More than seven months after Sri Lanka’s first Covid lockdown, are the country’s state and private sectors better prepared to work from home (WFH) than before? How do we compare with global trends and have we adopted the new technologies that other nations are using?
There are now renewed hopes that a vaccine is only a few months away. But as the second wave of the pandemic rages across Sri Lanka, it’s important to examine whether more needs to be done in the WFH area, to keep the economy going until the vaccine arrives.
The Covid pandemic spotlighted the availability of remote working technologies around the world, the level to which these had already been adopted in various countries, spurred an unprecedented growth in development of new remote working products, and generally led to a rapid growth of the adoption of WFH culture in many countries.
In Sri Lanka too, companies rushed to transform their operations to WFH, leading to a brisk sale in laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tabs.
But have organisations done all they can to optimise their remote working capacities?
Granted, there are many industries where WFH is simply not possible on a large scale or not possible at all; the plantation industry will always require tea pluckers, rubber tappers, and coconut pluckers, and the apparel industry cannot do away with its production lines manned by hundreds or thousands of employees on one factory floor.
The post-Covid world
We must assume that society would get used to maintaining distance socially even after a Covid-19 vaccine actually emerges. And, considering other recent pandemics, including SARS, Ebola, MERS, and avian influenza or past pandemics of influenza, businesses and employees now understand that social distancing may be a permanent requirement for our species, as policymakers and others struggle to better understand the evolving conditions and economic implications of Covid on the workforce. The pandemic has brought about a dramatic change in remote staff, with millions of apartments and homes turning into offices. But new survey data indicate that most employees are still unprepared for the complexities of working from home. Companies such as Twitter and Salesforce have revealed long-term plans for home-work, while KPMG estimates that almost 70% of large corporate CEOs plan to reduce business space.
Remote work or work from home (WFH) or telework are some of the words used to describe situations in which employees are not present in their workplace or do not carry out purchasing physically. The principle works specifically for work requiring a large screen workload. Digitisation has increased and a more knowledge-based economy has become more practical for employers and workers in many countries.
The lockdown could never have lasted without this historical move to work from home. The global economy would have plummeted even further, propelling us back to work, which would resurrect the infection. This has in fact happened in many countries ranging from Europe to the UK and the US, which are seeing all-time highs in infections after reopening.
It is not only economically necessary to operate from home, but also vital to tackling Covid-19 – and possible future pandemics. Some argue that it's not time to emphasise productivity.
A primary duty of employers at present is to ensure the physical and emotional wellbeing of employees. If you're at home you probably have to deal with a lot more including household chores, children’s home schooling, and other challenges. Thus, in addition to implementing flexible working hours, some organisations have changed insurance programmes, and contracted medical practitioners and counsellors.
Key highlights
- Gartner HR Survey reveals that globally 88% of organisations have allowed or ordered employees to work from home
- By April 2020, the online conference software investment had risen 67% in organisations. (Statistica)
- The Gartner CFO Survey reveals that some workers choose to operate remotely on a permanent basis
- With regard to remote work in the US, 55% claim that it is popular in their respective industries
- 30% of staff said that the biggest distractors when they work from home are the family members, partners, or housemates (Insider.com).
- A Nulab survey of remote staff reveals that 72% don't work in a dedicated office and 40% of remote employees don't even work from a desk
WFH challenges
Staff performance monitoring: Many managers rely on their physical presence as an efficiency substitute for business intelligence software on the market. Furthermore, if an individual begins to function remotely, managers first and foremost lose visibility that builds trust. Managers prefer to believe that workers do the right thing before they show that they do the right thing. In East Asia, growing technical sophistication is compensated for by cultures which value overtime contributions at the desk. For example, China has introduced a demanding work plan known as 9-9-6, beginning at 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. Cultural barriers: As Asian working culture relies on personal relationships, most feel that it is important to mark their presence in their workplaces in view of their fellow employees. Silos: If employees are working mostly or entirely from home, they probably communicate only by email and occasionally with your colleagues. Remote work does not help to establish positive relationships with employees as work in the office does. Isolation: While it can at first be easier to work from home, it can potentially affect the mental health of employees. People are social beings and WFH can make workers feel cut off without meeting someone. Furthermore, remote work can cause anxiety. A recent analysis shows working successful working partnerships have been hampered as a result of the lack of closer contact; the creation of trust, relationships, and shared purposes. Remote workers are more likely to clash with bureaucracy. Social and mental issues: Staff working alone complain of the emotional loneliness they face, while those with childcare, home education, and their careers find it doubly exhausting. A recent study by the US health services company Cigna found that staff in Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong had increased anxiety after governments closed down part of their economies. Whereas some people have been enjoying being given a chance to work from home, others argue that the distinction between their professional and personal lives has broken which leads to increased stress and poses critical concerns about the future of work after the pandemic.Key benefits for employees
