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FEBRUARY 2021 Download this Article
Work from Home (WFH) was in making a slow-moving train which has suddenly arrived. COVID-19 has compelled the companies and the nations to restructure their ways of working. Though not in the best of circumstances, WFH has finally found a serious consideration and successful appeal.
Some 15 years ago, I used to debate with my boss about the concept of WFH. Mumbai had peak traffic until 11 am, which took me 1 hr 45 min to reach the office.
So, I attempted to WFH in the first half and travel to the office during off-peak. It took me just 35 minutes, driving on clear roads after 11 am.
The model didn’t work with my boss, but today it is a reality. In the new age, if this model is used, the staggering of office times can reduce people’s productive time getting wasted in traffic jams and overcrowded public transports.
Today, companies are facilitating the employees to WFH, and employees are finding it enjoyable to do so. Initially, there was some resistance, which was evident due to a sudden change in the culture, but it seems to have caught up now.
Even the governments are WFH, and so are the journalists reporting the performance of these governments. No one has remained untouched.
Technology:
There are two enablers to WFH. The primary one is the availability of digital connectivity and has made the employee’s location irrelevant. Though, this is true for not all sectors of the economy. But it can be a chunk that holds great relevance.
The other significant enabler for WFH is the call of these troubled times. If there were a call to WFH during ‘healthy’ times, there wouldn’t have been many takers. Most of the argument was against WFH for the sake of practicality and perceived loss of productivity.
COVID-19 has revealed two winners. It’s the ‘technology’ and ‘time’ that combined to give this world a new opportunity to change. It is a change that will bring more advantages both to humans and the environment.
Since the work environment (WFH) is uncontrolled, the company must trust all its employees. There are challenges, though. Technology brings a severe risk of disruption.
Since it is mostly about internet connectivity and access to official servers from an uncontrolled source, it becomes the single point of failure. Hacking and fraud can rip-off corporate earning in a matter of seconds.
Just one data leak is all it will take to spoil reputation, expose weakness, sabotage competitive edge, corporate espionage or commit fraud.
There are checks and balances to these risks, not that they aren’t currently, but the scale of the enforcement is different. Vulnerability will certainly increase many folds if WFH becomes the new normal.
These are some of the teething problems in the shape of trust and culture shift but will smoothen out in due course of time.
Sociology:
There are valid concerns due to the multi-dimensional decontrol of the environment. The personnel are now in a physical space that is not in control of the employer.
This could mean background noise, home distractions and even loss of sincerity. It has been an age-old practice of the boss keeping watch on the employee.
Physically, the boss observed employee’s body language, positions and locations while managing their output. Physically checking on an employee multiple times of the day is the norm.
Even in the most progressive organizations across the world, these natural human tendencies prevail, though with varying degrees.
It has got nothing to do with the culture of an organization or a country that permits the boss to keep a close check on his subordinates. It is to do with the natural construct of all the organizations. Invariably, they are all hierarchical and thrive on the senior-junior relationship.
The annual appraisal is the objective, even for the CEOs of mega-corporates. So, there is no denying that an intermix of accountability, relationships and physical presence has been the root of On-Premises working.
All this will change if WFH will become the new reality. Power dynamics in the companies will change. New habits will have to be inculcated, naturally or by force, to keep a check on the employees. Not many managers would be happy with this change.
Their habit of seeing their team members throughout the day will fall into an abyss. It will result in an emotional power vacuum. Instead of being surrounded by obedient and instruction seeking employees with sheepish body language, the superiors will be surrounded by their family members, with whom the power dynamics is vastly different.
Travel to work across the world has been getting painful. I would be surprised if 99% of the working population spending less than 2 hours per day in traffic and waiting time. Those who are doing less than that are either incredibly lucky or not in some major city of the world.
The employees, in general, may find it very liberating to WFH, with a sense of free-will, when working in their pyjamas.
This time will be watershed from 18th-century industrial ways of working. All this while, the corporates were trying to develop work culture.
As a result, there were two worlds in an employee’s life. First, that is governed by the work environment and the other outside of work. With WFH, there is going to be a partial merge of the two.
The identity of many employees will be challenged. Certainly, merging will blur this mental switch between work and personal life. It may reflect positively on human processes. More of the human side will come out.
Quality Time:
Before COVID, all those who were working from home had shared their experiences. They had always been contrary to the scepticism.
In most of the cases, employees had been working more hours, when compared to them working from an office. They are much more satisfied with their work-life balance, even though working for longer hours. Also, the productivity had been higher, though it is not scientifically verified yet.
Reasons could be many for this positivity. Employees have been able to spend more time with their family, not necessarily in terms of one-to-one interaction, but by merely making their presence felt.
It is an essential aspect of parenting and well documented. Children have found the company of parents stabilizing their personality. No doubt, elderly care can also be one positive side effect of WFH in societies from the East.
WFH has already been proven to be very convenient for expecting mothers and new mothers. Not only has the method brought convenience in neonatal care and parenting, but it has also given impetus to gender equality.
Women, who usually were compelled to drop out of their careers due to maternity reasons, can now envisage stability in their careers.
The companies also benefit too. It has been shown that employee loyalty has increased manifold by those who have availed of this WFH maternity benefit. It is a win-win.
A happy employee is a recipe for high productivity and sustained loyalty.
Cost to Company:
Certainly, WFH will reduce employee’s on-premises load. There will be a lower cost per seat, as the cost for facility management will come down. I am confident many companies will close their larger office space in favour of smaller, smarter ones.
The cost of real estate around the globe has been increasing leaps and bounds. The cost of product and services has now a substantial part of that real-estate cost along with the cost of operating those facilities. This component of product costing gets significantly reduced if employees WFH.
Compelling times will find more ways to find productivity gains. Companies that can evaluate avenues to outsource back-office work to WFH companies must.
It will help to sustain the economic slowdown that will ensue CV19. Not only will this step uplift the economies from a slowdown, but it will also create smarter business synergies.
The 21st century is now coming to reality. Those 19th -century methods of working are transforming. With digital connectivity, WFH was possible in theory and hobbyist practice.
Now that troubled times has forced us all let us all shed the age-old inertia of carrying ourselves to office. So, let our home be our new office and let WFH be the new normal. That will be true 21st employee and a formula for a modern-day employer.
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