The Rise Of Remote Working

Working from home, or as we know, remote working, have been prominent within the last 2 years due to one of the necessary strict measures to tackle the spread of the Coronavirus during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now at the stage of an ‘endemic’ where surely and slowly we have to live together with the virus as there is no sign where the coronavirus will be eradicated completely as new variants of the virus are emerging. Fortunately, the vaccine has helped us a lot in the sense that it is nowhere as dangerous as it was before where the virus can practically kill a person. 

As we are at an endemic stage, it does not seem like we will go back to the days of on-site working with full capacity as companies are either going hybrid or full remote working. With reference to remote working either fully or a hybrid workspace, what are the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to remote working as this is becoming what we call “the new norm”.

What are the advantages of remote working?

No more rush hour traffic

During the days of pre-covid, remote working was not as common as what it is today. Hence, during the times where many have to rush to work, often where most of them will get stuck in traffic during the rush hours. This can be tiring as the traffic is often heavy where the time taken to reach the workplace increases.

Now, with remote working, getting stuck in traffic during rush hours is the thing in the past as it is no longer required to rush to go to work as we now have more time to get ready at home.

More productivity

Believe it or not, working from home is actually more productive than on-site working as a study shows that working performance increases to up to 13 per cent by working from home.

That is because, unlike on-site working, you do not have the flexibility of resting when you are tired or exhausted. The advantage of remote working is that workers now have the privilege to have a few minutes’ naps to recharge and get back to work immediately.

Better work-life balance

Remote working promotes work-life balance. How remote working promotes work-life balance for employees as it can reduce stress on employees which will promote more productivity as mentioned above. Not only that, employees will feel more motivated and creativity will improve as employees will feel more in control than before.

What are the disadvantages of remote working?

Feeling demotivated

Even though remote working promotes more productivity as it allows employees to rest if they need to, some people feel demotivated when working from home. The reason why some people feel demotivated when working from home as working from home does not provide the same experience as on-site working as some people are already used to the on-site working environment.

Because of that, some feel demotivated because home is to rest, which then makes them feel demotivated to work.

Work from home distractions

It is reported that home distractions were the second biggest problem when working from home according to 45% of those surveyed. The concentration killers that are in the list of work from home distractions are the noise from family or neighbourhood. This is the downside of working from home as the employee cannot concentrate on their work due to the distractions that are produced within their working space.

Lack office equipment

Another downside of working from home is the lack of office equipment that is needed for work. Some jobs out there require the use of office equipment such as printing, scanning of documents and much more. Then, it will be difficult to replicate the same environment at home which you can get by working in the office.

As you know, not all companies will provide their workers with an office laptop for them to work with at home. So, you might need to fork out some money in order to get a laptop specifically for work. However, in some cases, you may be able to deduct the expenses you spent to get a working laptop on your taxes.

To conclude

To conclude this article, working from home has its pros and cons as some people find themselves to be more productive when working from home, and some find it to be demotivating as it does not offer the same experience as on-site working.

Whatever it may be, remote working is here to stay and it does not seem like it will go away anytime as this is the new norm of working as we had to make this working system more mainstream for the purpose of preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Last but not least, the remote working system proved to be effective as some companies are seeing more productivity when it comes to working, and companies also manage to cut costs in terms of rent, parking, office space and maintenance fees.

With that being said, those employees who are struggling to adapt to working from home will have to find ways to get used to this working environment. There are numerous methods that can help them to feel motivated when working from home such as creating a dedicated workspace that is specifically for work in their home, or, they can wear their working clothes to make them feel like they are at work. Accordingly, this method proves to be helpful according to research.