The other Face of Covid-19. Remote work is here to stay forever!

Certainly, 2020 has been a difficult year for humanity. A pandemic has killed just over a million people and infected about 34 million. A virus that paralyzed the World without distinction of race, color, religion, political system, or any economic power. Humanity has been left unprotected in what I have called the "Reverse Lottery".

All the Governments of the World were preparing to face a possible War for many years, but we never imagined that the real war would be for the survival of humanity. Today the origin of the Virus is no longer a priority; natural or scientifically developed and where, it is no longer the most important thing. The priority right now is to fight him and win the Fight!

Its effect has been devastating, nor has the strongest economy ceased to be seriously affected. The world has changed and is still changing, especially since we are already in the last quarter of 2020 and despite the efforts of science, everything indicates that we still have a way to go. This does not stop worrying, especially when many people had programmed their minds, to start 2021 as we have traditionally lived throughout our lives. Today we can shyly say that we are living in the era of the “New Normal”. However, I am sure that soon we will have an effective vaccine that will allow us to stop this great global scourge.

This has been the cruelest side of the Covid, but what has been happening from the other side of the coin?

Many changes have been taking place in the World and in Humanity. Apparently, putting the world on pause, especially the first three months of the pandemic, brought favorable consequences to the environment; but there were still much more profound changes. Large corporations in the world started humanitarian aid campaigns; Hundreds of thousands of food have been given to those most in need by businessmen and agricultural producers, Millions of dollars and Euros around the world have been delivered by governments and by aid plans to companies and families in need and affected by the effects of the Covid-19; But there is something that goes even further, and it is the phenomenon of reconciliation with the family and family values.

We lived in a world of telecommunications, without communicating with those closest to us, our loved ones were becoming our strangers. Covid reconnected us with our children, wives, husbands and direct family members. The confinement and the terror, made us approach the most sacred, Faith in some cases, in others, family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc.

It is there in the middle of the pandemic, when the business world in search of not fainting, wakes up and decides to incorporate its office workers from their homes. The so-called "Remote Work" is more relevant than ever, because of what I have called the "Economic Survival of Covid".

Companies have broken the paradigm that staff productivity is only determined by strict compliance with working hours and within their offices; Many examples of this we can observe around the world, among them, Google and Amazon, just to mention two of the great ones. The change of switch has been so radical, that even consulting the doctor for a disease is already viable and normal to do it through a video call. All thanks to Technology, I personally cannot imagine how devastating the pandemic is, without all the technological tools of today.

On the other hand, workers have discovered that they can manage their working hours responsibly, that they effectively identify with the objectives of their employers and that they have even understood today more than ever the importance of maintaining their positions within their companies. Office workers have understood that a work schedule is not a limitation to deliver results on time, nor is it an element of pressure on the part of the company. The office worker understood that being able to take 2 hours to celebrate her son's birthday on a working day, or being able to perform some important personal activity that requires time, is no longer a problem with the boss; because in the end the time you took off in your "schedule" you must make up, not under a case of coercion or control, but simply for a matter of respect, commitment and fulfillment of goals and objectives. The worker also learned in this time from Covid, the value of personal time; for example, making productive the time lost in traffic to get to your office in the morning or your home at night, is no longer something that wears you down physically, but on the contrary, now you own those 2 or 3 hours of Time to invest in what you need on a daily basis activities, even the fact of not moving to your office daily, has substantially reduced the costs of maintaining a car, gas and insurance, etc. The worker simply learned to live and work under a new style and, pleasantly tasted what I call, "The New Labor Menu", which offers other benefits through remote work and which allows the human being, a new way of working more balanced, happy and productive, that can hardly be disincorporated from the new life of office workers.

These are just small examples of what I call "The business switch change", even more so for the replacement generations. For new workers, the traditional and rigid work models are not compatible with their dynamic, modern principles and above all of breadth and lifestyle, where technology is essential for job performance. For them, the obligation to attend a workplace no longer makes much sense, and they can be highly productive working remotely from anywhere.

The companies or the bosses of the old thought, must understand that if they do not adopt the “New Normal of Remote Work” fewer and fewer people will be available to hold positions within a physical space, under a strict schedule and within an office.

Large companies will have to restructure their physical spaces, even after overcoming the pandemic, offices will have to be transformed even more into open and horizontal spaces, only for group meetings, strategic meetings, special presentations, events and product launches, etc. The use of offices for recreational activities, human resource programs and some training for staff will be increasingly frequent. Activities that will undoubtedly require workers for their integration and social connection between people, of great importance for the individual after this pandemic. Going to the office tomorrow will be a sensational and exciting experience under the “New Work Model”.

One of the most important activities within the companies that definitively migrated to remote work, are finance, administration, accounting and controlling, from the largest to the smallest corporations have executed it successfully. However, for small companies, a full-time Bookkeeper is no longer sustainable, it is a very high cost, and for independent professionals, working remotely part time, for several companies is an excellent way to start your own business and get ahead. Very soon we will be sharing an excellent option for the financial area and especially for small businesses!!!

Remember, changes are on the way, businesses must reorient to stay in the competition and finally reach the destination and stay alive.

Written by David Brea