The new reality of Telework

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In these months, much has been said about the Covid 19 Pandemic and the multiple effects it has had on society and the functioning of its institutions. The impact has been formidable, with millions of people around the world losing their jobs and affecting the global economy in unprecedented ways. A reality that not even the most pessimistic economic mind would have imagined in January 2020.

We are facing a transformation of all the behaviors and social behaviors known up to that date, ranging from daily interaction with our neighbors and friends, the school learning of our children, to the way in which the world of work will be constituted the next years. The advent of telecommuting is one of those extraordinary changes that we will see from now on.

Remote work initiatives had been developing long before the pandemic, although in a timid way and limited to activities mostly related to sophisticated research and technology jobs that allowed the hiring of professionals in different parts of the world. Generally, in agreements with the human resources areas, the policy was that once or twice a week some workers could work from home, as a way to motivate them to produce in more affordable places and then attend a weekly meeting or two in the office. The most seasoned companies caused some envy in the rest of the market with their remote work policies, which encouraged removals to live anywhere with lower moving or housing costs.

But they were the exception and the idea of ​​labor control and attendance at the workplace at established and fixed hours continued to prevail. The main concern, of a Taylorist nature, continued after almost a hundred years, based on the effects of downtime and the negative effects on creativity that the lack of direct worker control entailed. Despite the strong momentum seen during the 1990s, flagship companies such as Best Buy Co., Reddit Inc. or Yahoo, among others, were back, trading their flexible work arrangements for increased workplace assistance in favor of the creative effects that occur when people grouped by similar knowledge are close together, motivating many of these companies, which had served as an example for remote work, to expand their offices again and establish green areas, parks and spaces for emancipation that could keep their employees in the workplace most of the time.

It would be the Covid 19 pandemic that would make the installation of teleworking at a massive level, and above the considerations of Human Resources experts and the Taylorist bias. Globally, almost all companies announced that a significant part of their workers would start working remotely, even anticipating that this will continue after the offices reopen.

• 55% of businesses globally offer some capacity for remote work
• 18% of the workforce telecommute on a full-time basis
• 77% of telecommuters report being more productive
• 37% of remote workers say the best way to boost productivity is to take regular breaks
• 30% of telecommuters save upward of $5,000 a year
• $11,000 is how much companies can save annually for each employee that works remotely half-time
• People who work remotely earn $4,000 more per year on average
• 99% of remote workers want to continue telecommuting in the future
• 90% of remote workers would recommend working remotely to a friend

Source: https://review42.com/remote-work-statistics/

It is not clear how much traditional work activity will weaken with this revolutionary change, but it is possible that this effect will occur only in the short term, as millions of people get used to better ordering their work spaces, organizations develop a culture of work by objectives, and society itself develops recreational spaces to underpin the psychological change that involves moving from constant personal interaction to impersonal virtual routine.

A proactive telecommuting approach must be able not only to deliver the skills to efficiently develop the fulfillment of productivity goals and objectives, but, perhaps most importantly, to help younger workers develop skills through relationship with more experienced colleagues that allows them to benefit from a much more intangible expert knowledge that is difficult to transmit through formal education.

The agility expected for organizations in this context is formidable, but never before has it been more urgent.

DISADVANTAGES OF TELEWORKING
 

• Possible emotional disconnection of the worker with the company
• The work environment is eliminated
• Difficulty controlling the employee
• Difficulty working in a team
• Change in the culture and organization of the company
• Isolation
• Decrease in productivity
• Reduced learning
• Loss of confidentiality
• Possible investment and initial costs

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