The key advantages for workers to operate from home are flexible timetables and both saving travel and money. Other reasons why people want to work remotely are the option of working from anywhere and the prospect of spending more time with family. Some of the problems that people face in working from home are communication and teamwork difficulties, boredom, at-home disruptions, and job disconnections.IT infrastructure: Broadband, cloud, and collaboration tools
The evermore robust, secure, fast-fixed, and mobile broadband connections and the growth of cloud computing provide the backbone infrastructure for WFH. Cloud technologies are increasingly growing and allow businesses and employees to have access to data and tools from all over the world. Small and medium-sized companies are expected to spend approximately $ 100 billion on cloud-based business software, communication and collaboration tools, and cybersecurity, for example, in the coming years. On the other hand, spending on local solutions is projected to remain almost unchanged. In addition to the basic infrastructure, teamwork and communication tools provide the resources required for working together as a remote team. Compared to 2020, sales from a cloud email and the collaboration sector are projected to double by 2024, in line with the growth trend in the cloud market.Technology pillar
Savvy organisations incorporate the main innovations and entrust it with digital equipment for employees:- Virtual private network (VPN): It offers a secure channel for communication through public Internet connections
- Internet Protocol Voice (VoIP): It reduces collaboration costs and improves team flexibility. VoIP provides staff with access to office calls from anywhere, along with instant messages, cell phone call forwarding, teleconferences with clients and colleagues, etc.
- Data backup and recovery: It is a challenge to keep sensitive data secure. There must also be access to backup solutions by remote staff. You can also have a secondary backup system in cloud (AWS, Google Storage, Azure, OneDrive, or Alibaba OSS). To ensure they are backed up, check policies with them.
- Protection of the network: The safety of the network is overriding. This is important for a firm to build secure infrastructure coverage for their staff. Staff effectiveness and efficiency may also be affected.
- Protection from malware: The firewall and antivirus security are common in most PCs. Security technologies are improved to suit the corporate, and also keep up with the changes.
- Collaborative tools: This is critical to increasing the productivity and quality of employee work. As an example: Zoom, Teams, Slack, GoToMeeting software, etc.
Workforce skill inequality
This constitutes a time bomb for inequality. Our findings indicate that better educated, higher educated employees work much more frequently from their homes and therefore they continue to get paid and continue to advance in their professions. At the same time, people who cannot work from home are left behind, either due to the nature of their work or because of the absence of adequate space or internet connectivity. They face terrible prospects as their abilities and job skills erode over a long shutdown.Practical solution
- Multi-disciplinary teams: Every organisation should appoint a multi-disciplinary team to be in charge of WFH and infection prevention.
- Wide representation: Such teams should include research persons, ICT personnel, customer service persons, and employee representatives.
- Research: A key aspect of such a team would be the constant search for new best practices and technology to adopt.
- Internet coverage: The internet is a key element for most who work from home. You need reliable internet access, whether you are an entrepreneur, executive, a consultant or (almost) anything else. Make sure you have a reliable and decent link in order to maximise your productivity.
- Workspace: Staff must ensure that they have a proper workspace. It doesn't need to be a whole room, but they should not confuse their office with their place of leisure. Placing a desk, chair, and computer in their room would be enough.
- Mobile app: When your work requires long-distance calling, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, and Skype allow you to make calls on a cost-effective basis over the internet.
- Training for the usage of tools: Staff can also obtain training and detailed documentation as to how these resources can be used. This should provide tips on how the video will look nice, such as ensuring that the camera is at the level of the eye, with natural light where possible, setting up video calls, etc.
- Technical support: Companies must decide, whether, along with necessary equipment, remote workers have any technical support available. Almost all large businesses provide on-site support for infrastructure, but not remotely. In this way, an action plan can be drafted, detailing what remote workers are supposed to do when technical issues occur.
- Measuring productivity: Remote labour policies should show how productivity of an employee is measured. Many forms can be calculated in terms of efficiency; whether it's time spent on a project, numbers of cases settled, amount of customer encounters, and more, businesses need to decide how their workers are assessed.
- Goal setting and scheduling: The precise speed of check in can be decided by team leaders, but consistent project updates, goals, objectives, and what takes place on site are crucial. This means that no one feels ignored or aimless.
- Prep talk/add a personal touch: Make sure team building outside the workplace is planned while workers are together. Encourage workers to share something about themselves. While it may not necessarily seem productive, small interactions may help establish personal bonds, develop empathy, and reinforce working contacts.