Is Remote Working the New Norm during COVID-19?

Hugs, handshakes or cheek to cheek air kiss, sounds like actions of prehistoric era. Yes Sir, In a little over 3 months, COVID19 has changed the world in so many ways. It has affected every part of global economy, from the manufacturing of products and the use of services to the way company employees work.

This growing impact of the unprecedented human tragedy has hampered the functioning of several sectors, including retail, aviation, tourism, automotive etc. The pandemic already has many losers, but it already has one clear winner: Work from Home. Since social distancing is the new norm, the rapidly spreading virus has prompted corporate and businesses to encourage remote working for its employees.

Work from home or remote workers/virtual assistants is not a new concept for Europe, America or UK. However, it’s something that Asian countries are not that exposed to or comfortable with. Critics have time and again vociferously argued on the ill advantages of remote working or hiring virtual assistants. Difficult to manage and maintain accountability, lack of communication, loss of productivity and security issues top the reasoning list. But faced with uncertainty around when the pandemic will end, the pace of recovery is very slow. Businesses have no other choice then to accept remote working for their continuity and survival.

More and more companies have started their operations and have their employees to work from home. Freely available tools like zoom, skype, google drive, dropbox etc. has prompted companies to encourage remote working , heralding a new era in the future of work. This is going to stay, like it or not. We are going to see a lot of employers experimenting more flexibility towards working from home and having virtual teams. And for sure they will find out that it isn’t as impossible as they thought it was earlier. Organisations should reflect on what they have learned from these enforced experiments around remote working and reshape and reassess how organisations can better invest in their employees.

Work need not happen only in a brick-and-mortar office. But I believe given the right tools and methodologies can help businesses keep the show going.

 

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