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Work from Home might be the New Normal Post-COVID

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Work from Home might be the New Normal Post-COVID

Work from home may likely continue for a long time post-COVID for a significant segment of the workforce. Many experts think that ‘Work from Home’ might be the new normal post-COVID.

Work from Home might be the New Normal Post-COVID

Why Work from Home is likely to be Popular with Employees?

The concept of work from home was being implemented by organizations long before the advent of COVID-19; albeit on a fairly small scale usually to take care of temporary personal needs of employees.

However, with COVID-19 businesses were forced to make work from home the mainstay of their business continuity plans.  

Work from Home Employees

Neither employers nor employees had any choice in this matter if they had to keep the businesses running.

However, work from home is unlikely to end even after the pandemic has been controlled.

We see it still being popular with the employees going forward for the following reasons:

1. Provides better work-life balance

Strategies for Promoting Work-Life Balance

Working from home enables employees to schedule their tasks flexibly so that they have time for their chores. 

They can start work early or late, or work flexibly to balance time with family and other activities.

Also, the time saved in commuting can be utilized as personal time or even towards work.

Employees may even choose to relocate to their hometowns so that they can be close to their families.

2. Can improve personal finances

Monetary Rewards

Working from home can help employees save money to commute (if not sponsored by the company), eat outside while at work (if not sponsored by the company), or stay close to the office (where rents might be higher).

Some of them might operate from their hometowns where the savings might be substantial.

3. Reduces stress levels

Performance and Productivity of Work from Home Employees

Work-from-home employees are less likely to feel the stress of commuting and of being away from their loved ones especially if someone at home needs care.

4. Higher productivity/ performance

Comprehensive Guide for Implementing Work from Home effectively

Employees can save a significant amount of time every day that would have been spent normally commuting. This can make them more productive.

They can also devote this time to learning and development to hone the professional skills required for career growth.

Being able to balance between professional and personal responsibilities reduces their stress levels and improves their productivity.

So overall, working from home might even result in better performance of employees and faster career progression.

Why Work from Home is likely to be popular with Employers?

Despite its various advantages, many organizations were skeptical about allowing their employees to work from home in a pre-COVID-19 world.

The COVID pandemic was a rude wake-up call for many such organizations.

Having tested the concept, many organizations may think of continuing with work from home even after the crisis subsides.

5 Tips for organizations to keep their Work from Home Employees engaged

They have seen work from home in action for the last several months and understood its benefits and the risks.

Already, corporates such as TCS and Infosys have announced plans to allow employees to continue working from home even afterward.

There are several advantages of ‘Work from Home’ that organizations are seeing the key ones are as follows:

1. Cuts down overhead costs

Seek Funding For The Program

It reduces the need for organizations to invest in or maintain physical workplace infrastructure and facilities.

They can cut down energy costs considerably, besides saving on other costs such as transportation, canteen, housekeeping, etc.

Moreover, organizations need to provide several benefits to their employees when at a dedicated workplace.

Even if organizations provide allowances to ‘work from home’ employees for high-speed internet and power backup at home, they can still save significantly.

2. Enhances employee safety

7 Strategies for Organizations to Motivate their Remote Workforce

Even if the current crisis of the COVID pandemic subsides, social distancing norms might remain in place for much longer. It might become the new normal.

Hence working from home will enable organizations to implement social distancing norms quite easily and ensure employee health and safety.

Also, commuting during rush hours carries a high risk of road accidents, crime, and pollution. Thus, working from home ensures better health and safety of employees.

3. Ensures business continuity

5 Best Tips to Enhance Productivity of Virtual Meetings

Though the COVID-19 crisis was a one-off, in cities there are many natural calamities and man-made disasters that happen from time to time such as heavy rains and floods, smog and bushfires, etc. as well as incidents like protests, riots, etc. ‘

Working from home’ can become an integral part of the business continuity plans of most organizations.

4. Better employee retention

Work from Home

It reduces the risk of losing the best performers if they are unable to come to the workplace every day for health or family reasons.

By enabling remote working for them, organizations enable them to take care of their personal needs and responsibilities without leaving.

This also deepens their sense of belonging and loyalty to the organization. Such employees are likely to be more committeddedicated, and loyal to the organization.

5. Access to a larger pool of talent

7 Ways HR Software Can Support Your Remote Workers

One big benefit of remote working is that it provides organizations with a wider pool of talent to hire from. 

From freelancers to professionals who cannot follow a typical 9-to-5 work schedule, or even new mothers who need to take care of young children.

Organizations can pick from a much larger pool of professionals with the right expertise and experience.

Bottom-line

There are distinct and quantifiable advantages of remote working for the employees as well as for the organizations.

However, organizations are still concerned about its impact on the individual employee and team productivity.

To consider large-scale work from home, organizations need to address these concerns in a planned and structured way. 

These measures would include providing necessary infrastructure at home, digital tools, technical support, proper training to supervisors to manage remote teams, etc.

Implemented in the right way, work from home has the potential to become one of the biggest wins for organizations and integral to their business strategies.

Read about how to implement Work from Home effectively.

Sagar Chaudhuri

Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank, in leadership roles. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn

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HiFives is a global employee rewards, recognition and engagement SaaS platform that enables organizations to digitize, automate and transform their employee experience. It is used by 100+ large enterprises, small businesses and startups in manufacturing, retail, technology, financial services and media, across 25+ countries.