Working from home is no longer a luxury for top-tier employees or self-employed only. The pandemic disrupted the flow of the global market forcing many to lose their jobs and others to shut inside their homes for the sake of their family. Working together in the office atmosphere to gain the manager’s trust is long gone, and it may stay so for some more time. The new motto is definitely to work more from home and reduce the chances of communal spread of the pandemic.
Except for the jobs with immense physical labour requirements. These kinds of requirements are mainly needed in the manufacturing and construction fields. The rest of the employees are being allowed to complete their daily tasks at home. Not only is this strategy being proved more efficient, but also, the profit of most companies is also rising gradually.
Workforce transitions are happening globally now after the success of the working remotely option. In various surveys conducted, it has been found that an increase in productivity is found when about 30-35% of employees are working from home on a basis of 3-5 days per week. This even led to a two to five times faster growth of e-commerce during the period of the pandemic. The pollution percentage also seems to have declined.
One of the most important key factors found in surveys among employees doing work from home is that most of them like to return to their office 2-3 days per week. Now that the biggest luxury, which is working from home or remote locations, is available to them, they know that working only from home is boring and to maintain good work relations, a regular visit to the office is necessary. The ironic factor is that due to the fear of pandemic spread, and now knowing the advantages of letting employees work from home or remote locations, it is now the higher management who have shut down the idea of employees returning back to offices – even if it is for a few days a week.
The Australian economy is mainly dependent on agriculture, mining, and the manufacturing sectors. It covers almost 60 per cent of the economy. The service sector which covers nearly 21 per cent of the economy is still a developing one with immense potential for growth. Introducing a workspace without office environments can be beneficial in terms of productivity and profit. The Australian working environment which used to revolve around hard-physical engagement in all sorts of work has steadily become different.
It is time for employers to consider the hybrid working methods that set equal importance to both office work and working from remote environments or homes. Let us look at some basic requirements and advantages for employees and employers while considering working from home or remote locations.
Requirements and Advantages
A home office
Be sure not to slacken while working from home, as it may cause your employer to f distrust you. To work efficiently from home without strains and stresses, creating an office atmosphere at home with the necessary tools is important. The biggest necessity of all the required tools is a good computer equipped with a stable internet connection and gadgets like a webcam, printer, etc. Make sure the specifications available on the computer enable you to work without difficulties. Also, make sure you have a good noise-cancelling headphone in your workspace at home which will enable you to focus more and avoid the distractions of family members at home.
Tools and software are another necessity for working from home. Google workspace, Microsoft Office, Teams, Zoom, etc. are useful for completing most online meetings and documentations.
Lastly, make sure you do not mix personal time and work time.
Advantages for Employees and Employers
Before Covid 19, having an opportunity to work from home was scarce for most jobs. It was a time when the managers didn’t trust in results obtained from remote working locations. Now the atmosphere and the mentality are changing creating a better, more trusting environment. In the case of employees, travel and expenses are reduced along with less stress as they are working from their most comfortable place. In the case of employers, the only expense they would need will be the one for a computer and the internet connection. Huge workspaces and maintenance costs, conveyances and all are not as needed. An office visit, once or twice a week may help keep the employees in productive working relationships.
We can see an increase in initiatives from the big firms to utilise the working from home option in the future, as a sudden return to the office is not possible yet.