transformation in a variety of businesses, as well as facilitated the growth of it. The growing sophistication of cloud, mobile, social, and digital information and communication technologies enables teams to collaborate, communicate and work. It has given the freedom to work from anywhere & anytime fostering a highly connected, geographically dispersed and hyper-agile connected workforce. These Four Anchors of Digital Transformation SMAC has enabled a faster adoption to a Virtual Work Place/Office.

At the same time, Freelancing has become a reality in today’s modern economies. 53 million freelancers workers in the US, making up 34% of the national workforce log more than one billion work hours per week and bring an estimated $715 billion in earnings into the US economy. European freelance numbers have increased by 45%. In the UK, the self-employed sector now accounts for nearly 15% of the total workforce. WorkMarket Workforce Productivity Report, which found that 83% of business leaders consider contractors more productive than employees. We will see more and more Freelancers in the Future and therefore, need for fewer employees working in the office.

Real Estate costs form a major part of an Organisations expenditure. A study from Stanford University found that companies could save an average of $2,000-5000 per employee by letting them work from home. That same study showed that those who worked from home were more productive than those who regularly worked from a company’s office. There will be far more incentives for an organization to adopt a remote working/work from home working culture.

A survey conducted by Indeed UK based – shows an astonishing fact that 48% of employees will change their current job if other companies allow them to work from home. And 53% of respondents are even ready to take a salary cut in return for the option to work from home.

The remote working/work from home is the ultimate in flexibility and balances work & life seamlessly. “The future workplace may, and is, in fact, likely to be a virtual space,” Memoori wrote in their Future workplace report.

The future has already been sneaking in parts upon us but with the advent of the COVID19 pandemic, it seems inevitable that it will be a key characteristic of the Future of Work and Work from Home may be the New Normal.

 About the Author :

Ramesh Ranjan is the Founder & Editor of www.humanengineers.com, selected in the Top 100 HR websites in the world by Feedbspot.  He is a Business Consultant, Executive Coach, Professor, Content Manager & Editor.

In a career spanning over 3 decades, he has been Head of HR and held leadership positions in India & globally in organizations like Schneider Electric India, American Power Conversion (APC), Chevron Texaco/Caltex India, Praxair India, Co Systems India, Indian Herbs & ITI.

In his last role, he was the Vice President HR @ Schneider Electric India. Till recently he was the Content Management Partner for NASSCOM – IIMB – Leadership Resource Centre. He is a visiting Professor at XIME, WE School, NMIMS & Christ University.

He was the Vice President of NHRD Bangalore Chapter 2015-2017 and also the Honorary Secretary of the National HRD Network, Bangalore Chapter, member of the India HR Council of the AMCHAM, New Delhi, Member of the Roundtable of HR Directors of Petroleum Companies, and Member of the India HR Council of Conference Board.

 

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