Several years ago, commentators spoke about a mass movement to remote working, but it never really saw the light of the day, not until very recently. Hurdles like inefficient technology and the fear of losing clients due to lack of face-to-face contact were some of the barriers to the mass movement of workers to do their jobs remotely. Now, we are here, and remote working is the order of the day; thanks or no thanks to the pandemic? We’ll know soon enough.
Well, although the pandemic seems to be receding, there isn’t much of a transition back to what was obtainable pre-Covid. Various reactions have trailed remote working both from the employee and employer’s end, but what does the future of remote working look like?
What percentage of jobs are remote?
Remote working is sector-specific. While it saw that most white-collar professionals worked from home, people in the service sector (electricians, hairdressers, supermarket staff) were not left with much of an option but to still go to work. Healthcare professionals could barely work from home as they are known to be service providers. In contrast, the number of workers in the IT sector who worked remotely significantly increased.
Remote working in 2022
In the affirmative, it is impossible to state what the year 2022 holds for remote working, but various projections and predictions have been made. Some Organizations have come to love and embrace remote working that they have registered it as a default setting. However, this is not so for other companies as they consider that general productivity reduces with remote working.
Future Trends of Remote Working
For most organizations, the future will be more of a hybrid situation where it will most likely involve striking a balance between working from home and going to the office. The added advantage of this hybrid concept is that each worker gets some personal time and space to concentrate while working remotely. On the other hand, they collaborate with their colleagues on different projects when they come to the office to work in person. Asides from that, this hybrid setting relieves workers of the burden of having to live in places close enough to their workplace.
Benefits of Remote Working
- Talent attraction
With geographical restrictions removed, you get to attract the needed talents for your organization irrespective of the employee’s location. We know that one of the barriers to attracting the best fit for the job is time-zone and location.
- Adequate utilization of your workspace
Having your team members come to the office on certain days helps to foster collaborations and appropriate socialization since everyone is looking to maximize the limited time.
- Increased diversity and inclusion
Working remotely breaks several barriers to getting the right fit for a job. Barriers include gender, religious beliefs, culture, ethnicity, childcare responsibilities, to mention a few.
- Increased Productivity
Recent research has shown that productivity is higher with remote working than when working on-site. This has been attributed to reduced workplace distractions, avoidance of toxic workplaces, and toxic co-worker relationships. Many people see their homes as safe places to work, hence the increased productivity.
