With the current situation at hand, do you believe any jobs (or yours) will continue to implement some form of working from home in future or completely go back to the way things were prior to COVID-19? I find it interesting to imagine the positives of less foot traffic in the city, less cars on the road and the ability to work without a commute. A lot more eerie out there though.
How Many Jobs Do You Believe Will Remain Working from Home Only Post-COVID-19?
kainomac on 26/03/2020 - 22:52
Comments
A lot of people I work with are feeling very isolated and looking forward to being able to work around people in an office again
In my experience it was already a thing/an option that companies (in my industry at least) were moving towards or offering to lure staff. "Flexible working arrangements" they call it.
In the company I work for now, maybe 1/8 to 1/10 of the staff are permanent telecommuter staff and a lot of the rest WFH a day or two a week regularly or sporadically as needed.
Surely less cars on the road is a good thing though, right?
Yep. I've been primarily working from home for the last couple of years. Everything being cloud based and there's more distractions in the office! :)
there's more distractions in the office! :)
I take it you don't have kids?
Unless I get sick I'm unable to self-isolate and work from home. I have the capability to work from home but my job requires onsite.
On a plus side the major decrease in traffic has lead to an extra sleep in. Essential when you work late at night!
It depends how successful it is I think.
For Introverts, this is the perfect situation!
Similarly, for people with long commute times.
Another positive side effect being benefits for all road users with reduced commute times!There are also massive upsides for companies with Commercial lease arrangements due for renewal in the near term.
If things work well through this period, they could significantly reduce their floorspace and/or negotiate cheaper rates on the same floorspace by leveraging the threat of reducing their floorspace!Expected to wfh every now and then, hot desk and not enough desks for everyone
However wfh for 2 weeks is not as glamorous as I had imagined. If needing to do so more permanently I will be needing to upgrade my home office to incl a proper chair. Good screen, desk, key board and mouse etc but it’s definitely better in small dosesNext house to have a better dedicated space
A lot of jobs will remain at home. Low overhead for the business. Only issue the businesses face is it restricts micro management.
Extra savings to be yielded!
Get rid of the micro-managing waste of timers!
Productivity is up without continuous interruption!
I'm hoping so.
My employer (or, the CEO of my employer more specifically) was extremely reluctant to allow WFH on a regular basis. They have been surprised how well the business has transitioned to 95% WFH.
Great for me and my circumstances.
My job was always great at it. Some people did it 1 day a week, but my team didn’t really. We would ad hoc (had an appt near home or a car service etc) but maybe once every 2 or so months.
I think I might switch to a fortnightly wfh day, now that I have a decent set up 😂
Mine hopefully! I moved my whole setup home. Would be even better whole if the kids were back at school. Although I do miss the social interaction in the office a bit, but one day per week of that would be enough
I started working from home this week, I think doing it once or twice a month would be a novelty as it cuts out the commute time every day but I wouldn't want to do this forever.
Unfortunately you have too many overbearing managers/companies out there who quite simply do not trust their employees and want to keep their eyes on them at all times. I've been self employed and working from home for years and wouldn't have it any other way. I work best in solitude, and everything is managed via Google documents and email, I don't take phone or video calls unless absolutely necessary. The freedom to control your own schedule is priceless. I wouldn't last long in full time office based employment with the commute, office politics, overbearing managers and all the other BS that goes along with it. Right now I have lost a number of clients and don't have much to do, but they will be back once this is all over.
My guess is that 50% will go back to complete normal, and the other 50% will (in light of the recent mass WFH experience) either: 1. instigate a new WFH policy if it was successful, or 2. accept more frequent WFH (say 1-2 days a week) as the norm.
As another poster said, it really depends on how successful it is. Whenever you hear about WFH the majority of people seem to report that it is successful for them with minimal hiccups (maybe 60 or 70%? in my industry) others seem to miss the social aspect of working in an office.
I am excited to see the benefit to our planet and people's mental health that the flexibility of WFH allows for. Fingers crossed
I'd be more concerned about mental health issues. I've been working from home since Monday - I lasted about 2 days before feeling super isolated.. Get me back in the officceeee
Same. I've been feeling strangely isolated since I've started working from home. My wife is self-isolating in a different part of town and I have my 3 kids home and couldn't really take them anywhere. I've been working after they go to bed and before they wake up in the morning and none of my colleagues are online during those times. It's been a very lonely experience.
Luckily my wife is coming home today and I can go back to a more normal work schedule.
Yes going outside is a very strange experience currently.
I wondered about such things as well.
For many people work is their social life so I can't isolation is going to be very healthy for them long term.