COVID-19 Will Forever Change Our Ways of Working

By now, Work from Wherever (WFW) has become the world’s new normal, particularly in geographies where work from home set-ups have recently become a legal mandate. We’re seeing kids on distance learning while adults stake out corners of the house to set up their makeshift offices, spending eight or more hours a day staring at whatever screen is available. While this concept has been vastly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as we look to the future, it merits asking: are some of us finding we are more productive by not being in the office? And if that is the case, why would we return? Is this our brave new working world?

Clearly, not all functions can be carried out remotely. For those that can, the increased efficiency of not having to travel, even across an office from meeting to meeting, is resulting in more collaborative discussions within a finite space of time. The ability to switch rooms and meetings, literally at the touch of a button or a click of a mouse, is proving to be a bonus to employers, and to employees who can manage their time well. And yes, the world is realizing that some meetings really could’ve just been emails.

Assuming this new normal is here to stay, what are some of the challenges we are seeing? Change at the organizational level, after all, is needed to ensure the seamless and efficient continuity of this new work style.

Internal Flash Poll

IDC did a recent flash poll of WFW practices among its own employees in AP (excluding Japan) and, unsurprisingly, the use of digital collaboration technology went through the roof. While within IDC it was a somewhat painless transition (the organization has a highly motivated and mobile workforce, WFW is not a new concept for many), there are still some drawbacks. The lack of human interaction and the two-dimensional nature of video calls meant some employees felt they were missing social nuances delivered by body language – which, by any means, is not a showstopper. IDC is lucky to have been prepared. Externally, other organizations have identified their concerns and challenges regarding WFH in a broader outreach study recently undertaken.

External Challenges

·       A big drop in productivity is often the main concern of organizations polled. IDC has heard this before as part of our Future of Work research – and this is tied closely to Work Culture and the propensity of management for sufficient employee motivation (there is much to cover on this topic which space and time do not permit).

·       The second concern is an inability to resolve some business issues when working remotely. This is complicated to address due to the variety of industries that responded. Clearly, if a piece of equipment or product needs to be physically handled, remote repair will be a challenge for now, at least until suitable robots are designed and built. Decision-making, communication, ideation, and education can all be done remotely, but people and processes need to be given adequate time to adapt to this new normal. The traditional model of centralized work is being challenged by the distributed world of COVID-19. Specific business needs must be carefully studied in order to fully understand and address the issues faced.

·       Concerns around privacy and cybersecurity appeared third in the list of challenges. This was a predictable outcome as IDC has been tracking the security maturity of organizations across the region for a number of years, and the areas for improvement remain the same. Perhaps as more businesses settle into the current situation, it will be easier to allocate funds in order to address security concerns that have been around even before COVID-19.

Coping with this new normal appears to be underway in many parts across the region. The abovementioned (albeit somewhat late) security investments are at the top of the list, as well as deeper exploration as to what 5G can offer since most organizations are seeing a rapid increase in the use of virtual workspaces, remote training, and video conferencing.

When the pandemic is finally under control, we will find work and how people work to be permanently changed, and many investments are now being made with this in mind. For those still contemplating how to address this, IDC offers some guidance: 

1.     Invest in IT/cyber security to build digital trust for customers, employees and partners

2.     Explore industry application scenarios for 5G and IoT

3.     Create a new remote office and enterprise collaboration system

4.     Improve efficiency and reduce costs by optimizing operations

5.     Explore new business models and business growth areas (via digital)

Ultimately, digital resiliency will be the new strategy moving ahead, with the mindset that massive disruptions that are happening now may in fact happen again. Alongside that, digital innovation remains to be the leading strategy for digitally-determined organizations. So merging this with the need for resilience, the following should continue regardless of the crisis being faced:

1.     Customer-centric processes to create extraordinary customer experience

2.     Mining the value of information and data to achieve insights at scale 

3.     Competitive digital culture and organization

4.     Improvements to the working environment to attract and retain talent 

5.     Strengthened software capabilities to achieve digital innovation at scale

Working Tomorrow

Video conferencing is clearly mainstream now. With the lack of human interaction and large scale forced proof of concept, video is replacing audio-only conferencing in a bid to satisfy employee need for human interaction. Looking ahead, this will change many things. For example, we are now easily able to identity “contributors” and “absorbers” in video conferences as their image appears whenever the contributors talk. So do the absorbers need to be in the meeting, or will a recording suffice for them in the future?

And what of social mores and graces? The occasional barking dog or chirping bird no longer merit mentions, while visits from bored offspring have become welcome distractions. We are becoming more forgiving of casually-dressed colleagues and less-than-corporate backgrounds, with reports of unshaven chaps in their T-shirts and shorts in chaotic environments, or colleagues who absentmindedly do otherwise-private activities onscreen. Will HR have to legislate what can and cannot be worn in a video call, from your own home? New questions around work culture will emerge and over time, new resulting standards will be determined. 

Some industry applications like healthcare have already seen a massive ramp-up in telehealth interactions. Should this persist, the boon for home-based care will be felt for years to come.

Human-machine collaboration is also likely to see increased interest, particularly in areas of remote maintenance and other areas where some physical presence is required. There is already evidence of this in industries like shipping, resources, and some aspects of manufacturing. Expect more use cases from other verticals in the near and distant future where robots could be useful and economical extensions of live persons.

On the topic of security, this situation has been a huge wake-up call for organizations who have previously under-invested in a range of security technologies that support remote access in the past. The smart money in security will be on technologies that support this, now and in the future. Creating a clear plan on how remote IT support works should also be an important part of the conversation.

Finally, this brings us back to where it all started: working from home/wherever.  Should the feared drop in productivity arise, and if management is unable to attract and retain sufficiently self-motivated staff, then introspection is the best first step. Returning to the old normal will be a step backwards for those seeing increased productivity working from home. Organizations will need to consider provisioning these individuals with tools needed to support their productivity borne of new work styles. 

The other potential casualty is the roaming executive. With airlines the first to ground fleets as the virus spread; as travel restrictions came into place and isolation of travelers mandated, the return to a day or two a week for senior execs in airport lounges and the warm embrace of your favorite airline may well be a cause of evaluation. Choosing between an essentially free video call or the multi-thousand dollar business trip for a customer meeting will be a decision studied more closely by both employers and employees.

In Summary

Workplace transformation is currently being tipped on its head, and when the pandemic finally recedes the new normal will be a more secure, productive, collaborative environment supported remotely by both humans and robots. The face-to-face meeting will be seen as a treat: not abused incessantly, but used only when social interaction adds more value as well as satisfies the social animal hidden beneath all the suits (or shorts, as it appears to be right now). Without a doubt, COVID-19 will leave all of us forever changed, and IDC will remain at the forefront of chronicling this change and helping organizations in the region and across the world acclimatize to these new ways of working.