Although the pandemic has
battered the economy to appoint where we likely won’t see a return to trend
until 2022 (Baker et al., 2020), things would have been far worse without the
ability to work from home.
Work from home has allowed us to maintain social distancing in our fight against COVID-19. So, working from home is economically essential for business continuity. During the COVID pandemic, many companies all around the world asked their employees to work from home to as a plan of business continuity. In recent years a new discourse surrounding the work–life balance has emerged replacing family friendly policies (Bryson et al., 2000).
Work from home has been applied as an interim special working arrangement provision and business continuity during the covid-19 pandemic. Work from home or remote working will be extended as an integral part of working arrangement as the organization can be defined as “New normal” and the-Future-of-work”.
Advantages of Work from Home
- There is a lot of savings with respect to cost of office infrastructure like spaces, electricity bills
- Employees feel motivated as they get a good work life balance, and improves their productivity
- Many people claim that a more quieter or friendly atmosphere is found at home which helps to concentrate on the work as well as they can complete the assigned work quickly.
- Increased productivity
- Improved technical skills
- Improved communication skills
- More work flexible
Disadvantages of Work from Home
- There is always a major problem with monitoring the work.
- The cost of technological infrastructure that is required for implementing the concept.
- There is always a security problem with data being transferred and that can’t be monitored easily.
- All jobs doesn’t is not suitable for work from home concept. Sometimes communication problem between employees makes it problematic for a job.
- Increased isolation
- Risk of overworking
- Risk to productivity
- Distractions at home
- Workplace disconnects
- Disproportionate work-life balance
- Less social and culture connectivity among the employees.
Source: Quantum work place; Best Place to Work Data, 2021
For WFH to succeed, it is
essential to have an effective performance review system. If you can evaluate employees
based on output what they accomplish they can easily work from home. If
they are effective and productive will help to increase the operational
efficiency while reducing operational cost.
References
Baker, S.R., Bloom, N., Davis,
S.J., Terry, S.J. (2020). COVID-Induced Economic Uncertainty (No. 26983).
National Bureau of Economic Research
BBC News. 2021. Covid:
Work-from-home guidance reintroduced in England. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59632424.
[Accessed 15 December 2021].
Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts,
J., Zhichun, J.Y. (2014). Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese
Experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics.
NCBI. 2021. Impact of
Work-From-Home Human Resource Practices on the Performance. [ONLINE] Available
at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8586703/. [Accessed 14
December 2021].
D
Working remotely means that an employee performs his duties other than his or her allocated place to work by the employer. Mostly working using electronic equipment (Dharmasiri, 2021) based on network connections, most of employees are willing to work from other than physically attending to the office due to current pandamic situation.Thank you for your article.
ReplyDeleteTimely topic. Work from home becoming more popular because of the Covid 19 pandemic. This situation will not go away any sooner so companies has to find effective ways and implement them to improve work from home or remote work
ReplyDeleteManoj, it is most preferred for employees to work from home regardless of the drawbacks that you have pointed out. In order to alleviate them , "hybrid" work environment should be the ideal solution where the choice is offered for the employees. A great post Manoj, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThe COVID-19 pandemic has altered every aspect of our work and lives. With the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, home working has provided some employers with the flexibility they require to continue business operations while prioritising employee and customer health and well-being as part of their public health responsibilities. However, it has also brought disadvantages like staff feeling isolated, difficulty monitoring performance, information security risk, and not all jobs suit home working.
ReplyDeleteWorking from home has become the standard in most organizations due to the present pandemic crisis. In some ways, it allows employees to spend more time with their families while also allowing families to better understand each other and their workplace culture. Employees will be able to live a more balanced work life as a result of this. Another crucial topic that is also quite fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWorking from home significantly increased employees’ productivity and job satisfaction, although they were less likely to be promoted than similar-performing peers working in the office.
ReplyDeleteRemote workers typically have more time and fewer distractions, which leads to increased productivity
ReplyDeleteWhen you factor in the lack of a commute, remote workers often have more time and fewer distractions, resulting in higher productivity—a major benefit of working from home for both individuals and companies. When done correctly, remote work empowers people and businesses to focus on what matters most: results.
ReplyDeleteTimely topic. And we need more analysis to measure effectiveness of this method of working.... Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete