Is it now a perfect time to impulse telework and let employees work from home?
Aside from already known reasons, teleworking might also be a solution to some of the world
issues such as disease outbreaks.
Just like the one we are facing right now.
Could home office stabilize the current corporate job market?
Just a few months ago we’ve been talking about the improved employment market perspectives.
Despite the Brexit and the trade wars, the global economy was doing ok.
But just in the recent month, not only stocks are experiencing their worst weeks since the
financial crisis, but the job markets and hiring in general are hitting an unexpected
new low!
The coronavirus has now become very real.
Countless cases are being reported outside of China and it seems like the media isn’t
talking about anything else.
I am Marat from EMMOTION, myemmotion.com, Recruitment Agency, look me up on LinkedIn.
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I wasn’t planning to talk about coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak but according to many
analysts the current situation is not looking well for businesses and for job seekers.
There is no way to find out how strong the impact would be, but one thing seems to be
clear.
Working remotely is helping many companies to deal with issues like this and to control
the situation.
Should more companies implement working from home protocol since it clearly makes them
so much more competitive?
Just over a month ago a distant voice talked about this virus in China and it just seemed
like another issue in the world, one of those which comes and then quickly disappears.
But suddenly, the coronavirus has become very real.
Countless cases are being reported outside of China and it seems like the media isn’t
talking about anything else.
The stocks are falling but that’s not it.
The hiring has reduced or for some companies has completely stopped, since the management
does not want to recruit new people as they are fearful of the future.
Expedia, Cisco, Lufthansa, JD.com and many other companies had already proceeded to large
layoffs.
Some are temporary, some are not.
It is unknown how long this situation will last.
But the companies and the jobs which have remote teams are now being the most effective
and productive.
Through the years many companies have embraced a flexible remote-work culture.
Across the globe, working from home and remote locations has grown 2,5 times since 2005.
70 percent of corporate professionals globally work remotely at least one day a week now,
while about 50 percent work remotely for at least half of the week.
These are some stats of home office figures for European Countries, for United States
up to last year.
You can see that the overall percentage still remains quite low.
But now in 2020 with the coronavirus outbreak, China had absolutely no choice.
More than 18 million companies in China are currently recurring to telework, with more
than 350 million people using remote work apps.
Suddenly this has become the first case of teleworking on such a massive scale.
Chinese workers who didn’t have remote work experience have been struggling with such
drastic transition.
According to reports, some workers have complained about distractions, longer working hours and
the lack of work-life boundaries caused by working from home.
But more than 50% of workers also mention that they adapted well or very well to working
remotely.
Not every business can easily operate remotely.
Manufacturing companies face more of a challenge in installing remote working than their service
industry peers.
But there has to be a way to sort this out.
In general employees always view telecommuting as a job perk.
More than half of candidates are seeking this arrangement as a way to improve their work-life
balance.
Working remotely avoids daily commutes, reduces workplace distractions, reduces stress and
helps to fulfill family care responsibilities.
77% of future employees find the possibility of working from home one day a week as a great
incentive.
A remote team can be just as effective, if not more effective, than a local, in-house
team.
It does require a lot of coordination, but the overall benefits to business and workers
are evident.
And in times of disease epidemics this is really the best option.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
an “international public health emergency” - The coronavirus is changing how people work
and 5G adds more options for telecommuting.
These will force companies to rethink how aggressively to promote telecommuting.
Investing in a strong remote work infrastructure can soften the economic blow of a pandemic.
This is where remote work can stand up to the challenge.
- The less time commuting, the more time to spend with those we love!
What do you think about working from home?
Do you think the companies should be pulling all the stops and place their bets on teleworking?
Let me know if the comments below.
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